From breaking the bar’s glass ceiling in 1981 to mentoring India’s top mixologists, Shatbhi Basu has spent over four decades shaking up perceptions — fearlessly, ferociously, and fabulously
In 1981, long before Jessica Lal’s murder catapulted the image of the female bartender into public imagination, a young woman stood behind a bar at Chopsticks, a standalone Chinese restaurant on Mumbai’s Linking Road. That woman was Shatbhi Basu, fresh out of the Institute of Hotel Management, Mumbai, with a degree and a desire to work in the kitchen.
Basu was asked to be the floor supervisor at the restaurant. And thereby hangs a tale. The woman who stepped into that bar out of necessity would go on to become — in a career spanning over four decades — India’s first woman bartender, one of its most accomplished beverage professionals, and a guiding force behind the modern cocktail culture in the country.
Building a bar
Basu has been awarded two Lifetime Achievement Awards, one of them by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. In 2018, she was recognised by the President of India and the Ministry of Women and Child Development for her contribution to the beverage industry. In 2024, she was honoured with the Legacy Award at Tatler Asia’s Best of Asia, a fitting tribute to a life’s work poured, measured, stirred, and shaken with precision.
Her background in chemistry and her obsession with flavour gave her an instinctive edge in mixology. Her deep love for wine and whisky helped her decode spirits like an artist reads light. From 2013 to 2016, she was appointed India’s first American Whiskey Ambassador. Her show In High Spirits on NDTV Good Times gave Indian audiences a peek into the cocktail culture.
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In 1997, with belief and little institutional support, Basu launched STIR Academy of Bartending—India’s very first professional bartending institution. “I had always sensed that India was ready to experiment with cocktails when they were made well and were in sync with their palate. But the industry and even my friends still believed that it was too early,” she tells The Federal. “I saw the interest my columns in Sunday Midday garnered. Yet it was only in 1997 when I had the courage to launch STIR that I finally saw the industry waking up to seeing bartending as a serious skill.”
The turning point
It was in 2000, when the first batch of STIR graduates entered the workforce, that Basu saw real change. “That is when serious change began,” she says. Her students brought method to instinct, training to flair, and respect to what had long been dismissed as service work. Since then, Basu has consulted with over 50 institutions, worked with leading brands and multinationals, and shaped the palates of an entire generation.
Her academy became the crucible from which India’s modern bartenders emerged — fluent in technique, aware of global trends, and rooted in local flavours. But for Basu, bartending is more than craft; it is expression. “A truly great drink is one that looks amazing and sings in your mouth,” she says. “If it also has a story to tell that doesn’t take forever — brilliant! Like art on canvas. One that you want to go back to…”
Of flavours and frontiers
In an era when the West dictates what’s trending, Basu’s greatest conviction remains her belief in India’s indigenous flavours. “Indian bartenders still don’t have access to everything the rest of the Western world has. Our repertoire of ingredients is tiny compared to them,” she says. “But access to travel and the internet has given rise to many learning opportunities and a lot more exposure. That has taught them to appreciate what an incredible array of flavours India has to offer. It is indeed the golden era for Indian bartenders.”
“A truly great drink is one that looks amazing and sings in your mouth,” says Shatbhi Basu. “If it also has a story to tell that doesn’t take forever — brilliant! Like art on canvas. One that you want to go back to…”
Basu sees India’s bartending culture not as a derivative of the West, but as a unique expression of the subcontinent’s layered culinary traditions. And while there is still a way to go in terms of infrastructure, Basu believes the shift in mindset — among both bartenders and consumers — has been tremendous.
“I think we are finally speaking to the consumers and not taking them for granted or underestimating them,” she says. “The consumers, in turn, are appreciative of the artists behind the bar and are pushing their boundaries to excel. All in all, it’s a win-win for all. And it will only get better. And we’ve only just got started seriously!”
Fearless female, relentless mentor
Yet for all her accolades, what stands out most about Shatbhi Basu is not her fame but her determination. She has shattered barriers in an industry that is still overwhelmingly male. Kitchens, bars, boardrooms — these spaces have historically resisted women’s presence, let alone their leadership. Why? “Social taboos, religious fanaticism, family pressure, and negative perceptions have added to the issue,” she says plainly. “I guess a few of us had to make a beginning to show the others what was possible. You can see that change now. There are so many amazing women in this space now.”
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That ‘beginning’ she refers to is personal, and historic. Bartending in India, like most professions tied to alcohol, was once marked by moral stigma, especially for women. Basu didn’t just walk into a taboo; she ran a school inside it, trained hundreds, and kicked the door wide open. Today, thanks to her, women across the country are not only tending bars — they are managing them, owning them, and changing them. In a culture that still questions the worth of joy and art and sensuality, Basu has spent 40 years turning cocktails into conversations and bars into sites of creativity.
A life measured in spirits
Asked if she would do it all over again — start afresh in 2025, with all the resources that were missing in 1981 — Basu doesn’t hesitate. “Bartending has made me the person that I am today in every respect. Not just my knowledge and understanding of all things liquid. It has made me believe in myself and become the best version of myself.”
“It has taught me to take my skills and use them wider, across professions. It has shown me that if you put your mind to something and want it badly enough, you will get there. I’m sticking with it!! Fearlessly.” By making India’s first great cocktail, Basu also made space — for excellence, for women, for taste, for change. And for every bartender behind every counter across the country, that’s the kind of legacy that’s best served neat.
