August Round-Up
We were pretty pleased with ourselves this month. Nothing new about that you might think but this time the feeling was justified. You know those niggly things you mean to do but never seem to get round to doing? Well, we made a little dent in our ever-growing list while the rest of London got into holiday mode…
Top priority was booking our places at the Tuesday Tasting at The Hide bar. These twice monthly events are pretty popular on the Bermondsey bar scene – little wonder really – they’re great value at £10 including drinks and nibbles, and better still, they’re really informative. We joined 20 or so other spirited individuals for a talk from one of The Hide’s bar staff and a slurp of each of the cocktails shortlisted for the new season’s menu. The two-hour session worked really well, attracting a fairly mixed bunch of punters. Some sat chatting (rather too loudly for our liking) amongst themselves but most of us took it seriously albeit in an amateurish way, listening attentively as our host spoke about the background of each drink and his reason for choosing the base spirit. We’ll definitely be back for more.
We’re no strangers to the Cocktail Masterclasses at the Fifth Floor bar at Harvey Nichols. However, we’ve always wanted to share the experience with friends. So this month we booked a couple of extra places for two of our nearest and dearest and gave them a birthday present we hope they’ll remember if the alcohol consumed didn’t get in the way. Really, having so much fun so early in the day shouldn’t be allowed (but we’re glad it is). Between us we worked our way through five or so cocktails before lunch, then celebrated with another once the class had ended. Needless to say, we slept very well that evening.
We’ve always wanted to try out the Rooftop Bar at The Trafalgar Hotel. But every time we’ve tried to do so in the past few years it’s been closed. We’re glad we persisted as it’s the perfect hotspot for summer. We settled in perfectly to the laidback glam vibe lounging on white leather sofas, sipping Rockwell Rum Punches and looking out on to London’s favourite landmarks. Fabulous.
We ended the month at the Notting Hill Carnival, not winding and grinding in the street with the rest of the crowd but on the Mangrove float, courtesy of West Eleven Cocktails. Which was never on our To Do list but we’re glad we did it anyway.
For details of the Hide Bar Tuesday Tastings, see thehidebar.com
To book for Cocktail Masterclasses at Harvey Nichols, see harveynichols.com
Words to the wise (or just plain curious)
“If you were to ask me if I’d ever had the bad luck to miss my daily cocktail, I’d have to say that I doubt it, where certain things are concerned, I plan ahead.”
Luis Bunuel
