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In event bartending, details matter. The difference between a mediocre bar experience and an exceptional one often comes down to ingredients and equipment most guests will never notice—but they'll absolutely taste.

We've seen plenty of mobile bar services cut corners in ways that directly impact drink quality. Here's what to watch for when hiring event bartending, and how Mile High Mixologists does it differently.

What to Watch Out For

Low-Quality Juices

Many event bartending services use store-bought pasteurized juice from plastic bottles. It's cheaper and easier, but it tastes flat. Fresh citrus juice is bright and tart—bottled juice is dull and one-dimensional. If you're paying for craft cocktails, the juice should be fresh.

Poor Equipment Quality

We've seen companies use galvanized steel ice bins (which can leach zinc into drinks and make guests sick), cheap plastic shakers that crack, and low-quality bar tools that don't work properly under pressure. Equipment matters when you're serving hundreds of drinks.

Gas Station Ice

Ice takes up half the volume of most cocktails and directly affects dilution and temperature. Small, irregular ice melts too quickly and waters down drinks. If a company is buying bags of ice from a gas station, your cocktails are suffering for it.

Cheap Disposable Cups

Thin plastic cups crack when guests squeeze them. Worse, many aren't even recyclable. If a company is using disposables, they should at least be high-quality and compostable.

Bottom-Shelf Mixers

Mixers make up a significant portion of many drinks. A Moscow Mule is only as good as its ginger beer. A gin and tonic is only as good as its tonic water. Cheap mixers from giant plastic bottles taste like cheap mixers from giant plastic bottles.

How We Do It Differently

100% Cold-Pressed Juices

We source cold-pressed juices from a local Colorado company for all events. Fresh juice is too important an ingredient to compromise on—it's what makes citrus-forward cocktails taste bright and balanced instead of artificial.

Professional-Grade Equipment

We purchase all equipment from commercial restaurant supply companies. Our ice bins are food-grade stainless steel. Our bar tools are designed for high-volume service. We're intentional about equipment because quality tools produce better drinks and safer service.

Proper Cocktail Ice

We use 1.25" x 1.25" cocktail cubes at every event. This size melts slower than standard ice, which means drinks stay cold without over-diluting. Your cocktail tastes the same on the first sip and the last sip.

Compostable Cups

When we use disposables, we source high-quality compostable cups that won't crack and won't add to landfill waste. They cost more, but they're the right choice for the environment and for drink quality.

Cocktail Bar-Quality Mixers

We stock the same tonic water, club soda, and ginger beer you'd find at Denver's best cocktail bars. We can always work with budget constraints, but our default is quality—because mixers are half the drink.

Why These Details Matter

Most guests won't know why their margarita tastes better or why their gin and tonic is more refreshing. They just know it tastes right. That's the result of dozens of small decisions made before the event even starts—decisions about ingredients, equipment, and standards.

Event bartending shouldn't mean compromising on cocktail quality. It should mean bringing cocktail bar standards to wherever you're celebrating.