Rachael Neilson

Connect What is your favorite thing about being a bartender?

I love the people that fill the bar with different perspectives, energies and exciting life stories! It’s what made me fall in love with bartending; the gift to provide excellent service to amplify the random Tuesday or a rowdy bachelorette party! I truly can’t think of something more rewarding than the chance to make someone’s day to better, or be the listening ear when they’re struggling through the day to day of their lives. I’ve done this for the last decade and can’t imagine anything else.

What is your favorite drink to make and why?

This is an easy one! In 2022 I opened a cantina- providing a large list of tequilas to a beer driven port in Virginia. It was never my go to liquor on a night out but I loved the complexity of the drinks it had to offer! I knew when I created our famous 619 margaritas that this was the drink I was made to create. It can be super simple as a classic or diverse with flavors, rims, garnishes and aged tequilas. The Margarita is everywhere you go, it’s a piece of every bar in some manner

What would you do with the $20,000?

I would use the money to get some much needed renovations completed in my restaurant, pay off the rest of the loan my parents took out to help me start my business, and use the rest to reward my staff with bonuses. They all work so hard to make the establishment what it is. Without their support I wouldn’t be where I am today. We all work 7 days a week together and giving them some financial relief would bring me immense joy.