Drink Of The Week 5-22-10

Good Afternoon,

I'm trying something new. For all who are on my FB page, and my FB buisness page, I am leaving an opening for all Bartenders and aspiring mixologists to have a custom drink featured here. I mean I love my drinks, and i hope you all do as well, but its nothing wrong with a little variety....

So here we go. This weeks drink is a special one because we got 2!!! I mean the only thing better than 1 drink is 2 drinks right??? So our Featured Bartender is Ms. LaTonia Sanders(and my big sis by the way)

LaTonia has been in the business of serving liquor since 2001. She started out being a cocktail waitress at Timeout Sports Bar & Grill in Calumet City. As time went on, she realized that she could be a bartender and one of the bartenders agreed and she was the one that helped her on the journey, As the years went by, she began to do private parties as a bartender. At Pete's Sports Lounge she perfected how to make specialized drinks, how to make drinks just for particular patrons.

So here is a couple of LaTonia's famous Martini's....


The Blue Raspberry/PineTini

2oz Vodka(your preference)

1oz Rose's Blue Raspberry
Splash of triple sec
Splash of Pineapple Juice

In a mixing cup pour all ingredients, the shake well and strain into a chilled Martini Glass


The Raspberry Pomegranate Martini

2.5oz Vodka(your preference)

1oz Roses Blue Raspberry

Splash of Pomegranate

Splash of Triple Sec

Prep is the same as a classic Martini. Place all ingredients in a shaker, shake and then strain into a chilled Martini Glass.

As you can see, LaTonia really like Roses Blue Raspberry....Ive made both cocktails at home and enjoyed both of them. LaTonia has 2 great Martinis under her belt. And as I'm typing this blog she emailed me about 4 or 5 of her other specialities.

Thank you LaTonia for sharing your Martinis with us this week, and you guys can catch LaTonia working with myself and the rest of the Drinks On Me team when we provide bar services for YOUR private events. She is also on twitter( @luv4dalaw) so share your cocktail experiences with her on there as well.

Aspiring Mixologists and my Cocktail peeps please feel free to send your custom cocktails and a little background info to me to be featured in the Drink Of The Week in the future. Email your info to

DrinksOnMeInc@gmail.com

Until next time

Mr.Mixologist

What being a bartender means to me!

Hey everyone,

This blog post is a little different this week. No nice pics or drink recipes today. I want to address something that was told to me over the weekend. Alot of people ask and say to me all the time, "Why do you bartend?", Or "Do you do it you in it to meet some girls?" Or "Just get a regular 9 to 5, bartending is not a career" or my favorite question of them all, "It cant be that hard, all you doing is making drinks".

So I say to all, I cant speak for every bartender/Mixologist out there, but here is my opinion. I bartend because I have a love for the cocktail industry. Its more than just a job for me, but a passion and a way of life. Ive connected with some of the nations most respected and revered cocktailers and that has done wonders for my experience and knowledge while I'm behind the bar.

Bartending is not just a job. It is a trade and a craft. It is something that not everyone can do. Just like a Fireman, accountant, banker, lawyer, or any other job title, you need to go to get training, and in most cases go to school and finish with a certificate to show that you know what you are doing. Making drinks is only 50% of the job. Bartenders are marriage counselors, relationship advisors, psychiatrist, and in most cases just an unbiased person that you can talk to.

Bartending can be a career. There are many different things you can do in the cocktail industry. You can bartend, enter cocktail contests, blog, Flair bartending, cocktail consulting etc.. The industry is vast and it grows each and every day. I look at guys like Dale DeGroff and Tony Abu-Ganin. They are 2 of the best in our industry and have showed everyone in the business that they possibilities are endless to grow if you have a love and a passion for it.

So to all who think this is just something that anyone can do, and its not a "real"profession, I challenge you to come stand behind the bar with me any night I'm working and come find out really what this job is all about!!

To all my fellow Mixologists/Bartenders(there is a difference)Flairers, Cocktail bloggers, and everyone in the industry I raise my Shaker and salute you!! Cheers!!

Sorry for the vent but had a convo that inspired this post.

Until next time

Mr.Mixologist

Drink of the week for 5-15-10

Hey everybody!!! Well I was back at it again. Sitting in the lab and wanted to try something new. so I'm searching thru my iPhone drink apps looking for a new recipe. Came across the Girly Drinks Drink app( shout out to them, follow them on twitter @GirlDrinks) So I'm looking and found the Raspberry Cheesecake. Sounds Delicious to me so i gave it a shot.

Raspberry Cheesecake

1oz White Creme de Cacao
1oz Black Raspberry Liqueur
1 tbsp cream Cheese
2 Scoops Vanilla Ice Cream
1/2 Cup crushed Ice

This is a drink that you can "build" in a glass, but i chose to try it a little different way and put my own spin on it. So what i did was I took the Liqueur and i added a little Jamaica Rum to it for a little extra kick.

So in a mixing cup I took 1oz of Rum, 1oz White Creme de Cacao, and 1oz of Raspberry Pucker. Gave it a few real good shakes, and this is what i came out with............

So instead of just cheesecake now you have 2 Raspberry Martini's. Now while not a traditional Martini, I'm sure that all will enjoy these...

My way to get the Cheesecake flavor was to also add the Cream Cheese and Vanilla Ice Cream into the mixer, or put both in a separate mixer and strain and Layer it into the already made Martini.

So hope you guys enjoy this as much as i did!  A drink that you can enjoy at a bar/club, and something easy enough that you can make at home!

Also any drinks you would like to see, or suggestions please send me an email over to DrinksOnMeinc@gmail.com and I will make the cocktail then provide prep and my thoughts in the blog.

Until next time

Mr.Mixologist