Cocktails & Bars
Cocktails & Bars
The Class Bar Awards' Best Bar in the UK
The new Best Bar in the North category at the Class Bar Awards was off to a promising start with a strong list of contenders. Schofield's in Manchester prevailed, then went on to win Best Bar in the UK.
—13 June, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
Check out the Class Bar Awards' New Bar of the Year
Passing Fancies took our award for Best Bar in the Midlands & East Anglia (sponsored by The Busker) and also the nationwide gong for New Bar of the Year (sponsored by Hapusa Gin).
—09 June, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
Hear all about the CBA's Best Bar in Scotland
In the Class Bar Awards' new Best Bar in Scotland & Northern Ireland category (sponsored by The Busker), Glasgow and Edinburgh fought it out, with Hey Palu taking the honours.
—08 June, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
And the Best Bar in Wales and the West is....
With bars from Cardiff, Bournemouth, Bristol and St Ives in Cornwall making up our top four, this new Wales and West category at the Class Bar Awards was very competitive, with Lab 22 prevailing.
—06 June, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
Which bar was named Best in London & the Southeast?
London is world famous for its bar scene, so to win here - in the CBA's Best Bar in London & the Southeast (sponsored by The Busker) category - is big. With a final four of award-winning bars from some of the biggest names in the business, the reliably brilliant Satan's Whiskers won out.
—05 June, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
Review: Crossroads
Crossroads was among the few good things to emerge from the pandemic, a compact, subterranean cocktail bar in a former Victorian toilet in Camden. Its new-ish home on Newington Green is comparatively palatial, but with all the charm and pioneering spirit of the original – a quintessential neighbourhood bar with a sustainable, forward-thinking approach.
—01 June, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
The CBAs' Hotel Bar of the Year 2023
With so many hotel bars in the conversation to be our favourites, making a finalists’ list of four in the Hotel Bar of the Year (sponsored by Everleaf Drinks) category is an achievement in itself.
—31 May, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
Meet our Bar Manager of the Year
To many the biggest individual award of the Class Bar Awards, Bar Manager of the Year sponsored by Italicus, was won by James Wheeler, a finalist in the category last year.
—31 May, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
Review: Lunar, Glasgow
Glasgow’s food and drink scene continues its upward trend with the arrival of Lunar, a wine and cocktail bar on the south side of the city. From the team behind popular West End beer shop Grunting Growler, the focus is on fresh flavours from natural wines and seasonally-driven cocktails.
—31 May, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
Review: Velvet at Corinthia London
Velvet was one of the big launches of the last six months. Hamish Smith dropped by this spring to review Corinthia London's latest bar.
—23 May, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
Review: The Commons Club, Edinburgh
CLASS' Scotland reviewer Blythe Robertson pops by The Commons Club
—22 May, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
Review: The Canteen, Liverpool
The Class review team lands in Liverpool for the launch of Canteen.
—16 May, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
Review: Project Halcyon, Manchester
The Class review team is in Manchester to pay Project Halcyon a visit.
—15 May, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
A bartenders' guide to Edinburgh
Sian Buchan takes a tour around the bar jewels in the Scottish capital’s crown.
—10 May, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
International spotlight: Class explores Himkok in Oslo
Continuing our series of spotlights on pioneering international bars, Hamish Smith visits Himkok in Oslo, Norway. Bar manager Maroš Dzurus talks us through what makes this bar so different.
—10 May, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
Julio Bermejo: how I make the Tommy's Margarita
Hamish Smith gets the full skinny on the Tommy’s Margarita from the creator himself, Julio Bermejo.
—04 May, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
The New Fashioned - how the classic of classics has changed
The Old Fashioned is being given a makeover, catering to demands for lower-abv and culinary cocktails. Tyler Zielinski looks at some of the twists that are available.
—02 May, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
Monica Berg's bar diary: Spring
In the first of a new series, Monica Berg from Tayēr + Elementary walks us through her approach to seasonal drinks, opening up the calendar to spring.
—13 April, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
Class Bar Awards 2023 finalists announced
Class is delighted to announce the finalists of the Class Bar Awards 2023, ahead of the ceremony at Battersea Arts Centre in London on May 23rd.
—06 April, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
Cocktail freezing techniques with Panda & Sons' Iain McPherson
Bartenders are used to using heat to intensify flavour, but what about sub-zero temperatures? Iain McPherson of Panda & Sons explains how it all works.
—29 March, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
"The Dorchester has awoken" writes Hamish Smith in his review of the hotel's new Vesper Bar
Hamish Smith heads to The Dorchester and the grande dame hotel's new semi-themed Vesper Bar.
—17 March, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
Seamless: the story of Connaught Bar's quest for greatness as it turns 15
For the Connaught Bar, excellence has become the daily routine. Hamish Smith catches up with Ago Perrone, Maura Milia and Giorgio Bargiani to understand better how, after 15 years of the bar, the guest experience only gets better.
—16 March, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
CLASS Spring 2023 edition launches
Access the digital magazine here. Not subscribed? Bartenders can sign up for a digital or hard copy here. Inside this issue
—16 March, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
Satan's Whisker's Kevin Armstrong on Roundbuilding - a book about the bartending method
Hamish Smith catches up with Satan’s Whiskers owner Kevin Armstrong, who tells us about his and Daniel Waddy’s book Roundbuilding – a rare attempt to document the bartending method
—08 March, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
A bartender's guide to Nottingham
Liam O'Brien of Brass Monkey is your tour guide to Nottingham.
—07 February, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
International spotlight: Class explores Line in Athens
On a quest for inspiration, Hamish Smith visits Line in Athens, where he catches up with co-owner Vasilis Kyritsis who talks us through his pathbreaking new bar.
—02 February, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
The Manhattan - its history and falsehoods
A drink with a colourful, if erroneous, backstory, the Manhattan remains a classic among classics. Clinton Cawood traces its mukey origins.
—02 February, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
Techniques and trends ...Koji cocktails
Tyler Zielinski's first in a series of pieces on new techniques and trends narrows in on koji.
—16 January, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
Playing with fire: Anistatia Miller & Jared Brown's trials on smoking spirits
Anistatia Miller & Jared Brown enjoy making a meal out of smoked spirits, thanks to a happy accident that revealed meat flavours from a roast could happily marry with the wood aromas.
—11 January, 2023
Cocktails & Bars
CLASS Bar Awards 2023 opens for entries
The CLASS Bar Awards, which returns on Tuesday 9th May in London, is now open for submissions.
—05 January, 2023