Joey Houghtaling of Bay View's Blackbird Bar has been selected to be Milwaukee's finalist in the United States Bartenders' Guild's Most Inspired Bartender competition.

Houghtaling was chosen at the USBG's Milwaukee mix-off Sunday, Aug. 19 to represent the city at its annual Bartender Summit in Las Vegas Sept. 9-12, where he will compete against 52 top mixologists from around the country for the top title.

Get Houghtaling's winning drink recipe, the Gincectomy Procedure, below:

Gincectomy Procedure

2 oz. Bombay Sapphire
1 dropper Bittercube Bolivar bitters*
.75 oz. lavender syrup *
.75 oz. lemon juice
Skinny . 25 oz. Carpano Antica
.25 oz absinthe
¼ apricot

In a 5 oz. coupe add .25 oz of absinthe and swirl around the entire glass and put to the side.

In a mixing glass add syrup and apricot and muddle together. Add gin, bitters, lemon juice, carpano. Add ice to mixing glass cover with shaker and shake. Swirl the absinthe in the coupe one more time and dump. Double strain contents of shaker into the absinthe rinsed coupe.

*Bolivar Bitters flavor profile: cassia, chamomile, dried fruits

*Lavender syrup: 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, 1.5 oz. dried lavender and 1 strip of lemon zest. Bring all contents to boil, let cool and strain.