Right, that’s it. We have resisted stoically but the snow has finally driven the blog to drink.
First up, we bring you news of the Hilton Glasgow and their rather inventive festive drinks offer. Not content with offering a straight forward mulled wine or some sort of hot toddy, they have concocted a complete cocktail list called the Twelve Drinks of Christmas. Taking their cue from the traditional Christmas song, they have come up with twelve different cocktails.
So, for example, their Partridge in a Pear Tree mixes Absolut Pear, lemon juice, caramel syrup, apple juice and thyme while the Hilton’s Eight Maids-A-Milking is a fruit little number comprising Absolut Vodka, Crème de Cassis, coconut cream, strawberry puree and fresh cream.
Just don’t try to do all of the twelve drinks of Christmas in the one night.
The blog also liked the sound of the Holiday Cocktail Tasting menu in Edinburgh’s Balmoral Hotel. Set out like a restaurant’s food tasting menu, it starts off with a liquid amuse bouche followed by four cocktail courses.
Typical selections include The Goldfinger: warmed honey water crowned with Moёt & Chandon champagne and garnished with 24 karat gold flakes.
Perhaps more festive is the Snowball Fight which is the classic mix of advocaat, lime juice and lemonade. It comes with a sweet treat.
The complete tasting menu is £30 a time.
Finally, moving away from Christmas and towards the final frontier, Sam Bompass of the Bompass and Parr food wizardry company has written a fun piece in the Telegraph about the pleasures and pitfalls of boozing in zero gravity. Apparently, champagne in space is a terrible idea as it leads to wet burps.
Never let it be said that the 5pm blog is not educational.
If all this is making you thirsty then there are plenty of 5pm members who are pretty handy with a Boston shaker. If you are feeling the cold, we suggest you belly up to the bar at the following establishments and ask them to fix you some internal combustion.
In Edinburgh, 56 North, Amicus Apple and blue are good places to make a start.
In Glasgow, Bar Soba, The Blind Pig, Bo Bar, Ivy Bar and Metropolitain will do right by you.
Cheers!