Shake It Baby! Cocktail-Making Classes

Last night I took a cocktail-making class at La Cuisine (89 boulevard St-Michel, 5th). I was actually a bartender for a year in my college town in Minnesota and then at an Irish pub in Paris, but that was over a decade ago, and cocktails have come a long way since the Long Island Iced Teas, White Russians and Kamikazes of the 1990s. 

Making cocktails is more than just mixing up some ingredients in pretty glasses. First, you have to have the right ingredients. Like cooking, anything tastes better when you have the highest quality ingredients possible. In this case, don't scrimp on quality liquor and mixers. We're not students anymore! Don't you dare serve a premium vodka that costs €85/bottle with an old carton of pasteurized orange juice. Even the ice is important. "You should use mineral water to make your ice cubes," says our young instructor, Frédéric, a bartender in the trendy Montorgueil district.

There were six of us in the class, gathered by two at our stations around the spacious granite island in the second of the two working kitchens at La Cuisine. The 90-minute class would teach us how to make six cocktails, three classic (even vintage) drinks and three contemporary cocktails. To begin, Frédéric explained each of the cocktail-making tools, from the spoon and shaker to the strainer and masher. It's always a bit awkward at first handling the materials. This is what makes these classes so great: not only do you learn recipies for making yummy drinks, you get to practice your moves in advance so you don't look silly doing it in front of your friends later on. 

Not that we were juggling bottles or anything fancy like that, but we did learn the proper way to hold the strainer on the shaker, how to dislodge the glass from the shaker without breaking it, and how to carmelize citrus zest without setting anything on fire. Our patient instructor also gave us plenty of tips on how to properly chill the glasses, how to get a few drops of bitters out of the bottle without getting it all over the place, and how to pour shots Japanese-style. He explained the origin and use for all the liquors we used, including the rather new St-Germain elderflower liquor. We used straws to taste everything and small sips of our drinks (so we wouldn't be too drunk to make the final drink). 

We turned on some fun music and commenced our mixing, munching on some nibbles and comparing techniques on getting an eggwhite with the least mess. The atmosphere is fun and easy, there are no tests at the end -- aside from the taste tests. We finished with a good buzz and an arsenal of tips and tricks for our next house party. ;)

The next Cocktails & Mixologie Class is December 19, 5-6:30pm, with the bilingual Frédéric at the helm. The cost is €45/person, and you'll learn to make six cocktails: Le Martinez (1860), Whisky Sour (1860), Moscow Mule (1941), and new drinks Le Tommy's Margarita, Gin Basil Smash and the Elderflower Martini. Sign up online at La Cuisine, or check out their other cooking and baking classes, in English and French.