Announcing a new cocktail competition for Canada: Altos Tequila’s TAKES TWO TO ALTOS! This team comp will be taking place in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montréal over the next couple of months.
Just like us at Bartender Atlas, Altos Tequila has always been a big supporter of bartenders – the actual people that work hard to make bars great! This year they are the sponsors for @canadasbest100 Best Bartender of the Year and are also the official sponsor of @50bestbars .
We are excited about this comp because bartenders will compete in a team of two – this can be a co-worker at your bar or your best bartender friend in your city. There will be 3 phases to this competition:
REGIONALS will take place soon in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montréal. During each of these events, 8 teams of 2 bartenders will compete (that’s a total of 32 teams with 64 bartenders across Canada!). This leg of the comp will include a sensory deprivation challenge and a challenge to show us your unique twist on the Altos Margarita. The winning team of each city will then move onto the Semi-Finals.
SEMI-FINALS will have one winning team from each city competing: two of these teams will travel to the other teams’ cities to compete. This will be a “show us your city” challenge and both a panel of judges and consumers at the events will vote for the two winning teams.
FINALS will take place in Toronto in May. This challenge will be a Mystery Box Challenge between the two final competing bartender teams. The winning team will win a place at the Canada’s Best 100 event in Toronto to represent Altos and will also receive an all-expense Altos Tequila experience in Mexico!
Any Canadian bartender team can apply. Chosen teams to compete in each city for the Regionals must make their own travel arrangements. After that any travel costs will be covered by the Altos Tequila team.
If you are interested in applying head over to the link below. The deadline to enter is Mon, Feb 19th
INDEPENDENT STUDY DAY. We are so excited to host Toronto (and area!) bartenders on Tuesday for our first ever Independent Study Day. This will be a monthly event that will include a seminar and then ample time for talking, sharing and learning. Over the years of running @torontococktailconference we have seen the magic of what comes during the breaks between the seminars. When TOCC guests meet and have real conversations about what they just learned and what is going on in their bars and lives. Since the pandemic, we have noticed a real lack in mentorship. Not every bartender has an experienced person that they can go to to learn and grow from. We want Independent Study Day to become a hub for this. We believe that everyone has something of value that we can learn from and we believe in centre-out education rather than just top down.
Independent Study Day is meant for all bartenders of all levels no matter where you work. We want bar owners/managers to send their bar teams. We want people to carpool from outside of Toronto to come join in. We want you to bring your questions and frustrations and we want to work through them. We want you to bring new ingredients or cocktails or menus you are working on for feedback. In the end, we just want everyone drinking better drinks and we believe that this is a way to do that.
We would love to see you on Tuesday at @this_is_ahma . It begins at 12pm and we’ll be hanging out until 4pm. For this inaugural event, our Josh will lead a short seminar where he is going to dive into our goals with these events and will talk about things he is noticing in the industry as of late. We’ll then spend the rest of the afternoon hanging out (and eating pizza and having drinks!). Everyone and anyone is welcome. We cannot wait to spend time with you on Tuesday.
It is not mandatory to rsvp for this but it helps us to know how many people we can expect. Please email us if you are planning to come - [email protected]
On May 28th Bartender Atlas is turning SEVEN! Seven years of doing so many things with this community that we have built!
SMALL TOCC is taking place on May 29th so we are using our birthday as an extra excuse to celebrate that night! Anyone and everyone is welcome to attend the festivities that evening that are taking place at Mahjong. No ticket is required! Doors open at 8pm.
To kick off the evening, we will be hosting a classic Bartender Atlas cocktail competition. We have been doing these for 7 years now and they are always a lot of fun. This one will be a Mystery Cocktail competition so the competing bartenders do not know what they are getting into. One winner will walk away with $500 cash. This is a competition that requires zero prep from the bartenders ahead of time (you all know how much we hate anyone working for free!).
It's going to be a fun competition to watch so make sure you arrive on time to see the shenanigans and to kick off the evening right in celebration of the return of @torontococktailconference and our 7th birthday!
BARTENDERS! Interested in competing? Email us at Bartender Atlas ([email protected]) and tell us why you want to compete. You MUST be a bartender listed on Bartender Atlas in order to compete (not listed? Simply fill out the form here:http://bartenderatlas.com/join). Deadline to throw your name in the ring is Monday, May 15th.
Tickets for SMALL TOCC on May 29th are now on sale on our website here: https://torontococktailconference.ca/product/small-tocc-2023/
A few things:
- SMALL TOCC has limited capacity and is only open to professional bartenders and those who work in the hospitality industry. If you are not a part of the industry, we would love for you to consider leaving the space for someone who is.
- Tickets are General Admission and allow you access to all events. This date will include 3 seminars plus tasting stations, cocktails and an evening party. Your ticket includes attending the 3 seminars, spirit sampling, 3 cocktails at the daytime event and 2 cocktails at the evening party.
- The fun begins at 11am at Third Place (875 Bloor St W) and runs until 6pm. This is where the seminars and spirit samplings will take place.
- At 8pm, the party starts at Mahjong Bar (1276 Dundas St W) with a cocktail competition beginning at 8:30pm. This evening portion is open to anyone and everyone (no ticket required). Only ticket holders will receive 2 drink tickets.
- Thank you to the generosity of our sponsors who have covered all expenses for SMALL TOCC. All proceeds minus credit card fees from your ticket will go to the Parkdale Community Food Bank .
- Thanks to Dandurand Spirits and us, lunch from Vit Beo is also included with your ticket. This lunch is gluten-free and upon purchasing your ticket, you will be prompted to choose your protein for it.
- Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferrable. Only the ticket holder will be admitted with this purchase.
Questions? Do not hesitate to reach out.
Tonight is the big Vancouver Cocktail Week Gala and we are looking forward to checking it out with Disaronno
. We also cannot wait to see all of you chickadees tomorrow for the Disaronno Brunch at the Chickadee Room where Toronto's Christina Veira and Halifax's Jeff Van Horne will be slinging drinks. The best part of these cocktail weeks is the community aspect where we get to see so many friends in the span of just a few days.
#disaronno #italianliqueur #vancouvercocktailweek #vcw2023 #bartender #bartenderatlas #cocktail #instadrink #vancouver #vancouverdrinks
Next week is going to be all things Altos Tequila!
On Tuesday, February 21st we are collaborating with Altos Tequila on their Tahona Society Competition information/party event. The formal aspect of this event is private and we will be emailing all confirmed guests today. Any industry folks are then welcome to join us from 9pm onwards for a tequila or two at Mahjong Bar and meet @megsmiller who will be gracing out city for a few days.
On Wednesday, February 22nd, Altos Tequila will be hosting a masterclass at Pinkerton's Snack Bar. Details for that event will be shared soon.
The Tahona Society Competition is NOT a cocktail competition. Instead the focus is on developing a business idea that has something to do with the bar industry or hospitality sector with the purpose of improving the well-being of bartenders or consumers or the planet. This could cover anything from mental health, drink safety, personal safety, environmental issues, food wastage, climate change, etc. It needs to have a positive impact relating to the bar world. This idea needs to be for a new/undeveloped business and it can relate to your bar or can be a personal project. We love that Altos Tequila is hosting such an impactful competition like this. We are excited to see what the guests of the Tahona Society event submit for this competition and we are cannot wait to see who will represent Canada at the global finals in Mexico to try to seek that grand prize of 50K USD.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask us or our Brand Ambassador @scott.sips .
Whatcha drinking at home? We like something easy. These cute cocktail bombs from Poseidn are simple and fun and tasty. Jess, being bird obsessed, jumped on their Passion Sangria that is 3D printed into a peacock. Just add white wine and top with lime soda and you are set.
Bonus: they are made with all natural ingredients and are both vegan and gluten-free. Also, you get 10% off your order by using our code: ATLAS10 . Info here: https://poseidn.com/passion-sangria/
