None other than the humble bartender, always ready to raise one’s spirits… with spirits.

More often than not, bartenders are men; however, women are staking their claim on this job now.

Meet Phan Pui Shan, a 25-year-old senior bartender at the Wet Deck, a dining and drinking establishment at W Kuala Lumpur.

It is quite the workplace, with a stunning view of the Petronas Twin Towers on one side and KL Tower on the other.

But for Phan, this is where she has built her skills in drink mixing and ensuring customers go back home tipsy and happy.

“I actually first joined as a coffee barista,” she told FMT Lifestyle. “And the management saw that I had potential for bartending.”

Never one to leave an opportunity unexplored, Phan took a leap of faith and moved from playing around with coffee to having fun with alcohol.

“It’s quite interesting! You get to mix different drinks together, resulting in diverse tastes, colours. If you add lemon juice, it might taste one way. If you don’t, it might taste another way.”

Given that she had anticipated becoming a white-collared worker whilst in school, her eventual choice of career has been unexpected to say the least.

Her parents were apprehensive at first, she said. “’Why did you need to choose a bar to work at?’ they asked. ‘Why the night shift?’”

They have since warmed up to their daughter’s passion, thankfully. “You do what you want,” they finally told Phan.

While some bartenders are certified at academies, Phan learnt everything she knows through working experience alone.

Bartending is not as easy as one may think. “As a bartender, you need to be creative, to drink more, to learn all the alcohols there are,” she said.

Funnily enough, before taking up her job, she never was much of a drinker, unable to tell her whiskies from her wines.

That vacuum of knowledge has since been filled, courtesy of a few rounds of bar-hopping throughout KL.

The first time she drank, she was puzzled as to the appeal. “After my first sip, I didn’t understand why people liked to drink alcohol.” A few sips later and she was truly enlightened.

Unlike most Malaysians, Phan’s workday begins at about 3pm, when she checks the bar’s inventory. Then she tackles the paperwork before the drinking crowd starts pouring in.

Hours can be long, sometimes as late as 1am. “At the beginning of my journey, I worked until six in the morning!”

During her time learning the ropes, she was told that every bartender must know how to master the classic cocktails before concocting their own signature drinks.

Indeed, Phan knows how to make the usual Gin & Tonic and Shirley Temple, as well as her own unique creations, one tequila-based and the other rum-based. “My cocktails are slightly strong.”

A good cocktail, in her mind, needs to have a distinct and flavourful balance. “The first sip you drink must wow you,” she said.

Her young age is no obstacle to learning as the bartending industry is made up of people of all ages, with some legendary local bartenders in their sixties!

Being a woman, on the other hand, had its challenges as the vast majority of her colleagues are men.

“At first, they said, ‘You won’t last long in this industry. You’ll give up because of the challenges.’ And I said, “I’ll take up the challenge. Let’s see who remains standing.’”

Phan does hope that more women will join the industry eventually to even the odds. “Do try. And if you like it, join the club!”