cheers to the oregon bartenders’ guild

I am thrilled, thrilled I tell you. A group of bartenders, mostly from Portland but one from our very own little berg, Jeffrey Morgenthaler of Bel Ami, have just formed a group that I hope will encourage the OLCC to open up our market to urban drinkers, i.e., diversify their product portfolio beyond its very narrow parameters. It’s called the Oregon Bartender’s Guild,* and their five-point mission is as follows:
1. To establish a cogent & collaborative community of bartenders within the state of Oregon.

2. With this community, to increase the overall knowledge of beer, wine, spirits & cocktail production for the betterment of our craft.

3. To promote awareness of the craft within the public community, through both a developed relationship with the media & an educational platform to the general populace.

4. To secure a congenial relationship with OLCC, its agents & liquor companies to advance the procurement of more specialized & artisanal spirits in their portfolios.

5. To promote a wider, i.e., national & international, recognition of Oregon’s premier mixology.

I am especially interested in #4, because Jesus, some better tasting hooch is not going to kill us, since, as I know from the OLCC certification course, that one beer equals one wine equals one drink, and therefore we should have access to all the likker available. Plus, I’m almost out of Qi Black liqueur, dammit, and it’s too snowy to drive to California for a BevMo run.

So I wish them the best, and cheers!

* But as a cantankerous English teacher, I must question the placement of the apostrophe.

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