Shaking things up at Cocktails in the City

On my way to work this morning my head was most definitely feeling a little heavier than usual for a Friday. Perhaps because the Fri-yay feeling came a little earlier than usual and I’m blaming you, Furnival’s Well. Okay okay, I suppose I better lay a little bit of the blame on Agent Marketing too because it was them who kindly invited me to the fabulous Cocktails in the City preview party last night but boy did those guys make a dynamic double act.

Cocktails in the City – or #CITCLIV as I’ll fondly refer to it going forth – is a fabulous event taking place in various cities across the country and it’s coming to Liverpool‘s Great Baltic Warehouse a week today (Friday 30th June). Myself, my other half and our double date for the evening, Lucy & Sam headed off to Furnival’s Well last night to pre-game like a boss and get a taste of what’s to come at the main event next week and you know how much I love a cocktail or two.

Rather cleverly, the event was structured like a speed dating night, just with a whole lot more pizzazz and plenty more tequila. This unique set up made Furnival’s the perfect venue with it’s ex-prison interior and refurbished cells. We wound our way round each cell, collecting an impressive array of welcome drinks as we went. Forget your usual lukewarm Cava though, these welcome drinks had all been expertly concocted by some of the most prestigious cocktail connoisseurs and illustrious mixologists in the city – all of which will be working their magic at #CITCLIV.

There to strut their stuff was El Bandito who taught us all about cacti and agave, Red Door who served up boozy sorbet realness and Smuggler’s Cove who started a watermelon ‘Wombie’ apocolypse, all in good company with a whole host of other popular Liverpool bars including The Alchemist, Roxy Ball Room, Some Place, 81 Ltd and Ghetto Golf.

(Do forgive me if I’ve forgotten anybody – I was too busy perfecting a balancing act between a Pear Collins and a Cointreau Fizz to take notes as I went. Whoops!)

My personal fave was the Cointreau Fizz served up by Red Door and their tasty little Cointreau slushie. Quite the compliment from somebody who usually recoils at so much of a mention of Cointreau so well done guys. I also enjoyed Furnival’s own Cocktail Kate who showed me the wonders of a sherry and tonic. Now I love a sherry (yes I am 26, not 76 believe it or not) but these guys introduced me to a whole new way of enjoying one of my favourite tipples.

Experimenting with unusual recipes and seeing unlikely ingredients married together is what always excites me about reading a cocktail menu so I was definitely in my element last night. I’ve got to be honest, as bloody beautiful as it looked, a pink peppercorn, pink grapefruit and Plymouth Gin combo was a little too out there for my somewhat traditional palette but props to 81 Ltd for shaking things up a bit (literally) and ain’t that what #CITCLIV is all about?