A Cocktail Class...at the Packer Bar!

This past week I took my first ever cocktail class. Set up by the American Women's Group, it was an afternoon full of laughs, learning, and of course cocktails!

The class took place at Wide Open Spaces Bar, which to be honest, when I first found out struck me as a little odd. This is because I know this bar as the "Packer Bar", where every Packer game is shown, regardless of the time of day. (Seriously, even if the game it at 4am Paris time.) Interestingly, the owner is French but as I learned during this class, he fell in love with the Packers during university when he watched his first American football game with friends who were Packer fans. Now, he's a Packers shareholder and travels frequently to both home and away games. So, yes this is the place to be in Europe for Packer games.

But, back to the class...turns out Wide Open Spaces also has the largest selections of spirits in Paris, with nearly 500 different types in stock, including many local, independent spirits and liqueurs that can't be found many other places. And that bar, beautiful and impressive...can't believe I didn't notice it when we were there for Packer games before!

The class began with a very informative session on different types of alcohol, which alcohols are best for different cocktails, and typical equipment used for cocktail making. I learned so much in a short time span. Although I love cocktails, I'll be honest, my knowledge of cocktail making was quite limited, so I was furiously taking notes. Things like that Agricole rum (French speaking countries) is much sweeter and fruitier than traditional rum (from the US and Spanish speaking countries) and that bitters are just added to a drink at the end to add complexity, a bit like salt and pepper. 

Next, Pierre gave us an insight into how they created their 9 signature cocktails at the bar. Each bartender got to create two of their own, usually using one ingredient that is widely unfamiliar to most people.

Then came the fun part, making our cocktails.  We got to choose which ones to make. I made the El Nino Jalisco, which is tequila based with strawberry pulp and chocolate bitters. Delicious!

Actually, they were all delicious as we taste tested each other's.  For my second drink, I went for the Gincel Martini, which was excellent. I'm not normally a martini drinker, but this was so good and refreshing. I would definitely get it again. Although Pierre said an all new signature cocktail menu is coming around Christmas, which means I don't have much time to repeat the martini.

Such a fun and informative event! Now I'm inspired to whip up some of my own cocktails at home...hmm maybe after we know we won't be moving for a while and can keep alcohols without having to get rid of them every time we move!