Why We Built This

It started with two bartenders in Venice, CA. Everyone who knew them called them Elvis and Money — nicknames earned somewhere behind the bar, the kind that stick because they fit. For years the two worked side by side, pouring drinks late into the night in the same beach town, building the kind of friendship that only comes from standing shoulder to shoulder slinging drinks behind the same bar, night after night.

Then Money moved back home to Chicago. This was the late '90s, landline to landline. Most nights around 2am in Chicago, which happens to be midnight back in Venice, Money would pick up the phone from behind his own bar and dial Elvis, who'd answer from behind his. Few words were exchanged. "Elvis get your shot ready" "Money lets' do this" They'd pour their shots, confirm they were both ready, knock them back together, and hang up the phone. That was it. Two old friends, two bars, two time zones, one shot.

Every so often, whoever happened to be sitting at the bar got pulled in too, handed a shot and told to get ready, because somewhere two thousand miles away, another bar was about to do the exact same thing. Dial A Shot was born What began as a standing ritual between two friends turned into the idea for something bigger: Other friends adopted dial a shot. A way to bring that same feeling, connection, celebration, showing up for the people you love no matter the distance to everyone else. Because the best nights were never really about the drink. They were about who you were sharing it with. So whether you're across the bar or across the country, Dial A Shot is here to help you keep that tradition alive. Pick up the phone. Pour a shot. Cheers to the friends who still answer at 2am.