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

Mixing it up Mondays- New Restaurant in the South Loop

Hey everyone!! Happy Monday to all. Hope everyone weekend was as GREAT as mine was. I had the opportunity to visit a new spot in the south loop here in Chicago for the second time and was Impressed once again! My good friend Chasity "Bar Star" Beasley is heading up the cocktail program at Alain's a new spot that serves classic and unique flavors. I've had a different dish each time that I've visited and was satisfied both times. But more so for the reason of my blog, the cocktails!!

Chasity has taken a  seasonal approach to the cocktail menu and all have been great! She utilized fresh produce, a note to being one of Bridget Albert's students(Where we both graduated from in AOS class 14). Chasity's experience in the mixology world, from working at different bars all over the city have really come together to create some wonderful cocktails.

The Smoky Ginger Georgia Peach

The 1st time I visited was before the grand opening and the end of summer, so her summer cocktail menu was still on. I tried 3 cocktails, The "Smokey Ginger Georgia Peach",  The "Golden Days", and The "Twisted Julep". All three of these were excellent end of summer cocktails, to transition into fall cocktails. My personal favorite was the Smokey Ginger Georgia Peach. Very well balanced and a treat to see JW Black integrated into a cocktail. Alot of people are afraid to play with scotch, but this cocktail is a winner!! 

Chasity just rolled out her fall menu and I was in the restaurant on Friday night and its a couple more winners on there as well.. When you are at Alain's be sure to try the Autumns Fall Sangria,  The Classic Stoop, which is a Gin cocktail that features egg whites, rosemary and Grapefruit bitters, and the Golden Days which has taken a bit of a remix and made its way onto the fall cocktail menu. 

So when you're looking for a new place to visit for good food and great cocktails see my good friend over at Alain's 1355 S. Michigan Ave. in the heart of the South Loop. Here's a link to the website 

http://www.alainsets.com/

Unitl Next time 

Mr.Mixologist

Who is Tom Bullock?

A couple months ago I went to the annual "bartender vacation" Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans. At this event there is multiple events, tastings, parties, and dinners. This year one spirited dinner stood out to me the most... "The Life and Times of Tom Bullock." We took a dinner cruise along the Mississippi River listening to fine live music, enjoy wonderfully prepared food and enjoy some very nice Four Roses Bourbon cocktails prepared by a few bartenders most notably a good friend of mine Matt Seiter of St. Louis.

Tom Bullock was the 1st African American male to write and have his own cocktail book published,  The book was titled the Ideal bartender and was released in 1917. To this day, 95 years later, to my knowledge he is the ONLY African American to have a cocktail book published.  Mr. Bullock was born in Kentucky in 1871. He worked at various country clubs, and eventually became a famous bartender at the St. Louis Country Club where he served government officials and other dignitaries. He passed away in 1964.


George Herbert Walker, who ironically was the Great Grandfather of George W. Bush, was a HUGE fan of Bullock's cocktails and even wrote the intro to the book. The Ideal Bartender contains many pre-prohibition classic cocktails, most notably the Ramos Gin Fizz and the Mint Julep, and even calls for many spirits that we still use today in our cocktails..

The most impressive thing to me is that he was a Black man who was born right after the civil war, in the south, and to probably not be able to enjoy certain freedoms as others he was still able to make a mark on the cocktail world. As a African American bartender this book is very near and dear to me, and also gives me motivation to keep learning and perfecting my craft. Staying in my lane and being the best at what i do. If you are an AA bartender, I strongly suggest that you take a look at this book and support a piece of our history!

Check out this great recap of the dinner that BourbonBlog.com posted....

Until Next Time
Mr.Mixologist

***New Cocktail*** Xante Prickly Pear

Hey everybody!

With the re-introduction of DrinkxXx On Me Bartending Service and my website(www.DOMBartending.com), I've been quite busy and have been blogging over there. But I am back and showing my blog spot family more love. We will link the blog here to the DOM website so that we are covered on all bases.

If you follow me on Twitter/FB/Instagram, you know now that I work for Xante here in Chicago. Ive been creating cocktails, working events, and overall having a Kick ass time!! Recently we started a #BYOB(Be your own bartender) series, and I am giving out recipes each week that the consumer can try at home. So this week with Fall approaching, I have come with a new cocktail that embodies a nice Sunday of football, greasy food, and you and friends relaxing and sipping cocktails. I present the "Xante Prickly Pear"

Visuals will be coming soon. Check back here, or if you use the Instagram app follow me(MrMixologist) and you will be able to see what this AMAZING Xante cocktail will look like once you complete it.  So get to mixing and let me know how these cocktails come come out. If you Tweet enter hash tag #BYOB and send your pics of your Xante cocktail to @MrMixologist and @DrinkXanteChi

Until Next Time
Mr.Mixologist