For the love of cheese!

Behind the bar, Anisha Biswas is not just mixing drinks; she is shaping memories, one pour at a time

- Anita Aikara

For Anisha Biswas, 26, "Each cocktail is a small symphony - bitters and sweetness, stirred or shaken, layered with meaning." She calls it "alchemy in a glass; a fleeting work of art meant to be savoured".

"Behind the bar, I'm not just mixing drinks - I'm shaping memories, one pour at a time," she quips. The pride in her voice is loud and clear, and the happiness she finds in her profession is quite evident. Anisha started her bartending career in Pune, and it has been around 2.5 years since she has been mixing spirits behind the bar.

A hospitality management graduate, there was a time when she wanted to be a sommelier. However, during COVID, when Anisha had time to introspect about her career choice, she decided to give spirits a shot and took up bartending.

"To be very honest, there was no inspiration behind my choice of career. I just cannot idolise anyone," she shares with a touch of honesty.

Anisha's father is a doctor and her mom, a teacher. "When I started, parents were totally against bartending." It took a lot of convincing on Anisha's part for her mother to warm up, but her father is still against it.

If you were to tell Anisha not to do something, she'd go ahead and do it and prove you wrong. "That's probably how I got into bartending, because my parents told me not to do it," she laughs. "Somehow I knew I had to prove them wrong."