Blessed to be a Blessing Toy Drive

We have the privilege of being one of the sponsors at the 3rd annual Official Anais Toy drive, benefiting A New Me foundation. Last year it was our 1st year and was held at the Lacuna Artist Lofts and was a memorable experience. This years toy Drive will be held at Donna's Cafe at 1255 S. State Street from 4p-7p.

A New Me Foundation is a non for profit organization that provides for victims and survivors of Domestic Violence. Randi Knight from Soul 106.3 will be a special guest host and speaker at this years toy drive which including US will have sponsorships from 1604 Designs, the Hip Hop Democrat, Speak H.O.P.E., and others.

So please come out, support a GREAT cause, and help someone who is probably less fortunate than you are. Its always better to give than to receive, and we are giving back by sponsoring and providing everyone with a pretty tasty Caliche Rum cocktail at the event. Also as an incentive to my readers and to everyone who makes it out, whomever makes the largest donation(whether monetarily or gifts) will receive a FREE 4 hour in home event with DrinkxXx On Me and Mr.Mixologist. So get there, network, and help some people in need!!

Until Next Time
Mr.Mixologist

Happy Repeal Day!!!

Happy Repeal Day everyone. On January 16th, 1919 congress passed the 18th amendment outlawing alcohol consumption and sales. Repeal Day is the day that Prohibition ended with the passing of the 21st amendment of the United States on December 5, 1933. This year marks the 79th anniversary of this great day! 

During Prohibition, people continued to produce and drink alcohol, and bootlegging helped foster a massive industry completely under the control of organized crime. Drinking in speakeasies became increasingly fashionable, and many mothers worried about the allure that alcohol and other illegal activities associated with bootlegging would have over their children.  
The most effective depiction of prohibition era bootlegging, in my opinion,  and some of the tactics and things that were going on in this time of history is on my favorite television series Boardwalk Empire. Ironically I found out that the state of Utah(a Mormon state) was the one who ratified the 21st amendment, giving the 3/4 threshold needed to enact the 18th amendment. 


So take this day today, go out and celebrate responsibly, and enjoy a classic cocktail. Ill be celebrating with some friends this evening over some Zacapa Rum cocktails. I'll leave this posting with a few visuals from Prohibition and post Prohibition... 

Cheers,

Until Next Time
Mr. Mixologist

TONIGHT!!!!!! Drink for a Cause!! NEW YORK STATE OF MIND!

With Hurricane Sandy affecting New York and New Jersey last week, Some of my USBG NYC brothers and sisters were affected. So now its our time to help them out. TONIGHT at Salud Tequila Lounge. Myself along with 17 other of Chicago's finest will be serving Beer, Punch, shots, and food for any and all who come thru. 8pm-2am in one hour shifts 3 bartenders will be "guest bartenders" to serve you. 100% proceeds and tips go to our friends on the east coast. $20 donation at the door is suggested, and with that gets your food and drink.  Raffles with some AMAZING gifts, dinners, a Fernet Bicycle, a St. Germain Bicycle, and many many more... 

If you re not anywhere tonight this is where you should be!! 8pm-2am. My bar shift is from 9p-10p, So come out and DRINK FOR A CAUSE!!! I'm in a New York State of Mind today and you should be too!! 

See you all tonight!!!! 

Back to the Rack!!!! *****Updated******

******* UPDATE!!!!!*******

With Hurricane Sandy hitting New York and New Jersey, we will not e able to attend Speed Rack this weekend. Speed Rack will be postponed and the tentative date is December 10th. Be on the lookout for details. To get involved with helping the USBGNY and donations for NYC visit the speed rack website here---> http://www.speed-rack.com/

Last year I had the opportunity to work at a very special event. Speed Rack was introduced to me and was one HELLUVA event!!! What speed rack is, is an all female bartender competition, created by female bartenders, where the bartenders get graded on speed, technique, and accuracy. All the proceeds from Speed Rack go to fight Breast Cancer. So its a great cause and worth donating monetarily and your time.

The way it works is Speed Rack is a National competition that focused on certain markets. In each market bartenders go head to head, a square off if you will, and have to make a round of drinks randomly. Each bartender is graded on speed, accuracy, taste, and presentation. Its a round robin elimination comp, and the winners of each market will meet in the final event of the year for a winner take all showdown to be named Miss Speed Rack!! 

From personal experience of serving punch at this event last year this is a GREAT time. Great people, Great cocktails, and an even BETTER CAUSE!!! So get out and look for speed rack in your city. Next up is NEW YORK CITY on November 4th. I will be there and supporting my NYC ladies!! NYC come on out!!!! 

For info check out http://speed-rack.com/

Check out this Speed Rack Teaser

Until Next Time 

Mr.Mixologist

Cocktails and Cupcakes Event

Wonderful Friday night was spent doing something positive. DrinkxXx On Me Bartending was honored to be able to volunteer our time at the Blue Sky Bakery, "Cocktails and Cupcakes" fundraiser last night. Blue Sky Bakery provides homeless and at-risk youths with employment and skills to help them become productive members of society.

The youths at Blue Sky Bakery, when hired, get 12 weeks of paid employment and get skills in cash handling, cooking, baking, maintaining a sanitary work station, deliveries, and customer service. When we were approached to volunteer our time for this fundraiser it was a no-brainer. The concept of this event was to taste 1 of 4 specialty cupcakes for the night then the USBG Mixologists( DOM Boss Josh Davis, Carol Donovan, and Bryson Ryan) picked out spirits and created cocktails to pair with the chosen cupcakes.  My cocktail was paired with the sweet potato cupcake. I had Admiral's Nelson Spiced Rum. So what i did was a variation on the Dark and Stormy cocktail, and created "The Dark Knight"- Admirals Nelson, Cinnamon syrup, fresh lime, Ginger beer. Needless to say that cocktail along with Carol's,and Bryson's was a HIT!!

Alot of fun was had and we supported a GREAT cause!! To check out and learn more about Blue Sky Bakery look at their website here ---> http://blue-sky-bakery.org/


Until Next Time
Mr.Mixologist

*** New Cocktail ... "Rising to the Top" ***

Hey everyone! Here's the newest cocktail in the Xante #BYOB series that I've created. This time I'm taking a little different approach to the series. With the weather changing, and Fall being here whiskey and cognac cocktails are becoming more of the commonplace. So the next few drinks in this series will be adaptations and variations on some classic Cognac cocktails. Since Xante is cognac based, its been alot of fun to see how it fares in being the base to these great cocktails. So for your next "Be Your Own Bartender" series cocktail, this is my variation of the Summit Cocktail...

Cheers, and hope you enjoy this cocktail at upcoming events that you catch me at. And if you try your hand at re-creating these cocktails please tweet of FB them to me using the hashtag #BYOB .

Until Next Time
Mr.Mixologist

Sh*t People say to Bartenders

OK so this video was soooooo funny I wanted to share this with some of you. I honestly think I've heard everything that has been said in this video and hear them multiple times when I'm working. Hope you all enjoy this as much as I did watching. Oh and take notes.. if you say some of these things, this might be why the bartender hates you.. lol

Cheers,
Mr.Mixologist