Interactive holiday mixology class does not mean just tasting the specialty beverages. It means you get to create and drink your creations too. We attended the interactive holiday mixology event in San Tan Valley, Arizona in December. I will admit that I thought we were attending a class where we watch the instructor create a holiday drink and give tips on making it look pretty. Then sample an ounce of each drink. We were we in for a surprise.
The Class Room
As we enter the classroom, I view multiple high top tables with black table cloths. On each table are 3 settings. Each setting had plates with gold and silver sprinkles, 1 full bottle of vodka, a shaker, a bowl of ice, 4 empty glasses, knives, many labeled liquors premeasured glasses, and more. It was an incredible set up of tools and ingredients.
Skills
The instructor quickly let us know that we would be following along with the teacher and creating each of the 4 scheduled beverages ourselves. Bonus: we get to drink them too! Our goal was to learn a new skill with each drink. For example, with the Cranberry Mule, we learned how to “pour.” Next, we learned how to “muddle” with the Winter Old-fashioned. The 3rd skill was how to use the shaker on the Snowflake Martini. Our final skill with Jack Frost was to learn how to mix (without spilling) the ingredients from the pint glass to the shaker of ice and back again.
As with any class, making mistakes is good when you have the teacher there to help you learn how to fix your mistakes. For instance, I though the empty plate at my station was empty and put another plate on top because I needed more room. When it came time to use the sugar water to rim a glass, the teacher showed me that my sugar water was on the not empty plate. Oops. Lesson learned an empty plate might not be empty.
Holiday Drink List
Cranberry Mule
- 1.5 oz vodka
- 0.25 oz fresh lime juice
- Cranberry juice
Winter Old-Fashioned
- Sugar cube
- 3 dashes of spiced cherry bitters
- Slice of blood orange
- 2 oz of winter jack
Snowflake Martini
- 1.5 oz white chocolate liqueur
- ¾ oz whipped vodka
- ¾ oz cream or half and half
Jack Frost
- 1.5 oz pomegranate vodka
- 0.5 oz blue curacao
- 2 oz lemonade
- Champagne or prosecco to fill
Interactive Holiday Mixology
Thank you for our Interactive Holiday Mixology instructor Bartender Sharlotte. Have you attended a drink creating class whether it was with or without alcohol?
oh my gosh this looks like so much fun!!!!
It was a very entertaining class. We were all laughing.
These all look delicious! Thanks for sharing the recipes too – I’m going to have to try a few this season!
They will look beautiful at the table with a meal.
They really are beautiful! The blues and yellows, I love the looks!
That is what I was impressed with too. Our drinks turned out looking like the instructors! How often does that happen?
This sounds like so much fun! And tasty too!
Yes, it was.
The snowflake martini and the cranberry mule sound delicious! What a fun class. I like the pretty colored sugar for the rims of the glasses. 🙂
I thought the colored sugar was pretty too.
The snowflake martini sounds amazing!
It tasked like candy and was very pretty to look at.
The drinks are beautiful! Sounds like ya’ll had a great time!
I was very impressed with the looks of them too.
What a fun class, especially for the holidays! I know nothing about making drinks, but I’m pretty good at drinking them. I could use a class like this. The drinks even look pretty.
LOL – Drinking them is the best part.
Wow! Looks like you had fun!!
We did have fun and laughed alot.
Now this is my kind of education! Will definitely try making some of these!
Enjoy!
Never been to a class like this but would love to take a zero proof drink class. They’re becoming increasingly popular and many chefs are adding their non-alc concoctions to the menu. Alcohol or not, it’s fun to create what you eat & drink