Cocktail Classes at The Colour Inn

A mini post about cocktail making classes, definitely something different to consider when thinking about evenings out.

Just before Christmas our friend Abi had booked 4 of us in for cocktail making classes at The Colour Inn in a veiled attempt to get us learning as we drink. For £25 we had a glass of fizz and learned how to make 3 cocktails which I thought was a bit of a steal for 2 hours of entertainment. We arrived just after 7 and parked ourselves on the bar stools greeted by a glass of prosecco. Jason the bar manager was fun and informative throughout and we relaxed into the evening rather too easily. We were first taught out to make a classic Champagne cocktail, a French 75 made with gin, lemon, sugars and topped with fizz. A cocktail created at the New York Bar in Paris in 1915, totally refreshing and delicious, definitely something I will be trying again. 

Just some of the many cocktails we drank and made

The next cocktail on the list was a Cosmopolitan, almost synonymous in many women's mind's with Sex and the City, my personal TV bête noire, but it's definitely not a cocktail that should be overlooked as it's actually pretty complex in flavour. We were shown how to get an intense orange flavour by lighting the orange oil from the peel as you squeeze it. This forms a mist of burnt orange oil over the surface of the cocktail and really makes it something special, you can also get a similar flavour by twisting the peel but it's not as intense. Much fun was had trying not to set our hands on fire.

Rich lighting orange oil over his Cosmo

Our final cocktail, by request, was a Pink Squirrel. I had had one of these at the 80s night the Colour Inn put on a number of month's back. A cocktail invented in the 60s and is definitely kitsch but less well known than other kitsch cocktails like the Pina Colada. This cocktail is fairly sweet but tastes just like cake and is therefore delicious. We have already replicated this at home so here is the recipe for you.

Pink Squirrel:
25ml Chambord
25ml Creme de Cacao
50ml Cream
Ice for shaking

Measure out all the liquids into your cocktail shaker, add ice to the top. Shake for about 30 seconds and then use the strainer on the lid to pour into a Martini glass. 

Pink Squirrel

So if you are looking for something different to do in a small group, check out what cocktail making packages the Colour Inn has to offer it definitely has enthused us to dust off our cocktail shakers and experiment a little bit more with our drinks at home. To see what cocktail classroom packages The Colour Inn has to offer, visit their website.