THE GREATEST BARTENDING COMPETITION OF ALL-TIME!

Peter Jahnke - Loser Extraordinaire

Peter Jahnke and I are about to embark on a Houston bartending marathon. This upcoming Wednesday, April 27, 2011, we will be running all over the city like crazed maniacs shaking cocktails in as many area bars as possible.

The inspiration for this lunacy started on a day in which I made cocktails in three different Houston bars. In what was likely a fit of sleep-deprived insanity, I began to wonder how many Houston bars it would be possible to make a cocktail in within 24 hours. I was mulling these thoughts over with fellow Anvil bartender, Peter Jahnke, the most sarcastic and competitive asshole I’ve ever met. In classic Jahnke fashion, Peter started talking a bunch of bartender smack about how he was sure he could get to more bars than I. You have to understand that usually Peter’s drunken rhetoric claims of cocktail supremacy revolves around tiki recipes, of which I am more than happy to yield to his Tahitian knowledge, but there was no way in Jose Cuervo Serving Hell that I was going to forfeit to these over-ambitious claims. Thus, the Reverse Pub Crawl Competition was born.

What is a Reverse Pub Crawl aside from a stupid competition between two friends that will forever dominate alpha male, chauvinistic remarks out of guest earshot at Anvil? Well, simply put, it is a race in which we, the bartenders crawl Houston area bars instead of the classic pattern in which individuals (traditionally college students or those still wishing they were in college) travel to different bars. Peter and I have decided to turn this playful idea into a charity effort in which our bartending throughout the day will raise money to setup a non-profit to fund international water charities. To this end, we’ve developed some rules to generate more funds, while at the same time allowing for us to clearly identify what will be known as “The Supreme Ruler of the Reverse Pub Crawl – 2011” (a fitting and just title):

1) Peter and I cannot enter a bar more than once.

2) Peter and I may make as many cocktails for charity as desired in a single bar, but you only get credit for one stop – so make it quick.

3) All cocktails will be sold for $20 to help raise funds for charity. (Yes, this means you might have to convince someone in Seedy Dive Bar A to pay $20 for a drink before you can move on).

4) ALL MONEY RAISED GOES TO CHARITY!

5) A bar is identified as any establishment that has a Texas Alcoholic Beverage License for on-premise alcohol sales (no retail). This includes restaurants for the record.

6) Peter and I will meet at Anvil at 1:45 AM at the end of the day to establish a winner – that person will be allowed to pour a beer all of the other person. I haven’t actually formally checked this with Peter, but I’m sure he is ok with it…

7) Peter may not forfeit at any time like a little baby who knows before this starts that he is beaten.

Please help spread the word about this event. Our wonderful friends at Lush Life Productions are going to be filming our progress throughout the day, and Peter and I will each be tweeting from our Twitter accounts so you can keep track of us. HOPEFULLY, IF WE GET IN A JAM IN A RANDOM BAR, FRIENDS ONLINE WOULD BE WILLING TO BAIL US OUT AND SHOW UP FOR A $20 COCKTAIL FOR CHARITY – HINT, HINT.

You can follow both Peter and I online on Twitter throughout the day if you would like to catch up on where we are and show your support. Our Twitter handles are below. Please note: I kindly created Peter a Twitter handle since he didn’t have one before; he can thank me later:

Bobby Heugel – http://www.twitter.com/Bobby_Heugel

Peter Jahnke – http://www.twitter.com/PeterTheLoser

Peter and I are both extremely excited about how much fun we are going to have, but more importantly, we hope that all of this abnormal behavior in its own unique way will help to spawn a charity that will encourage bartenders around the country to spend one day each year working for others. You don’t have to start your own Reverse Pub Crawl (though that would be very cool), but if thousands of bartenders around the country took one day to work for others, we could have a huge impact on clean water initiatives worldwide. We spend so much time serving people drinks on a daily basis, I think it would be incredible if we came together to serve folks not sitting at our bars the most important drink possible. Wednesday’s event is just a start, but with a little enthusiasm, we feel it can be the beginning of something special. We hope to see you there – wherever there might be that day…

…and for the record, Peter, you know I love you man.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 25th, 2011 at 5:16 pm. It is filed under Bartending. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.