Two years ago, the well-known Goat in Boots pub was bought by mixologist Steve Manktelow and his wife and transformed into GOAT – their intention being to maintain the original charm but also to modernise.
Now GOAT serves fine Italian / modern European food, with its own wood-fired pizza oven; mixes great cocktails, host DJs and events including a regular cocktail masterclass with Steve himself. I attended one of these last week in their ‘vintage speakeasy’ The Chelsea Prayer Room. Steve has a huge amount of experience in the area and his lesson was just the right balance of practical information (such as how not to squirt yourself in the eye with lemon), history (including the origin of barrel charring) and fun too.
Each class focuses on a different spirit and will have a different sponsor – this theme was “Christmas with Cognac” and sponsored by Remy Martin – This means that an ambassador will be on hand to answer any questions and that the whole thing costs a negligible £10. For this you try four cocktails and lots of other samples too, while an unbiased Steve does the teaching. We tasted our way through a few different grape based spirits from around the world before moving on to mixing.
Each Christmassy cocktail had its own stories and interesting snippets of history. Together we created Egg Nog, a Fitzgerald (which tastes like gingerbread), a Mince Pie Martini (which tastes like guess what) and the Coffee Cocktail (which contains no coffee, but instead port and raw egg – as Steve explained it looks and sounds vile till it’s been synergistically shaken and sipped!) Four volunteers got up to make each cocktail which which means that in the average group almost everyone gets to make their own cocktail (which is shared out with the group). And if that’s not enough, being a member of the class entitles you to 50% off all food!
Cocktails classes are taking a break for Christmas but will be back in in 2016 on Thursday 14th January.
In the meantime there will be a few other events such as a Bad Santa Party on Tuesday 15th December with complementary mince pies, whisky and prosecco and ‘DJ Santa Klaus’ – keep an eye on the website for details and updates!
Classes run from 7.00-8.30pm (generally on Wednesdays) and must be booked in advanced via reservations@goatchelsea.com
0207 352 1384
www.goatchelsea.com
A couple of tried and tested Christmas cocktail recipes:
EGG NOG
1 shot cognac
1 egg
½ shot cream
½ shot sugar syrup
Shake and strain into a glass
Dust with FRESH nutmeg
FITZGERALD
1 shot cognac
Juice from one lemon
¼ shot sugar syrup
¼ shot pains d’pice
Egg white
Shake and strain into a martini glass
Use gingerbread crumbs to garnish
