][1]The 5pm Dining blog has seldom fought shy of a rip-snorting cocktail. The trouble is that while well trained bar staff can make it look the simplest thing in the world, whipping up a decent Mai Tai at home is often disappointing if not disastrous.
So, you might imagine how delighted were to learn of the launch of Social and Cocktail.
Based in Glasgow, but covering cocktail bars all over the UK, the site comprises a decent selection of cocktail bar reviews; over a thousand cocktail recipes and a daily blog which ponders weighty questions such as ‘What’s your favourite Prohibition Era cocktail?’
Cocktail bar in your home
The Social and Cocktail website was launched in the summer of 2012 but the team behind it have just branched out into cocktail events.
Currently covering the Glasgow area, Social and Cocktail Events was set up to bring a cocktail bar experience to people’s houses. As well as professional cocktail bartenders, the service supplies a mobile cocktail bar, glassware and ingredients. Hosts can choose a cocktail menu from a list of 25 different cocktails.
The organisers say that the service is there to help people celebrate special occasions such as birthdays, house warmings, engagement parties, hen parties or indeed divorce parties.
Ravaged by hen parties
Apparently, all of the bartenders are fully insured. One imagines that the premiums required to insure bartenders against being ravaged by hen parties are fairly stiff.
The 5pm Dining blog wishes Social and Cocktail all the best.
Naturally, there are plenty of bars which are 5pm members who can also whip up a fine cocktail.
It’s a rum do
In Glasgow, you might want to cruise by the Tiki Bar & Kitsch Inn where they deliver a lively range of mainly rum-based drinks in a hip-swinging Hawaiian atmosphere.
In Edinburgh, you could try the recently refurbished Sygn in the West End. They are currently offering 5pm bookers a 15% discount on their a la carte menu plus a free cocktail.