burger boy and I were excited to get a preview of The Laneway Lounge’s new bar school which will be launching in April this year.
Over a 45-minute intro class ($90 pp including canapés), we learned 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 with 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 learned that the history of cocktails could be traced as far back to the 19th century with the first ever cocktail being a martini. I also found out that most 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 🙂 We gained points with The Laneway Mule and Margarita Ice Cream but our martini wmade history that day for being really bad!
Fellow food blogger The Skinny Perth however was a bit of a cocktail pro - he won The Laneway Lounge mix off with his partner 🙂 check out his bar school blog post here.
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 for $90. Not only do you get to drink 4 amazing cocktails and a selection of their canapés, but you take home practical bar skills to make your own cocktails. Contact The Laneway Lounge by email chillout@thelanewaylounge.com.au to book or find out more.
