Expert product knowledge

Raw materials, fermentation, distillation, maturation and labelling law, then whisky, brandy, rum, agave spirits, vodka, gin, liqueurs and the spirits of Asia.

Learn how to teach

How adults learn, how to design a session, run an analytical tasting, ask good questions, give feedback and assess learners fairly.

Prove it and get certified

13 module quizzes, a practice exam, a recorded teach-back marked by AWS and a final exam (70% to pass) lead to your AWS Certified Spirits Educator™ certificate.

About the course

Knowing spirits and teaching spirits are two different skills. This course builds both. Over 17 chapters and about 100 hours (about 84 hours of guided self-study at your own pace, plus 16 hours of one-to-one Zoom with an AWS educator), you work through the AWS Level 3 Spirits textbook, 16 short video lessons with Christian Esser, guided tasting practice and a quiz after every module. Part Four turns you from taster into teacher: how adults learn, planning a session, running a tasting, handling questions and assessing your students. 16 hours of one-to-one Zoom – Eight two-hour sessions with an AWS educator, booked by email at times that suit you, to taste spirits together, practise blind tasting and get feedback on your written assignments and your teach-back. You have 12 months’ access, so plan about two hours of study a day, or eight to ten hours a week. To qualify, you record a short teach-back session, which AWS marks against a published grid, and pass the final examination. Successful candidates receive the AWS Certified Spirits Educator™ certificate and may apply to teach AWS Level 1 and Level 2 Spirits under the AWS Educator Licence. Included: 12 months' access · 16 hours of one-to-one Zoom · downloadable textbook and tasting sheet · 16 video lessons · 13 quizzes and a practice exam · teach-back assessment · final exam · digital certificate.

Your instructor: Christian Esser

Christian Esser is the founder and Director of Education of the Academy of Wine & Spirits in the Cayman Islands. He trains hospitality teams and coaches AWS educators from the Caribbean to Hungary and South Carolina, and has been part of Cayman Cookout every year since 2009. In 2026 AWS won two LUXlife Hospitality Awards: Best Luxury Beverage Education Provider and the Hospitality Training Excellence Award.

What you will study

17 Chapters · 145 Lessons

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Welcome from Christian (video)

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      How this course works

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Download your course materials

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Setting up your home tasting kit

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Introduce yourself (discussion)

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      The AWS Tasting Programme — how it works

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      The AWS Professional Spirits Tasting Method (video)

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Preparing to taste

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Look, Nose, Palate: grouping aromas by source

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Conclude: quality, typicity and mixing spirits

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Recognising faults

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      Tasting practice: two full AWS tasting notes

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      Tasting Flight 1 · Calibrating your palate

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      Deep Dive · Calibrating the Professional Palate

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      Case study · Calibrating a resort bar team

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      Teaching it · A 15-minute segment on the AWS tasting method

    11. (Included in full purchase)

      Module 1 Quiz

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      From plant to wash (video)

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Carbohydrates, grains, malting and mashing

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Sugar cane, fruit and agave

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      What yeast does

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      How fermentation shapes style

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      Deep Dive · From Starch and Sugar to Wash

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      Deep Dive · Yeast and Fermentation in Depth

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Tasting Flight 2 · Raw material & fermentation

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      Case study · Hampden Estate and the art of the long ferment

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      Teaching it · A 15-minute segment on fermentation and flavour

    11. (Included in full purchase)

      Module 2 Quiz

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      How distillation selects flavour (video)

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      Volatility, reflux, copper and cuts

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Pot stills, retorts and doublers

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      Column, multi-column and hybrid stills

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      Draw it: pot still and Coffey still

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      Deep Dive · The Physics of the Still

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      Deep Dive · Still Types in Practice

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      Tasting Flight 3 · Pot vs column

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      Case study · Springbank: one distillery, three spirits

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      Teaching it · A 15-minute segment on stills and reflux

    11. (Included in full purchase)

      Module 3 Quiz

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Wood, time and the angels' share (video)

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      What happens in a cask

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      After the still

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      Spirits law, GIs and labels

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      Deep Dive · The Cask

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      Deep Dive · After the Cask and the Law

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      Tasting Flight 4 · What oak and time do

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Case study · Glenmorangie and the business of wood

    9. (Included in full purchase)

      Teaching it · A 15-minute segment on maturation

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      Module 4 Quiz

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Whisky around the world (video)

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Scotch whisky

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      American whiskey

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      Irish, Canadian, Japanese and world whiskies

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      Tasting benchmarks: whisk(e)y

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      Deep Dive · Scotch Whisky in Depth

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      Deep Dive · American and World Whiskies

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      Tasting Flight 5 · Scotch whisky styles

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      Tasting Flight 6 · American & world whiskies

    10. (Included in full purchase)

      Case study · Midleton and the survival of Irish single pot still

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      Teaching it · A 15-minute segment on reading a whisky label

    12. (Included in full purchase)

      Module 5 Quiz

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Cognac, Armagnac and the world of fruit (video)

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Cognac and Armagnac

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Other grape and fruit spirits

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Deep Dive · Cognac & Armagnac in Depth

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Deep Dive · The Wider World of Grape & Fruit Spirits

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Tasting Flight 7 · Grape & fruit brandies

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Case study · Rémy Martin and the Fine Champagne strategy

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Teaching it · A 15-minute segment on Cognac vs Armagnac

    9. (Included in full purchase)

      Module 6 Quiz

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      The rum spectrum (video)

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Rum law, fermentation, marks and blends

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      The Caribbean heritage styles

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Cachaça and other cane spirits

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Deep Dive · Rum Production & Law in Depth

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Deep Dive · Caribbean Rum Styles, Cachaça & Cane Spirits

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Tasting Flight 8 · Rum I – the heritage styles

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Tasting Flight 9 · Rum II – age, marks & cane spirits

    9. (Included in full purchase)

      Case study · Appleton Estate and the art of the Jamaican blend

    10. (Included in full purchase)

      Teaching it · A 15-minute segment on the rum spectrum

    11. (Included in full purchase)

      Module 7 Quiz

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Tequila, mezcal and the spirits of patience (video)

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Tequila

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Mezcal and related spirits

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Deep Dive · Tequila in Depth

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Deep Dive · Mezcal & Other Agave Spirits

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Tasting Flight 10 · Agave

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Case study · Tequila Fortaleza and the traditional method

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Teaching it · A 15-minute segment on tequila and mezcal

    9. (Included in full purchase)

      Module 8 Quiz

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Neutral, juniper and the back bar (video)

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Vodka

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Gin and genever

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Anise spirits, liqueurs, bitters and aromatised wines

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Deep Dive · Vodka and Gin in Depth

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Deep Dive · Liqueurs, Anise Spirits, Bitters & Aromatised Wines

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Tasting Flight 11 · Gin, vodka & flavoured

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Case study · Hendrick's: two stills, two essences

    9. (Included in full purchase)

      Teaching it · A 15-minute segment on gin styles

    10. (Included in full purchase)

      Module 9 Quiz

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Moulds instead of malt (video)

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Baijiu, shochu, awamori and soju

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Deep Dive · Spirits of Asia in Depth

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Tasting Flight 12 · Liqueurs, bitters & Asia

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Deep Dive · Koji, Qu and the Teaching of Unfamiliar Spirits

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Case study · Kweichow Moutai and the sauce-aroma cycle

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Teaching it · A 15-minute segment on the spirits of Asia

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Module 10 Quiz

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Teaching adults (video)

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Adult learning, Kolb and Bloom

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Learning objectives and the session arc

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Flights, methods and online learning

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Written Assignment 1 · Session Plan

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Deep Dive · Designing a Spirits Course from the Ground Up

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Case study · From "a whisky course" to what the team really needed

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Teaching it · A 15-minute segment on writing learning objectives

    9. (Included in full purchase)

      Module 11 Quiz

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Presence, questions and the tasting room (video)

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Preparing, presence, explaining and questioning

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Managing the group and teaching online

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Running professional tastings

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Educator Practice · Observe and Reflect

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Written Assignment 2 · Tasting Design

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Deep Dive · Running Tastings Online and Managing Risk in the Room

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Case study · An online tasting across three countries

    9. (Included in full purchase)

      Teaching it · A 15-minute segment on running a responsible tasting

    10. (Included in full purchase)

      Module 12 Quiz

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Assessing fairly and the AWS Educator Licence (video)

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Principles of assessment and writing MCQs

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Assessing tasting and presentations; feedback

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      The AWS Educator: Code of Conduct, Licence and CPD

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Deep Dive · Fair Assessment in Practice: Marking, Moderation and Feedback

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      Case study · Moderating two teach-back videos

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      Teaching it · A 15-minute segment on giving feedback

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Module 13 Quiz

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Reference tables and glossary

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Educator templates

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Practice exam (50 questions)

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Blind Calibration · Reasoning from the glass

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Your teach-back brief (video)

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Brief, rules and recording checklist

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Submit your session plan and teaching video

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Before you start: exam rules

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Final Examination

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Congratulations and next steps (video)

Ready to teach spirits?

Enrol today for USD 995 with 12 months' access. Questions? Call +1 (345) 938 0458 or email [email protected].

$995.00

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