If you ever hear me say that "i'm not drinking again" assume that I'm still drunk or something because I love nothing more than a good cocktail. Earlier this week I went to a cocktail masterclass at Tom's Kitchen Birmingham with my blogger friend Sian Victoria. It still blows my mind how I ended up in a room full of Birmingham's Award Winning bloggers and there's little me. Anyway back to the drinkies!
Tom's Kitchen is now running cocktail masterclasses where you can learn about your favourite drinks and make them from scratch with your friends. Since the festive season is coming up, we did a Christmas themed class. For our session, we had Noel (his name is literally Christmas!), he was so entertaining and lovely which definitely uplifted the experience even more.
Before we started, we got taught about all the bar basics and how each equipment is used. For our first cocktail, we had a pretty strong one to get everyone out of their shell and into a boozy mood.
Before we started, we got taught about all the bar basics and how each equipment is used. For our first cocktail, we had a pretty strong one to get everyone out of their shell and into a boozy mood.
Lemon, Lavender and Thyme Martini
A classic gin martini with a floral twist, it reminded me of recipes you see on Pinterest. This one is definitely strong, it's almost pure alcohol! Made with lemon, lavender syrup, fresh thyme, gin and vermouth. I'm a massive fan of floral flavoured gin, so I really liked the lavender twist (I added a little extra of the syrup into mine hehe). It's not sweet and really calming. If you prefer your martini to be diluted, a really cool and useful tip we learnt is to simply stir it for longer before straining and serving because the ice has more time to melt.
Santa Hat
For our second cocktail, we had a Santa Hat. You can see that the sugar rim makes it look like an cute upside down Santa hat. This one is my favourite! Those that have a sweet tooth will absolutely love it. Made with tequila, orange liqueur, lime juice and pomegranate juice. It's sweet and fruity; you can't taste the tequila at all (well I can't lol). Which is great but also dangerous because it literally tastes like a yummy juice mix. I want to drink this all day long on Christmas thanks. Make that summer too! I think this would actually be a treat on a sunny day or at a pool party.
Aged Oak Alexander
Sadly the last one :(, we finished off the class with a dessert cocktail. If you like Pina Coladas, you'll love this! Me and Sian want to go back for more. It's made with oak aged vodka, double cream and vanilla syrup. I'm pretty sure that I'm missing an ingredient or two but there's only so much a girl can remember right? The aged vodka has a lovely woody scent to it; mixed with the vanilla it brings a different dimension of flavour to the drink. If you prefer a vegan version you can ask the staff and they'll switch out the double cream for soya milk.
So there's a little insight into the cocktail masterclass! I definitely recommend it as it's a great way to spend the evening with your friends and it was so fun to get hands-on shaking up our own cocktails. The service is excellent as they tailor it to your liking to ensure you have the best possible experience. For example, if there's a cocktail you don't like you can ask the staff to switch it for something else. The class cost £35 per person, which is a good value since each cocktail cost around £10 alone.
Which cocktail out of the 3 would you like to try?
TL;DR:
£35 per personYou get 3 cocktails per class
Each session lasts for roughly 2 hours
Disclaimer: Cocktails were complimentary