Last Friday, I rang the bell of a stately building at the Meir. The lift took me 5 floors up to a large, dimly lit room. There was a fireplace in the outermost corner, flanked by a brown Chesterfield with matching fauteuil. What mostly drew my eye, however, was the fact that all the tables and cabinets were filled with bottles of high-quality liquors. Welcome to the new interpretation of cocktail night.
What I just described is the interior of Miraeus, a company specialised in setting up a more personal experience involving cocktails. The co-owners David and Nicolas started creating their exclusive cocktails as students and kept on expanding their knowledge and range. They now offer tastings, workshops, event catering, and home-delivered cocktails by the name ‘Need a Drink’. During the tastings the expert explains the finesses of one kind of liquor such as gin or whiskey, while the company just sits back and enjoys. The workshops are way more active in that matter: with at least 7 people you watch how the cocktail is made and then you try it yourself. And that is just what we did.
We learned to make 3 cocktails and although the math wasn’t too difficult, remembering how much you need of every ingredient did get harder as the evening progressed. For the Old Fashioned Nicolas showed us how to stir everything together like a pro, which involved an elaborate move of the middle fingers which I was not quite able to master (let’s blame my left-handedness to save my ego). After that classic cocktail, we made a more experimental one with tequila, pineapple juice, and ginger ale, giving a surprisingly smokey taste.
All evening we were eyeing the cocktail shaker, of which we dearly hoped that Nicolas would teach us a trick like in that Tom Cruise film. No such luck: Nicolas explained us that making cocktails is serious business that does not end well when you are going to throw things (long story short: expensive broken glasses and sticky liquids all over the place). Using the shaker as you are supposed to was luckily fun too, although your fingers quickly go cold and numb. But what a satisfactory result when you pour the cocktail out! We used it to make the Espresso Martini, which is the standard conclusion to the workshop. This is pretty much a wonderfully creamy and spiked iced latte that turned out to be all of our favourites.
The workshops are especially popular amongst groups of women on their night out since it is plain old fun with the girls without guys butting in. Our mixed party of boys and girls all had a splendid time making / drinking the cocktails. I'd actually prefer this over a bar, since you can have a conversation without shouting over the noise and you're learning something too.
Miraeus’ prices for workshops start reasonably at €25 per person for a group of at least 7, while their home delivery service Need a Drink starts at €9 per cocktail, all accessories included. Not one workshop is the same, since the cocktails the group makes depends on season and personal demands.
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They also deliver their cocktails at your doorstep. Just check out Need a Drink on and .
Text by Tine Van den Poel
Pics by Jef Van den Bossche