This Saturday is World Cocktail Day and the fact it falls, conveniently, at a weekend means that most people will have a day off to enjoy a tipple or two.
The designated day is a global celebration which apparently marks the precise date that the first definition of a cocktail was published. It was on May 13, 1806 that a New York paper, The Balance and Columbian Repository, described a cocktail as "a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters".
While that description applies to many classic cocktails, there are so many versions and twists on traditional recipes - not to mention entirely new creations - that a cocktail can be just about any mix of spirit and additions from fruit juice to syrups, even topped off with cream sparklers. What makes a top cocktail is always a matter of debate but there are some bars around Newcastle which are widely recognise as being masters of the art.
Read more: 10 thoroughly hidden Newcastle cocktail bars
Some boast mixologists who have honed their craft and, in the case of The Alchemist, shows off skills in a swirl of smoke. Then there's Pepo which mainly wants to focus on one drink, albeit with variations, done well: in its case a pornstar martini.
And if you like an air of mystery about your cocktails, have a look at our guide to hidden bars around the city. Whatever your taste, here is a guide to a top 10 cocktail bars around the city where you can celebrate World Cocktail Day this Saturday.
Some will also offer cocktail-making classes, bottomless brunch and happy hour deals alongside non-alcoholic cocktails.
Mother Mercy
Tucked away beneath the Cloth Market cobbles next to The Old George, this underground bar opened in 2019 and has since won a steam of awards, including the title of best bar at Chroniclelive's Newcastle Loves awards and being named one of the best cocktail bars in the UK. Once you've found the entrance in the Old George Yard, the contemporary cocktail hideway inside is a revelation.
Besides a cracking range of cocktails, it offers a Twist of Fate game with eight drinks to explore and prizes. See here.
The Botanist
Boasting a cocktail list that reads like a botanical encyclopaedia, this bar-restaurant at Monument Mall also feels like you're immersed in a garden with its florals, centre bar tree and outdoor terrace with great views of Grey Street. Those cocktails come under headers including Flowers, Fruits and Roots & Shoots and the choice is vast.
Think flavours of rose and poppy (bet you've never tasted that) and apple, rhubarb, even sage and beetroot all adding to the spirit mix in some unique-sounding cocktails. How about Pink Gin & Apple Blossom or a tequila-based Quince and Chilli drink? There's a good-size non-alcoholic offering too. Check them out here.
W.C.
The former underground gents' toilets in the Bigg Market might not sound somewhere you'd choose to drink but the reopening of the unique Victorian building as a cocktail bar and gin closet in 2020 has been a triumph, although that opening was then hit by the pandemic of course.
The 1898 building with its glass roof offers some classic tipples - see here - such as an Old Fashioned with notes of warming cinnamon and rosemary and 'luxury serves' like a Champagne Cosmopolitan.
The Alchemist
A world of magic and imagination awaits in this golden-lit bar-restaurant in Grey's Quarter of Eldon Square renowned for cocktails with a difference, such as previous theatrical ones reflecting a dark side of the festive season and The Colour Changing One, a cocktail which is a smoking concoction that changes before the eyes from blue to purple and then to pink.
The chain has just launched a new range of 'playful' cocktails including one in a 'trick teapot' of a kind apparently used to poison people centuries back. Called Pick Your Poison, it comes served in a teapot which holds two separate compartments, a design said to have originated in China, so that you can chose which to pour from by clever placement of your fingers.
Here the teapot just offers a less threatening sharing cocktail consisting of two rum-based drinks. For the whole range of what's on offer see here.
Turtle Bay
Ok it's more restaurant - Caribbean - than bar but it's deserving of a mention as it has an impressive range of cocktails and is also advertising a free cocktail - even two at happy hour - this Saturday, May 13 if you download its app: see here.
Rum-tastic options include Passion Fruit Punch, Mai Tai and Tobago Tea (Duppy White rum, vodka, tequila, gin, grapefruit, mango and fresh lime). The city branch's bottomless brunch offer also includes unlimited cocktails amongst its options. You surely can't get better than that.
Colonel Porter's Emporium
Named after the man who created Newcastle Brown Ale in 1927, this basement 'tavern, botanical garden and rhum bar', at the bottom of Dean Street, has a three-part cocktail list. There are Rhum Cocktails - ranging from Pina Colada to Zombie Dark & Stormy and a Bounty Bar Martini - and Colonel's Cocktails (including a Death before Decaff of Dead Man's Fingers coffee rum, Guinness and a splash of Coke) plus classics like sours and margaritas.
See here and if you go along then check out its concealed 'speak-easy' - it's hidden behind a fake bookcase.
Revolution
The grand surroundings of this former bank on the corner of Collingwood Street take on a chill-out mood by day and a party vibe at night and over the years the venue has certainly learned a thing of two about cocktails.
It offers its own-style 'Vodka-licious' recipes - such as a Millionaire Martini with vodka, Kahlúa, chilled coffee, sugar syrup and sparkles - alongside a range that also includes sharing options and a classics list which features a passion fruit martini along with a very interesting fact. It says: "By removing the passion fruit that adorns this cocktail, we have been able to save over 107 tonnes of carbon every year. Enough to fill a hot air balloon every 3 days." Who knew.
Find out more about the range here.
Pepo
Opening in Pilgrim Street last August (in the former Don Vitos building for those with a long memory), this upstairs bar claimed a world-first with a menu devoted to pornstar martinis and offering all manner of versions of the usual usual vodka, passion fruit and prosecco combo. Its name is derived from a category of fruit that includes passion fruit and its fruity drinks promise to be a revelation for cocktail fans.
It serves food platters too. Explore the menus here. It's an extension of Horticulture restaurant which specialises in espresso martinis if they're more you're thing.
Leila Lily
Much of the cocktail bar menu here matches the sweet, floral look of this Grey Street restaurant which opened in 2019; named after the daughter of the man who created it.
One drink, Sweet Little Leila, is a mix of vodka, raspberry liqueur, grenadine and lychee juice and is even described as "the sweetest girl you’ll ever meet". Others have names such as Lady Aperol, Strawberry Shortcake and Blossom Tail. You get the picture. See here for its full menu promising a feast for the eyes and tastebuds.
Be At One
This new kid on the block, which opened - with some bar-top dancing - at the start of April, bringing life back to the former Waiting Rooms bar in Westgate Road, makes our list with its boast of a menu of 100 cocktails - see here - so there's surely something for everyone.
With its LED walls and ceiling and the company's claim to be the 'original party starters', prepare to join in the fun. Find out more here.
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