Cocktails in the City

Was lucky enough to get a ticket for this year’s Cocktails in the City event at the Town Hall and had a fantastic time. The ticket cost £10 which included a free cocktail and believe me there were a lot to choose from. There were loads of well known bars there such a Liar’s Club, Whiskey Jar, Manchester House, Lucha Libre, Alchemist, Proof, Whim Wham Café and El Capo. Each bar had it’s own signature cocktail which meant you got to try something a bit different. I particularly enjoyed the masterclass which was both informative and fun. Harvey Nichols were also there with a free nail bar and pamper area. The organisation of the event could have been a little bit better as it did feel a bit frantic at times but overall it was an extremely enjoyable event that I would definitely attend again.

A bit late to the party reviewing this but then I am new to Unilocal so getting around to reviewing all the wonderful places and events in Manchester :)
I wasn’t part of the Unilocal group but I was asked to be a judge on the night so had the luxury of visiting all the bars featured and trying all their cocktails. It’s a hard life.
The Manchester cocktail scene is thriving at the moment and most of the popular/​new bars featured in the incredible Town Hall location with a signature spirit to work with. You are given tokens for the price of your ticket to ‘spend’ on your cocktail of choice but there are lots of shots and sharer samples going around as well as demonstrations and masterclasses to get involved in. The winners on the night were:
Best personality — Escapades Events (who are now in Elixir on Deansgate)
Best bar — Whim Wham Café
Best cocktail — Dark and Stormy from Proof Chorlton
There was a separate room for all things tiki that I remember very little of other than that their drinks were VERY sweet but fun, as tiki always is.
I can’t wait for the event to come back for 2014… now where is my best judging cap…

After being fortunate enough to win a ticket to the event from Unilocal and also knowing how successful it was last year I was excited to get to the Town Hall and start sampling the cocktails.
Starting off at the Unilocal photo booth for some fun shots as well as picking up the cocktail passport I was keen to check out both rooms of cocktails.
Manchester has an amazing variety of quality cocktail bars and many if the best bars were there with the spirit of choice and newly created drink of the evening.
Room one was hosted by Neighbourhood, Apotheca, Sandinista, Mojo, Cloud 23, Harvey Nichols, Liquor Store… each bar had their own drink to entice you in, some gave shots, one even made us a sandwich!
There were drinks demonstrations and talks along with free samples for people to get involved in.
After checking each bar out we plumped for a rum drink at Sandinista made from Flor de Cana rum, it had maraschino in it as well as cherries in the glass. Yummy!
Room two was Tiki heaven with drinks by Keko Moko, Liars Club and Hula. Each bar really went to town to entertain and refresh us with drinks.
Hula let us make our own cocktail which was great fun and the guys were on top form as always!
The room was complete with DJ, bouncy castle and twister board.
Almost Famous were on hand to feed the masses with fantastic pulled pork rolls.
The event was faultless, we met lovely new people, drank amazing drinks and had a brilliant night.
Thanks to everybody involved, heres to next year!