What I learned at the Mixology Event hosted by Frances and Emma Magazine

Last week I attended a mini workshop at Frances Vintage Boutique with the help of Emma Magazine they hosted a great Mixology Workshop with Jax of Phoenix's local Cafe at the Market {Phoenix Public Market}  I learned a few new tricks and some resources for improving my cocktail recipes for future parties, here's a bit of what I learned..

First; Local liquor is a nice addition to your home bar.  We have the Arizona Distilling Co. which has Copper City Bourbon and a few other spirits coming soon.

This is Jax she was our bar educator.  She made all the jokes.  Super fun.

Our first drink was the Gin & Juice Martini which was made with fresh watermelon juice and muddled basil.

This was the perfect summer drink.

Second thing I learned was that with the help of the Flavor Bible you can create lots of bold combinations that work really well together.  Like the coconut tequila combination in the mango coconut cocktail pictured above.

Thirdly; Speaking of Tequila there are various classifications.

Fourth; the bar tool on the left is called a  Jigger which is important when creating drinks that taste good because they actually have the right ratio of alcohol to accompaniment. The drink on the right is a spiced cherry cocktail and turns out adding a bit of spicy to sweet is a great taste combination.

Fifth; rolling jicama in cayenne and sugar makes a great garnish, its spicy and sweet but the jicama is soothing.

Here Jax is pitting a cherry. ta-da!

Editor Sarah Hubbell of Emma Magazine taught everyone including Jax the trick to opening a stubborn twist off wine bottle, if the top isn't twisting to the right, twist the bottom to the left. You guys, that's why she's the editor of a brilliant magazine.

Sixth; you can put almost any fruit into sangria, except melons.  Just don't.  ever.  Jax said no.

But feel free to add Melons to Mojitos.  Thats a win.

She did say she used Rickshaw Pinot Noir for this sangria and let me just say, it was really really good, like as good as sangria I've had in Spain.

Our little sample cups were a bit small, but it was for the best considering I had to drive home after this event and I would have drank all the sangria had it not been for the portion control.

After the drink making, we started on the crafting...

Using simple white tiles, with those little soft sticky felt circles {to prevent table scratching} we made coasters.

I chose this black and white paper for mine to make for Husband for Father's Day.

adding mod podge and letting them dry equals the easiest D.I.Y. gift for the beverage drinkers in our lives.

Let them dry and then gift that sweet set.

Also, Bitter and Twisted is a new bar in Phoenix that my sister in law mentioned to me a few weeks ago and besides the Cafe at the Market, Jax said it's one of the best in town.  So, I've got a few new places to check out in the Phoenix area thanks to this little workshop, and lots of drinks to make.  Hope you're inspired to try a few new drinks yourself.  Happy Cocktail Crafting!