burger boy and I were a bit excited to get a preview of The Laneway Lounge’s new bar school which launched last month.
In December, over a 45-minute intro class ($75 pp), we learnt how to make four cocktails and the fundamentals of cocktail making from THE Grant Collins, cocktail master and mixologist behind some of the world’s coolest venues including two of our favs W Hotel and Potato Head in Bali.
Before heading to the bar where we each had a notepad and pen, we were fed VERY well with canapés and powered with cocktails. We were told that we would be tested at the end of our bar session with a practical cocktail challenge (Masterchef style) and that we’d get bonus points for getting cocktail quiz questions right.
We learnt that the history of cocktails could be traced as far back to the nineteen century with the first ever cocktail being a martini and that most of the cocktails we drink today were first made during America’s prohibition period. The addition of water, sugar, other spirits and fruit was intended to cover up the bad taste of some of the poor quality spirits smuggled in by the bootleggers.
And like every good kitchen, you need quality tools to make an amazing cocktail (pretty obvious but a fundamental to making yummy cocktails!). Looks like I need to invest in a quality cocktail shaker, measurer, strainer, jigger and bar spoon (for when I can drink cocktails again)! Grant Collins emphasised that any good bar has to have quality ice to keep the cocktail cold, not to dilute the taste and juicy blemish-free fresh fruit.
This is our cocktail mix off…
burger boy and I aren’t martini drinkers so making one was a challenge – the face of one of the judges drinking our martini was classic
Fellow food blogger The Skinny Perth however was a bit of a cocktail pro – he won The Laneway Lounge mix off with his partner
Some of the yummy canapés we enjoyed…
I absolutely love The Laneway Lounge, I was first introduced to this gorgeous venue at their launch party and had been going back there ever since. I usually book their private dining room for the live jazz, cocktails and dinner.
I think The Laneway Lounge’s bar school is pretty good value as you not only drink 3 – 4 amazing cocktails but get to learn hands on how to make them at home. Contact The Laneway Lounge to book or find out more.
