ON HER VERY first day behind the bar, Ipsita Chakraborty picked up the skills of pouring 30 ml and 60 ml servings with precision. The spunky, 28-year-old freelance bartender, who is known for her Tom Yam Martini and Smokey Whiskey at TopCat CCU, believes in full creative control when curating potent mixes.
A quick learner and always high on life, Ipsita grew up in Malaysia, and believes being a Bengali helped her in the hospitality industry. “Being a Bengali, hospitality came quite naturally to me. We love to feed and take care of people, but we most certainly love to experiment with flavours,” points out the mixologist, drawing our attention to inherent skills like adaptability and creative power in women. However, bartending was not her first choice of career. With a BBA degree in International Business, Management and Economics from Northwood University, Michigan, USA, Ipsita worked in the corporate sector under various positions. Moving from corporate life to food and the bar enabled her to look at the operations and structure from the bottom up. In the city, she has worked as a consultant for Carpe Diem, Wykiki in Swissotel Kolkata and Nom-Nom apart from co-founding Us & Us.
Ipsita speaks of participating in an all-female bar team in the Cosmic Disco Tent of Magnetic Fields in Rajasthan last year as one of her achievements, apart from being a part of the food truck show in Goa. Being in the male-dominated sector has its own challenges, but Ipsita did find people t o help her along. Chef Shaun Kenworthy, Pankaj Balachandran — Brand Ambassador of Monkey Shoulder and Dehradunbased bartender Piyush Bora have inspired her in their own ways. Last but not the least, she dreams of being as effortless as Canadabased bartender Bad Birdy. Ipsita now has her eyes set on starting an academy for female bartenders, and attempting a zero-was e kitchen and bar space.