Photo credit: Jenna Chabot

I had a gross violation of my rights a few weeks ago on a Friday night. My friends and I had gone to the bar and after waiting in line for half an hour we got up to the front. There were three friends of mine who were female that walked straight in and I was following close behind. I suddenly realized that someone had grabbed a hold of me. “There is a five dollar cover tonight,” a girl by the door told me as she clung to my jacket. “My friends just got in without paying,” I replied. She explained that tonight was lady’s night. By this time I was growing sick of having the girl pull me down from behind and I tried to pull my coat free, not with any great force. That action made the bouncer decided I was being a menace and told me I had to leave.

I usually do not have a problem paying a cover. In most places the idea of cover has very specific things it is supposed to do. Cover is what pays for the bands, it reduces overcrowding, and the most important job of a cover is to bolster the female to male ratio. Allowing women to enter the bar free gives men the feeling that there is going to be lots of women inside, even if there are not. By saying there is a ladies night bars are trying to use women to attract men to the bar, who will not only pay cover but, traditionally, buy more drinks than a woman would.

As much as the bars in East Lansing are a great place for relaxation, dancing, and meeting new friends they seem to take advantage of students more than in other cities. In many other college towns, bars and clubs do not charge cover because there is fierce competition between them to
attract students. Typically if a bar has cover students know to steer clear. But in East Lansing the scale between students and bars is so drastically tipped towards the student’s end that bars can charge whatever they like and there will still be a long line out the door. This is caused by a number of factors: firstly, the East Lansing Council is hesitant to give out too many liquor licenses, secondly, MSU has one of the largest student bodies in the country. I am not great at economics but I think it can be drawn on a supply and demand chart quite nicely. Too much demand, too little supply.

Americans seem to go along with the idea of a “cover charge,” of course there is an occasional grumble about the extra five or ten dollars. There are some countries that are upset about cover for completely different reasons, even having cases where patrons sue bars for charging unequal cover under anti-discrimination laws. In both the United Kingdom and Canada, there have been successful lawsuits banning the unequal charging of “cover”. People in the United Kingdom sued the bars and night clubs using their Sex Discrimination Act of 1974. The wording of the Sex Discrimination Act, in Britain, is not that different from equal protection laws in the United States. This gives some hope that a similar lawsuit in the United States could succeed.

A U.S. citizen may have the right to take action and sue under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This Act established that it is unlawful to use “racial, ethnic, or gender criteria in an attempt to bring social justice and social benefits.” More precisely, Title II of that Act outlaws “discrimination in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public accommodations.” Imagine the public disgust if a hotel listed different prices depending on if a person was male or female, black or white. Why then, is the price to enter a bar held to a different standard?

The whole act of charging cover seems under the table. Most of the time the money is stuffed into a drawer with no visible recording of how many people enter the bar, there is never a receipt issued. By law if there is a charge for entertainment they are required to pay tax on the cost of admission. It is speculation, but most bars are probably not paying all the taxes on cover they should, if any at all. Perhaps, the Michigan government should start to enforce this tax policy and help ease the budget deficit.

It is not a question of it is right or wrong to charge unequal cover but if the issue is popular enough to cause public disgust, because it is obviously wrong. However, it is not the responsibility of the government to regulate every wrong in society. It often takes a popular movement by a country’s citizens to bring about social change.

I stood behind the bar with my hands raised looking at the crowd of hundreds in my SoCo-soaked boots. At that moment I looked around and wondered what the fuck I was doing at Tripper’s flipping around liquor bottles on a Sunday night when most MSU students were at the library studying for midterms.

design credit: Brianna Ritivoy, photo credit: Kara Keller

I had to think back eight weeks to answer my question.

On Thursday, three days before the first round, my manager asked me if I would be interested in making some drinks for a competition.

“Uh, maybe,” I thought. “I’m not even a bartender anymore; I haven’t been since August, so I’m not exactly confident in my drink-making abilities let alone being judged on them.”

After she told me half of the Tripper’s contestants dropped out, I needed to give her an answer by close and I had to create an original drink recipe by Sunday night, I was floored. But in my usual bite-off-more-than-I-can-chew style, I agreed and got excited about creating (and taste-testing) my new drink.

After much recipe searching, tweaking and making, I gave up and decided to make an Orange Crush Bomb – a Tripper’s signature shot – into a drink and just wing it at Old Chicago on Sunday.

“How hard could it be? I’m just making two drinks, and I know that they taste amazing; I’m going to win for sure!”

I invited my friends and coworkers to come eat some pizza and cheer for me. I had no idea what I was getting myself into and really had no idea how prepared the other bartenders were.

I thought the competition was about personality and drink taste and only a few weeks long. If I lost, oh well, at least I’d get my Sunday nights back. If I won, I’d get to tell my managers how sweet I am. This is a win-win situation, right?

Wrong! Turns out, this competition was a pretty big deal.

Banzai Energy Drink and City Pulse were sponsoring the Banzai Cocktail Wars with a grand prize trip to Las Vegas. The Cocktail Wars pinned 48 contestants from 12 Lansing bars against each other in an eight-week long final four bracket style competition complete with a Blind Pig losers bracket.

Yeah, this was definitely more than just making a drink.

Sarah explained the judging rules to all of us:  20 points for audience voting, 30 points for flair and 50 points for drink taste.

So people had flair? And this flair is?

I found out that Inky, my competition, had plenty of flair. This flair included blue martini glasses, special garnishes, blue rock sugar and, oh yeah, a freaking blowtorch! My Flair? Oh, just a bit of smiling and red sprinkles. I was doomed.

She had two full sleeve tattoos, a cut off camouflage tank top and a cheering section that took up half of the bar. Me and my eight cheering girlfriends didn’t stand a chance.

I put on my happy face and made my drink anyway. I lost but walked away with an invitation to compete in the Blind Pig bracket and a suggestion to add sour to my drink. As my competitive side started to come out, I knew I was not quitting without beating someone.

Poston pours out her signature drink in the heat of competition.

I practiced the whole next week and the Orange Crush went from an orange drink in a boring pint glass to a martini rimmed with Strawberry Pop Rocks and an orange. It was sexy and delicious, so what wasn’t to love?

The next week I competed at a small Lansing dive bar that I’ve never heard of – the Colonial. I only had one person cheering for me, but I was determined to kick some ass. I beat a boy who wasn’t a bartender but decided to compete as a favor to his uninterested girlfriend. I walked away with a smirk on my face and an invitation to compete at Leo’s Outpost the following Sunday.

At the log cabin themed Leo’s, I arrived with my one fan feeling pretty confident after my last win.  I was ready to bring it until I saw my competition talking and laughing with the judges and competition organizers. I was nervous, but then I tasted his drink. Let’s just say, the main liquors were different flavors of Smirnoff and it tasted like something I made in my freshman dorm room. The judges agreed, and I was on my way to the next round.

The following week I was told the marketing director was organizing a photo shoot for the remaining contestants.

“Oh God, a photo shoot? On Saturday morning? In Lansing?”

After getting lost for 20 minutes I found the creepy warehouse that we were shooting at. While I waited for an hour freezing without heat to get my picture taken, I got to chat with Michelle and Christy, two other bartenders. During the photo shoot I had to “look natural” while holding a martini glass still, smiling, being fanned with a cardboard box and having a flashbulb the size of a pizza pointed at my face. I thought it must have been a disaster, but no one would see it right?

No one besides the Greater Lansing Area?!

Oh yeah, my picture, along with seven others, was featured in a full page City Pulse advertisement. I got calls and emails about it, and my sister decided to save it for the “wedding box,” a box that I didn’t know existed, but apparently it’s full of embarrassing photos of me.

“Thanks, Cassie.”

Next week was the semi-finals, and I was competing against my new friend Christy at the Draft House. Obviously I wanted to move on to the finals; they were being held a Tripper’s, but I wouldn’t’ be that upset if I lost to Christy. Knowing I had to step up my flair, I practiced flipping empty drink shakers. Turns out it’s not that impressive compared to the bottle-throwers.

Christy was up first, but she dropped her Smirnoff bottle and shattered it.

“Good, no pressure. I can’t do worse than that, I might even rock it.”

Well, I dropped a bottle too, but luckily mine landed on the bar mats that were put down minutes before. Because of a quick recovery I won by four points and was headed to the finals!

In the off-week I practiced my shaker-flipping and bottle-throwing skills meanwhile Tripper’s developed some photos.

When I walked in to work on Thursday I found 50 of my pictures staring back at me, including six poster-sized portraits above the bar!

Poston pumps up the crowd (photo credit: Kara Keller).

I was everywhere.

There was even another quarter page City Pulse ad, featuring just me.

“Great,” I thought. “More filler for the wedding box.”

I was super nervous but excited; I was the only person representing Tripper’s on our home turf. I was set to compete against a randomly-drawn wild card bartender. If I won, I’d face Inky again.

Not that many wild card bartenders showed up and, as fate would have it, I had to compete against my newly ex-boyfriend, who was also a coworker.  The air was thick with irony, but of course I pulled myself together and won!

Next I was up against Inky and her blowtorch. Even though I had my flipping, throwing and even a cute little saying (“Tripper’s, I’ve got a crush on you”), I still couldn’t beat her.

Michelle, from Brandigan Brothers, won against the crowd favorite, Curry, and moved to the final round. Both were amazing, but Inky won and walked away with the trip to Vegas and an oversized cocktail trophy.

Maybe it was destiny or maybe it was her intimidating blowtorch, but Inky was the Cocktail Champion. I reassured myself with a few Orange Crushes and called it a night. I had a great run on the competitive cocktail circuit, but I have to admit, it sure will be nice to lose the Monday morning hangovers.

Katie Frey celebrated her 21^st birthday for four days.  Sounds like the perfect formula for an epic hangover, right?  However, the MSU student decided to only drink during one of those days.  The rest of the time she chose to spend with family and friends, completely sober.

“I’m really glad I chose the way I did.  I got to celebrate with all the people that I wanted to and in a way that I could remember everything,” Frey said.

Frey spent the evening of her birthday having dinner with her family.  She had one glass of wine at dinner and went for a couple of drinks with her best friend later that night.  After that she spent the next two days without alcohol having game nights with friends in East Lansing and her hometown.

“I really wanted to spend quality time with all my friends, and most of my friends are under 21,” Frey said.

Finally, on the fourth day of celebrations, Frey had a picnic with her extended family and also her boyfriend’s family.  Again, she didn’t drink, deciding that she had plenty of time to go out to the bars later.

“I really believe that life can be just as rich and wonderful and fun and adventurous and crazy without alcohol,” Frey said.  “Drinking can be fun, but if you let it consume your life, you miss out.”

Andrew Rutherford, who turned 21 during finals week in December, cited safety as an important element to remember.  Rutherford said that his mother, who works at Sparrow Hospital, sees people being brought in to have their stomach pumped all the time.

“I think a lot of people just think that people go out with their friends, and they’ll go to the furthest extreme they can get,” Rutherford said.

Rutherford decided to take a break from finals and celebrate his birthday with friends at a local restaurant.  He had a few drinks throughout the night and paced himself.

Rutherford said that he had too much going for him to mess it up by getting into a risky situation.

“I think people on their 21^st birthday, it’s like they made it and they just don’t care for a night, and that can be really dangerous,” he said.

While some individual students are shying away from the stereotype of overindulging on their 21^st birthday, managers of East Lansing bars are also encouraging celebrating carefully.

Paul Stewart, manager of Crunchy’s, said that he wants customers to enjoy themselves while celebrating responsibly.

“Being able to go to the bars is part of college life, but it shouldn’t have ill-effects against your college life,” Stewart said.

In order to achieve safety for customers, Crunchy’s and many other East Lansing bars are members of the Responsible Hospitality Council (RHC).

According to the RHC webpage, “The purpose of the RHC is to adopt practices that promote responsible advertising, safe on-site management, community stewardship, compliance with state and local liquor laws and responsible alcohol consumption by our patrons.”

Stewart, who is an executive board member of the RHC, explained that the RHC has specific rules for patrons celebrating their 21^st birthday.  According to a Best Practices document, a few of the rules include:  the celebrant and designated driver are identified, the table may only have one server, no one is allowed to order directly from the bar and service will be refused to the table if it needs to be stopped to any member of the table.

According to the website, there are currently 17 establishments that are members of the RHC.

Francisco Delatorre, manager of Harper’s Restaurant & Brew Pub, said that Harper’s tries to avoid hosting 21^st birthday parties.  He also said that patrons are not allowed to become very intoxicated because his employees are trained to recognize the signs of too much to drink.  He advised that students not drink too much on their 21^st birthday and to definitely not drive after drinking.  According to the RHC webpage, Harper’s is a member of the RHC.

Chelsea Grantham is another MSU student that chose to not drink too much on her 21^st birthday.  Grantham said that she drank less on her 21^st birthday than she had on previous birthdays because she wanted to have fun and remember it, too.  Grantham also said that she didn’t want to adhere to the stereotype of getting too drunk.

Grantham said that students might feel pressured to drink more on their 21^st birthday because strangers will buy them drinks, and people are encouraged to do “more shots than average.”

It is possible to not have to be carried home after turning 21.  Some MSU students are not always overindulging, and bars are encouraging that.  Either way, students should be careful while celebrating.  After all, being able to remember the experience and the stories that go with it is half the fun.