Since Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans is going on as we speak, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to blog about the Post Katrina work we in Chicago have been involved in. The other night I had the pleasure of attending a fundraiser sponsored by the USBG (US Bartender's Guild). Peter Vestinomos, a mixologist from Sepia (Chicago), has been working on a post Katrina based project with the service industry from New Orleans. The downtown business area was one of the hardest hit sectors and they are working to develop a Bartender’s Guild chapter in N.O. to organize and strengthen professional bartenders. Ann, the developer of Tales of the Cocktail, was present along with a few key bartenders from The Big Easy. The event was held at Weeds Tavern which is a historic corner bar from the 60’s here in Chicago. The bar members helped to repair the patio area of Weeds in their agreed sister city bar make-over plan. They painted, nailed and did a little bit of everything, all in order to raise awareness and money to fund the New Orleans BG. Later this year the Chicago bar team will be headed down to the Big Easy to help repair a historic “Nawlins” bar. Weeds looked great with its new face lift and we had a great evening tipping them back. Cheers to everyone for the hard work and dedication to this project and this industry. - Alex
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