No. In Ontario the sale of alcohol is prohibited from anything mobile, but that actually helps us keep costs down for our clients since there is no markup. You can purchase your preferred brands, and we make sure we don’t open anything until we need to so that you can return unused alcohol. However, we’d be happy to help you create a shopping list - including quantities! - when we’re planning your menu!

Bar rail essentially means mixed drinks, for example a spirit (alcohol) and a mix (juice/pop).

In the Mixologist package, a Basic bar rail is included with up to 3 spirits. That means clients purchase up to 3 alcoholic options (the most typical spirits are vodka, rum, tequila, whiskey, and gin) for mixed drinks such as vodka sodas, rum and cola, gin and tonic, etc. Typically there are only two ingredients.

In the Signature package, a Premium bar rail service is included. This means clients can purchase more options (5 vs. 3) but also that they can choose to purchase liqueurs and bitters to make more complex mixed drinks, such as a martini, Old Fashioned, Cosmopolitan, etc., which have multiple ingredients.

The juice and pop mix for both bar rail services is provided by us.

For every event, we need to get the trailer positioned, hooked up to power and water, and set up ready to serve. Then, after last call, we reverse the process. Depending on your venue, package, and the travel distance, the time required to do that varies, and we don’t charge our clients for that part of the service. That means the hours outlined in each package represents the amount of time we will be serving guests at your event.

Since alcohol is provided by the client, we choose to leave that up to the discretion of the event hosts. We’ll confirm with you prior to your event whether you wish to allow shots, which can lead to increased alcohol costs and of course intoxication. Should you allow shots at your event, we reserve the right to refuse shot service if guests are too intoxicated.

Our bar trailer can be completely self sufficient with the use of our generator and mobile water tank. However, depending on your venue the generator may cause some unwanted noise, and the water will not be drinkable, and so if there are on site hookups available we always prefer to use those. After your booking is reserved with deposit, we will schedule a venue walkthrough, either in person or virtually, with you or your venue to ensure the bar trailer can be set up. Should there be any issues at that point, we will refund the deposit.

Typically, most venues designate last call at midnight, and so our packages are designed to work with that timeline. If you are working with a venue that allows a later last call, or if you have an event with a later start time, you can purchase additional service hours.

We can accommodate additional people up to a certain point, but we may need to add additional bartenders and bars to ensure lineups are managed. Feel free to send us an email with what you’re thinking and we’ll work out a custom number!

Our packages are structured around typical event lengths (for example, a 3 hour cocktail party or a typical wedding with a cocktail hour and 4 hour dance party), but depending on your venue you might be looking to add on an after party, extended last call, or a getting ready menu. Whatever you’re thinking, you can purchase additional hours at a rate of $100/hr.

Weddings are kind of our thing, and we’ve served quite a few. As such, we have a “sweet spot” event timeline that works best with the service hours included in our Mixologist and Signature packages:

4:30pm - Ceremony

5:00pm - Cocktail hour

6:00pm - Dinner (bar closes, wine on tables)

8:00pm - Dance begins

12:00am - Bar closes

While we’re happy to help with uncorking wine and setting them on tables, often this happens when people are hitting the bar right before dinner, and we want to make sure we have two bartenders in the trailer serving. Ideally you have a venue coordinator or caterer who handles placing the bottles. We do not have enough water to provide water service during dinner. If you pay for additional bar service hours to keep the trailer open during dinner, guests are welcome to help themselves to the water dispensers or bottles provided at the trailer.

If the bar is closed during dinner, we use that time to reset the bar for the next service window, prep garnish, restock coolers, etc. We also use that time to take our dinner break as well, and to do a garbage check to make sure any leftover remnants of cocktail hour are cleared up before the party starts!

We primarily serve the Muskoka, Haliburton, Kawartha Lakes, Barrie, and Newmarket areas. However, the Thirsty Hitch can be towed anywhere there’s a great party happening for a small fee per kilometre. We base our distance from Haliburton, and every kilometre beyond 50km is billed at $1/km. For example, if you are 100km away from Haliburton, you would be billed an additional $100 for travel (50 additional kilometres there and 50 additional kilometres back).

The first step is to email us via our Contact Form (click Book Now in our website menu or on your bar package selection) to find out if we have your date available and ask any questions. To lock in your date, we will invoice you a nonrefundable deposit of $500, regardless of package selected, with your contract. The balance is due 7 days prior to your event. All payments can be made via eTransfer to cheers@thirstyhitch.ca