The one. The only. The Illini Blue Guy. It’s a signature drink that came from the well-known bar KAMS. It is typical for college campuses to have signature drinks from their most popular bars; the Blue Guy is that drink for Illinois. KAMS, “The Home of the Drinking Illini,” has deals on Blue Guys throughout the week. The drink is often paired with the Illini tradition of “icing out,” where you grab all the ice out of your drink and chug. 

Blue Guys are made up of one shot of vodka and four to five ounces of a blue raspberry energy drink called “Bam!” It is super sugary and bound to stain your tongue blue almost instantaneously (which also makes for a great picture). Bam! also comes in a can, with a diet option available for those concerned about the sugar content.

If there are any alumni or off-campus students that miss the feeling of having a Blue Guy in your hand, they are available for delivery.

Blue Guys are also offered now in can form, and they are sold primarily in Champaign. The vibrant drink is so popular in the C-U community that during the pandemic KAMS sold Blue Guys to-go. During the shelter-in-place order, they offered a $20 package that included all the ingredients necessary to make 16 Blue Guys to help cure the KAMS drought that many college students were going through. 

So, if you’re 21 or older, ice-out some Blue Guys, take a photo of your stack of cups and wind down with your friends after class at KAMS.

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