There are a lot of cocktail-making classes in New York, but Manhattan’s first legal distillery to open since Prohibition, Great Jones, does it just right. Set within its underground speakeasy, its two-hour class, The Shake Up, taught me how to make two actually-delicious cocktails with its smooth whiskey—but that’s not all.
To start the class, we were whisked into the distillery where we had a quick tour and learned about the distilling process and the different kinds of whisky that are made on site—helping set the scene for the imbibing we were about to do below.
Once downstairs, we were immediately greeted with a Great Jones Straight Bourbon Smoked Old Fashioned (a welcome cocktail) and a solid charcuterie board (smoked almonds, marinated olives, dark chocolate coins, Jasper Hills Farm Alpha Tolman cheese, Jasper Hills Farms Moses, American Prosciutto and housemade sourdough crackers) at each table. To my surprise, we did a tasting of a few of the Great Jones Straight Bourbons, which already had me wondering how I’d get through making two cocktails.
Our mixologist Ren took us step-by-step on how to make a Boulevardier and a Paper Plane, giving us tips and tricks along the way, including how to use (and open) a cocktail shaker and how to smoke one.
The welcoming and cozy atmosphere helped me to relax and just learn, too, rather than being anxious about not being the best mixologist. I definitely made a few spills along the way, but I learned so much about why whiskey pulls together certain cocktails and how to make drinks that’ll impress my friends.
The Shake Up can be booked here for at 7pm on Wednesdays and at 3pm on Saturdays.