The School Behind the Bar

Professional Bartending School was founded in 1968 in Arlington, Virginia with a simple belief: bartending is a craft worth teaching properly. At a time when most bartenders learned on the job through trial and error, PBS offered structured, professional training that treated the profession with the respect it deserves.

Over the decades, the industry evolved - and so did we. When craft cocktails transformed the bar world, we rebuilt our curriculum around flavor science, spirit knowledge, and guest psychology. Today, our 40-hour program reflects what employers actually look for: speed, precision, hospitality instincts, and a deep understanding of what's in the glass.

What hasn't changed is our core mission: train people who are serious about bartending, connect them with employers who value skill, and help graduates land bartending jobs that stick. With 40+ employer partners who trust our training, the results speak for themselves.

Our training facility features a 36-foot bar with 4 full bars and 10 bartending stations, each equipped with ice wells, soda guns, and complete mixing sets. Two commercial ice machines produce over 800 pounds of ice daily to keep training as realistic as possible.

The campus also includes two admissions offices, an instructor office, an audio/visual room, and a kitchen and lounge area. Training sessions are backed by surround sound with Sirius Satellite Radio to simulate real bar environments.

We are located one mile outside Washington DC, directly on the Metro rail (Silver/Orange Line - Courthouse station), with abundant free on-site parking. Getting here is easy whether you drive or take public transit.