Cocktails in the City | Manchester

Cocktails in the City was a great event, offering 23 different cocktails from 23 popular Manchester establishments.  Lovers of gin and whiskey would be at home here, as mostly top class and top quality brands were celebrated.

The event in Manchester took place at the old plot where the remnants of the old Granada Studios still stand. Inside, the setting is bare and rustic, like most street food festivals and venues encompassing a hollowed out shell of an old building, factory, or warehouse.  It was the perfect setting for this event.  Close to the entrance offered guests to try out their surfing skills at HULA where they had a mechanical surf board to test balance and endurance.  This area had a very relaxed beach bum theme.  Nearby, guests could enjoy a round (or more) of UV Golf hosted by Junk Yard Golf.  

A stage was set up for presentations, and the first up was Tom from The Liquorists with the theme "Five Cocktails that Changed the World".  I've had the pleasure of taking one of The Liquorists Tequila Trails around the Northern Quarter, and it was brilliant.  Not to mention, Tom is a really nice guy, and remembers everybody, and is always happy for a quick chat.  The Liquorists presented a variety of cocktails accompanied by stories and facts, giving the audience a well educated session on specific cocktails.  We also got to sample some of the cocktails on offer.

Before one arrives at the main studio area, there was TATTU and Agave Garden occupying two rooms.  TATTU looked like a spicy oriental themed establishment with mannequins dotted around for guests to graffiti, and somber red lighting.  That was fun! 

The main studio had the remainder of the bars occupying differently designed stalls, and it all looked fantastic, from Narnia themed to Mad Scientists to Floral to rustic wooden; Cocktails in the City had it all.  Check out the photos!

I like whiskey and I like gin!  Therefore after having a look around and looking at the nifty cocktail brochure/event programme, I sampled the following:

Woodford Reserve Old Fashioned from Tipplesworth.  It was bloody lovely!  Woodford Reserve Bourbon, orange zest, sugar syrup and Angostura Bitters.  Perfect combo for a whiskey cocktail, and great first drink to kick off the evening.

A really flavourful gin cocktail by Cane & Grain called American Gangster made with Death's Door Gin mixed with "homemade" citrus & rhubarb cordial, Yuzu juice, fresh lime, Branca Menta Salt Solution, and Seline Air.  Very tasty!  I recommend this to all gin lovers!

My favourite cocktail of the night was Fairytale of New York, made with The Pogues Irish Whiskey by The Fitzgerald; mixed with plum bitters, cherry heering and Gomme, the cocktails offers sweetness to a whiskey cocktail, which should please both whiskey drinkers and non whiskey drinkers.   

Oriental Expression from TATTU made with Opihr Gin.  This cocktail was perfect to end the evening.  A cocktail that offers oriental spice mixed with ginger, bell pepper, lemon juice, lychee, and ginger beer.

As well as cocktails, on each night, the event offered food from three street food vendors.  On the night I attended was Bart's Dog Kart, Chaat Cart, and Poffertjes King.  All great vendors, and I opted for Chaat Cart's delicious Chicken  Burger, with an onion bhaji on top.  Yum!

Currency was easy:  guests purchased tokens at £6.50 a pop and then used the tokens for food or cocktails.

Fantastic evening full of wonderful stylish guests and a fantastic array of vendors.

Top Mexican Food in Manchester | Luck Lust Liquor & Burn VS. Chiquitos

In the past week, I have visited two Mexican restaurants, and have been fully impressed, and here are my thoughts on the two:

Luck Lust Liquor & Burn, Northern Quarter

I was really impressed with Luck Lust Liquor & Burn when I recently visited for food.

It was a weeknight and relatively busy, and it was also a joy to bump into the guy from The Liquorists, who was doing one of his trails.  If you are unfamiliar with them, please check out my FIVE STAR review of the Tequila Trail Yelp Event with The Liquorists.

Back to LLLB, the service was great, professional, friendly and welcoming.  Superb!

For starters, we shared the Easy Rider: "Chicken blast, veggie quesadillas, mini nachos, southwest eggrolls, bacon wrapped jalepenos with dip" (LLLB Menu, ).  It was unbelievable.  Full range of flavour: flavourful chicken, spicyness, BACON, and the quesadillas were sublime!  Completely satisfying and I would recommend it to all.

For my main, I opted for the F-BOMB, which was a a mix of beef and chicken.  A half and half wrap offering crispy beef, beef chili chorizo, chillies cheese, dirty chicken, rice, and a few other things thrown in.  Absolutely delicious!  A great combo of beef and chicken, with tasty rice and cheese in a generous wrap.

The restaurant looks great and they now have seating outside, so on those sunny Manchester (trying not to laugh whilst typing this!), I am sure it would be a joy to sit out and enjoy good food and drinks here at LLLB.

Over the years, I think LLLB has made good improvements to the restaurant and food, and I look forward to returning.

Chiquitos, Printworks

Attending most restaurants on a Saturday evening will always be busy, but despite the chaos of The Printworks, and how busy Chiquitos was on this particular occasion, they handled it well.

Who cares about a 30 minute wait when you can sit on a terrace with a Desperado (without lime!), watch the World go by, and wait for a table inside?

This particular Chiquitos has a nice mezzanine, which is where we were seated.  Every table was occupied, but we ordered drinks, and browsed the menu.  Unfortunately, on this occasion, the restaurant had run out of Brahma, the Brazilian beer, which was disappointing as I wanted to try this.  Maybe next time!

The next difficulty after ordering starters, and a long wait, the waitress informed us that one of the starters wasn't available, but an alternative was chosen.  My moto is:  "if you don't ask, you don't get."  The result was two free starters.  Despite it being busy, and our waitress serving on many tables, the restaurant and management handled the evening very well.  Full credit goes to "Luce" our waitress, who deserved big tips this night, and I hope she was rewarded for her great and friendly service.Now lets talk about the food:

My starter was the Cantina Mushrooms, which i chose due to the mushrooms being covered in hot habanero sauce with melted mozzarella, and it was served with tortilla chips.  Absolutely delicious and worth the extended wait!  In between courses, and with a little more waiting, we were given a couple of Tacos to keep us sweet, which was appreciated.

I ordered pulled pork tacos for my main as I often cannot resist pulled pork, especially when in it is marinated in BBQ sauce.  With the course, one receives four tacos with a sour cream dip and a salsa dip, and the tacos are covered in cheese and pink onions.  The mix of the pulled pork and crunchy taco is a great combination of taste offering smooth meaty flavour and a crispy cover.

I also sampled the Fiery Chilli chicken, and my goodness, it was fiery, but also tasty.  I think I will order this as my main next time.

Tequila Trail with Yelp Manchester & The Liquorists | Elite Event

This Yelp event was hosted by The Liquorists as they took us Yelpers on their Tequila Trail.  Fabulous!

A little about them:  The Liquorists founded in 2010 by Tom and now he is accompanied by Tyler.  They host an array of Trails, such as the Tequila Trail, which is what we participated in on the night, Didsbury Trail, cruises with gin, cruises with vodka, and many more.  Check out their website theliquorists.com for full details and prices range from £30-£50 per person, depending on event and day of the week (Weds-Sat), and £55 for the boat cruises.

On this particular trail, the guys work with brands & Manchester bars, specifically in the Northern Quarter, and the trails starts in Luck Lust Liquor & Burn.  It seems The Liquorists have a habit of taking people to bars they have not been before, and with each bar comes a different tequila.

In LLLB the tequila was Don Julio Blanco, and I learned that tequila can be given the same appreciation and drank like whiskey, especially the better quality tequila.  It is not only for shots at the end of the night after binging on every other alcoholic beverage there is out there.

The guys from The Liquorists are scholars of knowledge when it comes to tequila and the production and history.  It was blissfully educational, and another fun fact is Mescal is not always tequila but tequila is always Mescal.  Mescal is what one gets when a drink is distilled from agave.

To accompany the introduction and kick start the evening, fantastic food was provided by LLLB, and during the evening, in each bar, and with each tequila, a cocktail was provided.  Grouped with Don Julio Blanco in LLLB was Tommy's Magherita San Francisco;  this takes away the orange syrupy liquor and replaces it with fresh agave nectar,  and rested trails, topped with the freshest lines.  Provides a refreshing taste.  Top stuff!

So that we didn't get too settled in LLLB, it was then time to move on to Little Tokyo.  All bars on trail are a stones throw away from each other.  Here we were presented with Olmeca Los Altos Reposado tequila, which has a subtle oakyness to it.

Moving on, followed a Julio Don Reposado in Dusk til Fawn.  This tequila resembled more a whiskey with a subtle taste of vanilla.  I liked it!  This flavour comes from the tannins and vanilla in whiskey barrel.  Smooth!

We were treated to aged tequila in the Pen & Pencil with a Blueberry cocktail called Shades of Disco.  Here I learned that egg white can often be added to cocktails, and even though it has no flavour, it gives the cocktail a little body.

After lots of drinking, laughing and fun, the evening came to an end at El Capo with the final tequila and cocktail.  The tequila was an okay and rich Don Julio Anejo, top of the league in tequilas, and the cocktail was All the Fun of the Fair with a twist.  The rum in the cocktail was replaced with the tequila.  It was a fascinated cocktail as it was topped with butterscotch foam and popcorn.  Surprisingly very nice! 

A fantastic evening with the Yelp Elite, and a big thank you to The Liquorists for their knowledgable and fun hosting.  I would wholeheartedly recommend a night with them as I believe you will have a great night on one of their trails or cruises.

Once again, a tremendous Yelp Event organised by Matt, Manchester's Yelp Community Manager.  Kudos to you!