From Monday 24th to Sunday 30th April, Nottingham plays host to the Loves Cocktails Festival throughout the city.
Described as ‘Seven days of mixing, shaking, creating, drinking, tasting, clinking, debating and sipping across some of the city’s coolest bars, restaurants, and venues’ it’s right up my street!
It’s the chance to explore and celebrate as many cocktails (responsibly) as you can in a week. Along with this, you may even find a new favourite venue or favourite cocktail, I know I did at the bloggers event at Brass Monkey last week.
I, along with 12 other bloggers from around the East Midlands, met with Nick, the creator of Loves Cocktails, on a sunny evening to learn more about the festival, and of course to taste some of the amazing range of cocktails on offer.
Nick created the festival as a way to celebrate his love of the industry, having been a bartender for 15 years. It’s in its first year for Nottingham, but has been running very successfully in Leeds for the last 4 years. There are also events in Liverpool and Manchester.
16 venues and 16 brands will be taking part, and there are also 30 events for you to get involved in over the course of the week. Anything from learning about your favourite spirit to watching Nottingham bartenders battling it out to win a trip to Barcelona.
Venues taking part include ‘The Hub’ The Orange Tree, in partnership with Portobello Road Gin, 400 Rabbits (1800 Tequila), Das Kino (Southern Comfort) and Suede Bar (Blackwell Rum).
During the bloggers event last week, we were invited to try some of the fab cocktails on offer.
First up was a gin cocktail, an Apple and Thyme Collins with Portobello Road Gin. Made with:
35ml Gin
25ml Thyme Syrup
25ml Lemon Juice
50ml Cloudy Lemonade
25ml Soda water
Pink grapefruit twist and fresh thyme to decorate.
It was like summer in my mouth, sweet but tangy and the thyme was a great addition. One to try at home without a doubt.
Next up was a shot of French Martini with pineapple. A shot definitely wasn’t enough! I wanted an adult portion, it was delightful.
On to the pineapple and basil margarita! Wow! This was sweet with a definite kick. I was so busy drinking that I didn’t hear what actually went into it!
Then, last but not least, was the passionate afternoon. A cocktail consisting of Vodka, lemon juice, sugar syrup, clementine juice, fresh mint and prosecco top. Again this was really lovely. I wouldn’t choose a vodka based cocktail usually, but will definitely have more of these!
The whole ethos of Loves Cocktails is to drink better, not more. Each of these cocktails only had a shot of alcohol, but I still got pretty tipsy by the end. They were beautifully made and you can tell that the bartender put a lot of effort into the look and taste of the contents. I am looking forward to trying more!!
Wristbands are available from this link or down at the Orange Tree. Go and grab them, and have a fab, tipsy time at the festival!
