Local Lady Bartenders Headed to Speed Rack!

As we all know, the cocktail industry is one of my favorites — but it is no different from many others in terms of being dominated by men. So, it is great to see an event and competition created by women, for women bartenders. Speed Rack is a cocktail competition, for the ladies only! And, we have two of our very own headed to compete!

On March 26th, Jessica Sandberg and Carly Bringhurst will head to Denver to compete for a spot in the finals, which will be in NY. Both have a great resume in bartending; you can find them both slinging drinks at Undercurrent Bar, and Carly will be bartending at the new Lake Effect, which opens THIS WEEK! Everyone in Salt Lake is cheering them on — especially the ladies in the industry who are quite certain they are going to kill it. Jess and Carly asked me to take some photos for them to prep for Speedrack, and I am so excited for them both!

Speed Rack was founded by two lady bartenders, who wanted to give women a chance to be highlighted — but don’t be fooled, this competition is one of the toughest, and as the name suggests, based on speed. Each bartender is charged with making FOUR cocktail in TWO minutes or less! I don’t know about you, but that gives me some anxiety just thinking about it (this is also why I am a homebartender, and not a professional one). But here is another kicker — the judges can pick from 75 cocktails for the women to make during the competition, so not only do they have to be quick, they have to have a huge number of cocktail recipes in their heads to pull from. It is quite intimidating!

You can find out more about Speedrack and see what these lady bosses are getting themselves into HERE >> , as well as watch some VIDEOS >> of the competition in action. It is pretty crazy! Also, 100% of proceeds from the events in each city go towards breast cancer education, prevention, and research. Rad.