Portland Cocktail Week.... 1 word. WOW!!! I spent some of last week in the state of Oregon with about 200 other bartenders from all over the country. This was a great event to learn, associate, drink( we are bartenders) and generally remember why we chose this profession. This was my second time at PDXCW and this event has really set the bar for events in the future. So instead of just giving you a long recap of the entire week, I want to share with all of you my personal Top 10 moments from the week. Some will have visuals included.. Well the visuals that i can share.. lol

So here we go....

10. Winning 2nd Place in the Templeton Rye Shoes and Cue Horseshoe tournament.
Never played Horseshoes before, but drank plenty of Templeton and myself and my teammate Toki made it to the finals.

9. Swig and Swine 2013
The Bon Vivants did it again!! Always a great party, always for a good cause. Trashcan punch and plenty of Pig. AND all proceeds go to charity. I think Im going to gather all my Pig and Punch and Swig an swine t-shirts and have them framed.

8. Hale Pele
No other words be spoken.. Great Tiki Bar in Portland run by my main man Jesse Card.


7. Education
2 days, 8 classes. lots and lots of information. My course was "Beyond the Bar" Took classes on sponsorship, Brand Ambassadorship, Dealing with the Press, Making cocktials on Camera, just to name a few.

6. Hennessy Dinner
The Uptown Billards Club was turned into the Hennessy House for the evening, where my Bar Major group enjoyed a 4 course meal paired with 4 cocktails made with the different expressions of Hennessy Cognac.

5. Rum Club shenanigans
Hanging with my "Superfriends" group of bartenders. the 6 of us shut down this great Portland cocktail bar 2 nights in a row. Thank you rto Adam and the rest of the team there for the cocktails.

4. Bar Mashup
1 night, 4 bars. We traveled by limo and Party bus between 4 bars in one night. Oven & Shaker, InterUrban, Hale Pele, and St. George Mobile Libation laboratory. Not to mention we shut down Rum Club after... EPIC night!!

3. Man I love them Strippers
Im sure we paid a few ladies college tution over the past week, lol and I wont name names but we sure enjoyed our after school wind down time at Union Jacks, Sassy's and Mary's to name a few....


2. Field Trip Day
On the 3rd day we all had field trips to choose from. Mine was sponsored by Talisker and I had the opportunity to learn how to navigate and sail a sailboat. A once in a lifetime opportunity and I truly enjoyed being out on the water for 3 hours watching fighter jets fly above, and sailed right into Mount Hood. A religious experience

AND THE NUMBER 1 MOMENT OF THE WEEK WAS..............................

1. Murray Stenson
We had a service class and Mr. Murray Stenson was once of the speakers. If you don't know who he is, google him. He is a very instrumental person in the service industry and he got a standing ovation upon walking up to the podium. I even got the opportunity to chop it up with him for a moment and felt like I knew him forever. Great, GREAT person.


So that didn't even begin to touch how great of a week I had, or even all the things we did., This was just a few of the highlights for myself that stood out. I cant wait until next year to go back again.. Cheers to everyone I met last week and to my old friends who reconnected with me. I cant wait to see you all again!


Until Next Time
Mr.Mixologist