Cocktail Making Masterclass at Revolution Oxford Road

Last week, a few of us bloggers were invited along to try our hand at cocktail making…who was I to say no? A cocktail making masterclass? Hells yeah!

Cocktail Making Masterclass

First things first, I have to admit, as a thirty-something who didn’t spend her student years in Manchester, I rarely venture out along Oxford Road, particularly at the far end of it, which is where Revolution Bar is located. So when I was invited to pop along, I was certainly intrigued.

We went on a Thursday evening and arrived at around 6.30pm and the bar downstairs was buzzing nicely. But we were quickly beckoned upstairs to the private bar and lounge area…oooooooooh! And when we got up there, I was so surprised at how much space there was and how cool it was! It’s such a great space for parties and events, with a large private bar and loads of lounge furniture to enjoy.

Vodka, vodka and more vodka

After meeting up with the other WeBloggers and having a good ol’ natter, we were given a bit of a talk through Revolution and it’s new in-house hand-crafted vodka – Ketel. In fact, we were shown the menu of vodka flavours available and there were 30!

So just to get us warmed-up, we were invited to choose a flavoured vodka to try and naturally I went for Peanut Butter & Jelly – what the…?! It was surprisngly nice, but not peanut-y enough for me and not a patch on the Salted Caramel Popcorn flavour, which actually smelt like amazing buttery popcorn and tasted delish!

That and White Chocolate  were the clear winners for me that evening!

Causing a stir

Nicely warmed-up, we were given an expert demo on how to mix the perfect cocktail by the Revolution Cocktail Barman, who made it all look way too easy. Was interesting to be taught through the process of why and how to do things properly – but I’ll leave that for you to discover yourselves.

We then studied the impressive cocktail menu and were asked to choose one to try and make ourselves…after all this was a cocktail making masterclass and not just a cocktail drinking masterclass, so it would be only fair!

I love bourbon, so chose the Bourbon Bad Boy (mainly because it was garnished with a bourbon biscuit!), but pretty much everyone chose something different. Some were served in teapots, some in plastic bags (?!) and mine came with a miniature hip flask that I got to take home with me.

It’s worth mentioning that we had a couple of non-drinkers and a pregnant blogger in the group, who got to try and make a variety of non-alcoholic cocktails…so the masterclass isn’t just for booze-fiends like me!

Master of Mixology

A couple of fun cocktail-based games (and a lot more shots) later, we were awarded with our certificate and new title of Master of Mixology. And I didn’t even need to take an exam!

The cocktail making masterclasses are hosted across all the Revolution bars, which all have either a totally private bar or space that they can cordon-off for you. They charge from £25pp, which considering you get to drink a couple of delicious cocktails and plenty of shots, is actually really good value for money! The whole thing was about 2 hours long for us and was a really great laugh! They do a package with a 3-course meal for £38pp which is an absolute bargain!

I’d say these activities are perfect for birthday parties, hen dos, team-building or just a good group night out. I’d highly recommend!

Have you been to a cocktail making masterclass before? What’s your favourite tipple?