Tech Cocktail 9 closed out this past Thursday in Wrigleyville in the fabulous upper room of John Barleycorn. This was Tech Loop's first ever visit to a Tech Cocktail event, so by basis of comparison, we were quite impressed with the networking and social atmosphere offered at the event.

Tech Cocktail is a local tech community founded by Eric Olsen and Frank Gruber with a mission to “amplify the technology signal in under served markets and have fun doing it”. Because not every city can have the accomplished technology scene like Silicon Valley, these guys would like to do everything they can to amplify the local tech culture here in Chicago. For that alone, a geek like me has to commend them.

Tickets were reserved via online RSVP and by the looks of the bash, all of the tickets were gone before doors opened. We would like to note, however, that it isn't all that difficult to get in without a ticket – the event staff simply had no idea what to do with the tickets. In fact, we would venture to say that 10% of the folks that attended were there for the free booze and had no business being at the event whatsoever.

Because I had never personally attended a Tech Cocktail meetup, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I have been to a few tech meetups in Chicago, and I was really just hoping that it would be better than September's Gizmodo meetup. I walked in without question from any of the staff, proudly jotted down my name and affiliation on my name badge, and waltzed over to the bar, unsure if I would have to pay for a drink. Upon ordering, I quickly whipped out my wallet in anticipation of paying, but the bartender just gave me that “it's on the house” smile. I was quite relieved :-)

I drank up my first bottle of suds as I waited for some friends to arrive and took in all of the gloriously geeky atmosphere. There were laptops everywhere, and the TVs that would normally play host to a Cubs or Blackhawks game were littered with the logos of the event sponsors, namely Microsoft. I thought to myself “gee, no wonder they can afford an open bar, they've got the monopoly man sponsoring their event!” Ehh, ehmm....Andy and I later joked that the event probably cost Microsoft about .00000001 percent of their daily revenue.

I was relieved to find that the atmosphere was not at all as pretentious as the pictures of previous Tech Cocktail mixers would be, in fact, it was quite the opposite. After everyone had guzzled down a couple beers or mixed drinks, the crowd became very friendly an talkative. I spent time talking with a couple friends from college, and also spoke to some local tech heads with their own glorious dreams of tech stardom in the Windy City.

I also had the chance to speak to a few vendors who were on hand doing product demos, pic up a couple of freebies, and get some business cards of potential future contacts. My only real gripe was that the tech demos were set up at the tighter side of the bar near the wall so after the room was filled, there wasn't much room to get in and see the vendors or get a drink. I would like to see the Tech Cocktail folks either A) give out fewer tickets, or B) choose a larger venue.

Much like the Digg meetup, this was quite an awesome bash with plenty of tech-networking to be had by all. I am pretty sure that the crew at Tech Cocktail could have easily made this a Friday or Saturday night event and had it run into the wee hours of the morning until the bar closed – even if they had to stop running the free drink special and rev up the cash bar.

Tech Loop HIGHLY recommends that you attend the next Tech Cocktail event (10?) here in the city. Whether you are a tech junkie, industry insider, entrepreneur, or just a run-of-the-mill video game geek that needs more of a social life (you know who you are). I'd also like to take this chance to thank the guys from Tech Cocktail on behalf of the three Citizen staffers that attended the event – we had a GREAT time!

All images are courtesy of the great guys over at Tech Cocktail.

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