Brandi Rivera

QUEEN OF COCKTAILS: The Santa Barbara Independent‘s Masters of Mixology Mix-Up kicks off tonight at the Wildcat Lounge with two semifinal rounds from 5-8 p.m. where Santa Barbara’s top professional bartenders will be showing off their best drinks. Deciding on which drink prevails and who moves onto the October 4 finals at Harry’s Plaza Café will be two panels of judges, including our very own human resources and accounting director Brandi Rivera, who’s been with the paper since March 2008 and started sampling various libations sometime after college, around the time that she “could finally afford anything but cheap beer.” So come see how Rivera’s cocktail taste has developed and watch the bartenders in action tonight and again next Thursday at Harry’s. Both nights run 5-8 p.m. and are free and open to the public, with a short supply of the winning drinks on sale afterward.