Orth hinted at a new purpose he had for the bartenders that was going to be in one of the updates a while ago... but that wasn't long before he left. Maybe there's something around somewhere that didn't get put in? Or maybe the idea got sidelined then never got made.
Anyway, I wouldn't propose merely taking the ales from the inkeeper and giving them to the bartender. No sense in having two merchants sell what one easily could (without overflowing pages'n'such, which the inkeepers dont have a problem with.)
Unless Orth had a cool idea that hasn't been made/put in yet (if it just hasnt been made, send it to the project team

I don't have a problem with just removing the bartenders. Most innkeepers were their own bartenders in small inn's anyway.
-TV