Just in time for this holiday season, Kahlúa has assembled a who’s who of the entertaining world and made them available to consumers via a toll-free “Entertain Like The Experts” hotline, 1-888 Kahlúa Tips, and online at Kahluatips.com. Whether a holiday get-together is an intimate family gathering or a soiree for 50 close friends, professional advice from today’s top chefs, master mixologists, lifestyle experts and party planning specialists is just a phone call or a mouse click away.

Kahlúa’s panel of entertaining gurus dispense guidance about everything from dealing with uninvited guests and making introductions to party theme suggestions and stocking the perfect in-home bar. The team is comprised of:

Ted Allen – a judge on Bravo’s “Top Chef” and Food Network’s “Iron Chef America
Marcy Blum – founder of Marcy Blum Associates, a world-renowned event planning company
Elisa Strauss – cake designer extraordinaire and founder of New York City’s Confetti Cakes
Tony Abou-Ganim – The Modern Mixologist
Julie Edelman – aka “The Accidental Housewife”

Suzy Kilgore, Kahlúa brand director at Pernod Ricard USA says “We wanted to give consumers the unique opportunity to enhance their own home entertaining talents by giving them access to these amazing experts”.

When party throwers call in to 1-888 Kahlua Tips or log on to Kahluatips.com, they can learn about setting the tone of a party, using music to enhance the mood, how to better their conversation skills, whether electronic invitations or hard-copy invitations are appropriate, different schools of thoughts on using plastic versus glass barware, and a whole host of other useful guidelines for creating an event their guests will not likely forget.

Kahlua Party Tips
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Technology is amazing, this automatic cocktail maker cranks out an amazing 200 drinks per hour. The company says that the auto bartender will increase quality and consistency, reduce costs and loss and increase over all efficiency.

Of course, this may all be true, but will it innovate? While I am sure that this is great for vanilla chain restaurant, hotel and airport bars, it will never replace the neighborhood barkeep. Nor will it create amazing, innovative cocktails that the worlds best mixologists have been developing for decades.

Automatic Bartender

Dry Ice turns an ordinary party punch into a spooky Halloween brew.

Start with 2 punch bowls of different sizes. The smaller bowl will hold the actual punch while the larger bowl will hold the smaller bowl and the dry ice.

With tongs or gloved hands (dry ice can freeze your skin) , place chunks of dry ice in the bigger container. Place the smaller bowl on top of the dry ice.

There is no need to add extra ice to the punch as the dry ice will cool the punch nicely.

Just before serving, pour some hot water over the dry ice. Continue to add hot water and dry ice as needed.

Be very careful when using dry ice! Handle only with tongs or heavy gloves!
Do NOT put the dry ice directly in the punch or touch it with bare skin, it can burn and should NOT be ingested.

This is a handy tip for any aspiring bartender. Submersing the target beverage in a salted bath of cool water will hasten the cooling process and your drinking pleasure. Sprint (a site sponsor) has put together a fun site, waitless.org full of videos to help you save time.

To chill a soft drink, wine or spirit fill a large bowl with ice and cold water. Add 1 - 2 cups of ice and target beverage stir for two minutes and enjoy a icy cool beverage.

watch the video …

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The Strainer is easily the funnest of bar tools. Many strainers even come wearing a great big smile, and why not they are making great cocktails. The traditional bar strainer is made of stainless steel and features a coiled spring around the edge. The coils are used to make a perfect fit between inside a Boston Shaker or mixing glass, holding back the ice and releasing yummy goodness.

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It’s football season and that means tailgating and the Tailgator is Tailgating! This 25cc, 2 1/4 hp, gas-powered blender is like nothing else we have seen.

This machine is for some serious drink blending and major tailgating. It is even great for whipping up all kinds of dips, which go great with the margaritas that this blender has made famous.

Each TailGator is assembled by hand in the U.S.A. with strict attention to detail.

Let’s face it, it’s just super cool!

Get Your Gator Today!

This is an often asked question with a simple answer.

Here’s what to do

Combine:

1 Cup Sugar
1 1/2 Cups Water

in a heavy pan on low heat. Stir to with wooden spoon until all the sugar is dissolved. Run the spoon around the edge of the pan to keep the sugar from crystallizing. Next, bring the mixture to a boil for 3 - 5 minutes, scoop of any accumulated scum and remove from the heat. Let cool and pour in to a clean squeeze bottle. You can keep this in the fridge for a month.