At 9 p.m. on a cold Sunday night near Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, the Victoria Bar's School of Intoxication is in session. I'm an eager pupil, and at the end of the three-hour lesson on the art of mixing cocktails, I'm probably going to be saturated — with knowledge, of course. Award-winning bartender Stefan Weber knows it too, and so he cautions me and the some 40 other "students" at the bar to drink plenty of water between drinks to ward off the dreaded hangover.

"I am going to lead you into the realm of intoxication," says Weber with a mischievous grin. It's his job, as teacher and bartender, to share his extensive knowledge of "the pleasure of serious drinking," as he calls it,

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nginx/1.14.0 (Ubuntu) in this seminar that he holds fortnightly. You reserve in advance, and your session, which costs $48, includes five cocktails (for the champagne-based cocktail evening, it costs $60).

In the dim light, some people smoke cigars, and '30s swing music plays softly in the background in this intimate, '70s-style lounge. Weber's lesson will focus on cocktails with a brandy base, so the syllabus includes the brandy alexander, sidecar, brandy stinger, pisco sour and brandy flip.

History is an essential part of the syllabus. As Weber mixes a brandy alexander — a smooth drink made of brandy, crème de cacao and cream topped off with freshly ground nutmeg — his colleague, Beate Hindermann, tells us why German brandy cannot be called cognac. "It was prohibited in the Treaty of Versailles," she says. "And so German brandy will forever remain what it is — French cognac's little brother." By the end of the night, after absorbing Weber's instruction and concoctions, we leant a bit more heavily on the walnut-colored bar. And thanks to his initial tip, this pupil had no hangover the next morning. victoriabar.de

Berlin's Five Best Cocktail Bars
Bellini Lounge 42 Oranienburger Strasse, bellinilounge.de Located on one of Berlin's main nightlife drags. Find a place in the cozy back room and watch the tropical fish as you sip a Bellini, a champagne cocktail with peach juice. Try the green temptation, an award-winning house creation made of butterscotch, coconut and melon liqueurs and kiwi, lemon and passion-fruit juice.

Windhorst 65 Dorotheenstrasse, tel: (49-30) 20450070 Günter Windhorst doesn't have it easy: his bar is located next to the U.S. embassy, and post-9/11 security nearly blocked the entrance. But it's worth crossing the security line to sample the bar's downtown elegance and classic cocktails.

Riva Arch 142 Dircksenstrasse, riva-berlin.de An oval bar is the central feature of the room, and black leather couches line the walls below the brightly colored arched ceiling. Throw in the steady beat of minimal techno and house and a mixed-age crowd, and you've got one of central Berlin's hippest watering holes.

Wuergeengel 122 Dresdener Strasse, wuergeengel.de A Kreuzberg institution, this old-fashioned, wood-paneled bar trumps the pretentious chic often found in new locations in the former East Berlin districts of Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg. It's elegant drinking in a rough part of town.

Green Door 50 Winterfeldtstrasse, greendoor.de Ring the bell on the aforementioned door to get in, and sit at either the long wooden bar or in the dimly lit lounge. Green Door's aim is to weed out the beer guzzlers from the elegant drinkers.

• WILLIAM BOSTON, Berlin
• The Victoria Bar's School of Intoxication teaches its pupils the art of a good pour