A local bartender is among the final four contestants in a nationwide “cocktail challenge” fundraiser started in support of currently laid-off restaurant workers. Ryan McHugh, a Codman Square resident who tended bar at Grill 23 & Bar in the Back Bay before the coronavirus crisis upended barstools across the city, is currently competing in round six of a bracket-style regional tournament that featured roughly 100 bartenders from all over the country.

Ghost Tequila, the brand behind the contest, is contributing $1 for every vote cast in the competition to the Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund. The company is also chipping in a dollar for every bottle of their tequila ordered on alcohol delivery service platforms Drizly and Reserve Bar. So far, the initiative has raised over $15,000.

Chris Moran, the South Boston-based Founder and CEO of Ghost Tequila, told the Reporter his own background as a bartender prompted him to do something to help out.

“I started as a bartender and I launched the brand as a bartender, so the first thing that occurred to me when this madness started happening is that everyone I know will be unemployed. We’re not a multi-million dollar company so we don’t have a ton of dough, but we still wanted to figure out what we can do to help.”

Moran said in addition to starting a GoFundMe page, he’s been Venmoing money to the bartenders who participate as a way to compensate them for making the drinks.

“When I bartended, I was living paycheck to paycheck essentially and not saving a lot of money, so I’m imagining they’re in a tough spot right now,” he explained. “This is an opportunity for me to help out my industry people--they’re the most important people to us.”

The contest challenges participants to use their creativity and film themselves crafting a cocktail using Ghost Tequila and random ingredients they find in their house. For the first round of the contest, McHugh whipped up a concoction he called “My Happy Place” using Ghost Tequila, a can of cream of coconut that “had been sitting in [his] cupboard for two years,” a dash of habanero hot sauce he and his wife had brought back from their honeymoon in Belize, and a paprika and salt rim.

“I called it ‘My Happy Place’ because it was tropical and it reminded me of our honeymoon, so it was kind of nice because it brought us back to a different time,” explained McHugh.

Not every submission has been quite as elegant, however. His round three cocktail, “The Haunted Triple Deckah,” was a nod to Dorchester’s simple but sturdy architecture, and consisted of three ounces of tequila in a glass.

McHugh said he’s had fun with the contest, but is eager to get back to serving up drinks in person.

“It’s tough because what we do as bartenders, you know, we are the relief for other people. They come to a bar for a celebration, to get away, to escape their worries. Right now we can’t provide that, and that’s strange.”

Voting for the current round of the tournament began Thursday at noon and will remain open until 12 p.m. Saturday. To cast a vote, donate to the fundraiser, and learn more about the cause, visit ghosttequila.com/challenge.