Guest Post by Emilia Jane

Greetings Gentlemen. Today I want to talk to you about crafting your perfect bar and cocktail menu for the reception. My fiancé and I enjoy a good cocktail, as I’m sure you do too. One of our spots is the Violet Hour. The bartenders are really knowledgeable and helpful with crafting a menu that appeals to a wide variety of guests. We met with Robby while we were planning, to get his opinion both on specific drinks we should have, and really just how to craft a drink menu. He explained that typically a good menu will consist of four drinks. One easy crowd pleaser not too strong drink, one champagne cocktail or a punch, one whiskey drink, and one more boozy, sipping drink.

For the crowd pleaser, we selected the Juliet and Romeo. A gin based cocktail with mint, cucumber, and rose water. Honestly to date I don’t know anyone who has disliked this beverage.

We varied a bit on the second category and went with the Pimms Cup variation. It was a fruitier option with Pimms, ginger, Tanqueray, mint, and muddled blackberry. Honestly really easy to drink too quickly.

For the whiskey drink we selected a Lions Tale. This is a classic cocktail, but not a familiar flavor to most whiskey drinkers. With any American whiskey (I select Weller 107), allspice dram, lemon juice and simple syrup. The allspice really brings out a fantastic warmer flavor for the fall and winter month celebrations.

And for the boozy, sipping drink, my absolute favorite. The Bitter Guiseppe. No longer on the menu, but you can still order if of course, is a Cynar based cocktail with lemon juice and Angostura Bitters. What’s cynar you ask? It’s an artichoke based liquor that is unlike anything you’ve probably tasted before. It makes a great aperitif or mixes well too.

You can be flexible in each category, but we found that with this list everyone had a couple things they liked. Some guests even created their own tour and tried all four!