- bar
Imagine entering a whisky shop, perusing at the many bottles of your favourite spirit on the shelves, admiring the old bookcase at the back of the shop and suddenly disappearing from the other customers’ view to end up in a place of wondrous potions (aka cocktails). No, this is not the synopsis of Harry Potter and the Vanishing Liqueur Cabinet (sorry!). It is however what you can expect for real if you wander in London in search of The Vault at Milroy’s of Soho… When I arrived in London for the Christmas holiday, I had a whole list of bars
Open since September, Black Sheep Rive is one of my new go-to addresses in Geneva. It has everything one needs for a great night out: nice decor, awesome food, wicked drinks and a very friendly service. Concealed on a side street to the rue de la Terrassière, it is the younger brother of the original Black Sheep on Place Grenus. The venue is nicely sized with a split level overlooking the bar. The decor is a mix of industrial and vegetal with plants here and there. I have a special fondness for the quirky gin posters, especially for the one
La Geneva Cocktail Week est de retour! Après le succès de sa première édition en 2016, l’événement revient fin septembre avec presque le double d’adresses, des masterclasses, des soirées à thèmes spéciales et des bartenders d’Athènes, Paris, Bordeaux, Munich, Bâle, Lausanne et Annecy! Trente-quatre adresses, 68 créations cocktails Le nombre d’adresses a augmenté depuis l’année dernière. Cette année, 34 bars du centre-ville, des Eaux-Vives, de Carouge, de Plainpalais et des Pâquis accueilleront les participants du festival. Parmi eux, il y a de tout nouveaux bars, comme le Black Sheep Rive qui vient d’ouvrir. Chacun proposera deux cocktails réalisés spécialement pour
The Geneva Cocktail Week is back! After a successful first edition in 2016, the event returns end of September with nearly twice as many venues, brand masterclasses, special themed nights and guest bartenders from Athens, Paris, Bordeaux, Munich, Basel, Lausanne and Annecy! Thirty-four locations, 68 cocktail creations The number of locations has increased since last year. Now 34 bars from downtown Geneva, Eaux-Vives, Carouge, Plainpalais and Pâquis will welcome the festival participants. There are some brand new venues, such as the recently opened Black Sheep Rive. Each will propose two cocktails specifically made for the Cocktail Week, one with and
Bottle Lausanne is the first Bottle Brothers establishment in Lausanne after Petit Bottle and Grand Bottle in Geneva and a winter pop-up in Verbier. Opened in June, it is ideally located a three minute walk away from Flon, Lausanne’s nightlife hub. As with the other Bottle locations, the decor is modern industrial. The bar/restaurant boasts a nice terrace away from traffic to enjoy the last days of summer. There is an open view over the kitchen. The cocktail menu Bottle Lausanne’s menu lists twelve alcoholic cocktails and three mocktails. Among them are several Bottle Brothers classics. The Bollywood is a mix
When you reach Henri-Blanvalet street in the Eaux-Vives district, the sound of laughter and conversations will lead you straight to the two addresses of Bottle Brothers in Geneva, Petit Bottle and its younger brother, the Grand Bottle. All year round the trendy, cosmopolitan guests mingle on the terraces of the two establishments in a happy brouhaha. While adjacent and united by the same philosophy, each bar has its own “personality”. Petit Bottle: the original Bottle Brothers Opened in 2012, the original Bottle Brothers was meant to be a wine bar. It became a cocktail bar instead. Rather small and narrow,
High on my list of bars to visit in Edinburgh was the speakeasy Bryant & Mack. I had heard of it through Tales of the Cocktail (TOTC), the bartending industry’s biggest seminar. Last April, nine months after opening, Bryant & Mack was already one of the official venues of Tales on Tour, TOTC’s annual abroad edition. Quite a recognition for a brand new bar! Ross Bryant, one of the two bar owners, even hosted a Dynamic Duo with the brand ambassador for Sazerac Rye. The event drew so many guests that “people were queuing around the block to get in”,
Tiki drinks are not my first drinks choice. I have this prejudiced idea that they’ll be too sweet to my taste. However, when a French girl I met in Edinburgh and who was as passionate as me about mixology, talked positively about The Auld Reekie Tiki Bar, I decided to visit it. The Auld Reekie Tiki Bar The bar is located underground in Edinburgh’s New Town. A vaulted passageway with benches leads to its entrance. As its name indicates, The Auld Reekie Tiki Bar is a Polynesian-themed bar. Bamboo bar, Tiki mugs and statues, mini palm trees, everything – except
Hidden below ground in the heart of Edinburgh’ New Town, Hoot the Redeemer takes an original approach to the speakeasy concept. Hoot the Redeemer bar Instead of going the Prohibition route, Hoot the Redeemer sends you back to the 1950’s, with a setting reminiscing of a funfair of the time, complete with fortune telling machines, vintage magician posters, Tarot cards paintings and, of course, fair games and popcorn. I took a seat on the comfortable old leather couch facing the entrance from which I had a good view of the entire bar. The cocktail menu The menu is printed in
Gin Fizz Cocktail Bar is one of the latest additions to Bilbao’s cocktail scene. Opened about three months ago within a 5 min walk from the Guggenheim museum in an area filled with restaurants and bars, the establishment distinguishes itself with its dedication to gin (we’ll get back to that). Gin Fizz Cocktail Bar My friends and I were visiting Bilbao and the surrounding region last month. After a lovely dinner at Las Cepas, a wine, pintxos and shared plates restaurant, we headed to Gin Fizz for a nightcap. The bar is entirely painted in blue from its front porch