There will be high spirits all round in Digbeth on Saturday 19th July as The Custard Factory hosts Secret Cellar Fair, a drinks festival celebrating the city’s tastiest tipples.
Running from 12 noon – 7pm, the event will feature Summertime Wine Tasting Workshops by Loki; Whistlestop History of Gin from KitchInn; Alfie’s Mixology Masterclass at Alfie Birds and craft beers at the brand new Mockingbird Theatre.
Drinks will be served to the summer sounds of live music on the poolside stage, with delicious street food dished up by Digbeth Dining Club, winners of the National Street Food Awards 2014.
The workshops and masterclasses will run throughout the day, each workshop costing £15 and lasting for forty minutes.
Alternatively, for those who just want to settle down in the sunshine for drinks, Alfie Birds will be offering two for one cocktails at their pop up poolside tiki bar, whilst Loki and KitchInn will offer the chance to buy their gin and wine by the glass or the bottle at their outdoor stalls, open all afternoon.
Loki & KitchInn
Based in The Great Western Arcade, Loki is Birmingham’s multi-award winning boutique wine merchants and recent winner of “UK Wine Merchant of the Year 2014” in The Drinks Business Awards.
Loki founder Phil Innes said:
The ethos of Loki is that wine should be fun and great value for money – not stuffy. Loki has proved popular because it caters for people who want to taste and enjoy really good wines and increase their knowledge of wine, but in a relaxed and non pretentious way.
Secret Cellar Fair is a great chance to bring our offer out into the city’s creative quarter. In the workshop we will talk about choosing summertime wines and guests will taste six of our favourites for this season. For our outside stall by the Custard Factory Poolside, we have chosen a Malbec, a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and a Prosecco to sell by the glass, along with a selection of bottled wines to take away.
KitchInn fuses the flavours and techniques of the kitchen and bar to create quirky, creative cocktails, using home infusions and seasonal flavours.
Carl Hawkins, KitchInn, said:
I have been specialising in gin for 5years and it has experienced an explosive renaissance over the last decade to be come one of Britain’s most fashionable spirits. People are appreciating the difference in quality, style and flavour between different types of gin and are curious about how to mix and serve the perfect G&T or experiment with gin based cocktails.
The Whistlestop History of Gin talks people through 400 years of gin in forty minutes, with two classic gin cocktails and a contemporary G&T to sip along the way. Outside we’ll be serving up gin drinks and cocktails and selling bottles of premium locally produced Langley’s gin at a special rate. It is a classic, timeless Old English style gin made in Birmingham at the Langley Distillery near Oldbury.
Tickets
Tickets for the workshops at Secret Cellar Fair are available to buy in advance at Alfie Birds or The Mockingbird Theatre in The Custard Factory, or online from theticketsellers.co.uk. Tickets can also be purchased on the door subject to availability.
For those who want to continue the party, Secret Cellar Fair will be followed by Shake The Shack at Alfie Birds, a brand new 50s event by Rachel Plant (Madame Moonshine’s Speakeasy) & Mazzy Snape (Chicks Dig Jerks/Hott Date) with retro-vintage style Bands & DJs from across the UK, featuring mix of genres including rock n roll, do-wop, rockabilly and pop classics.
Programme
All workshops are £15 and last for 40 minutes.
Workshops:
1pm/3pm/5pm.
KitchInn presents The Whistle stop History of Gin, including 2 classic gin cocktails and a contemporary G&T to finish
2pm/4pm/6pm.
Loki’s Summertime Wine Workshop, including tasting of six wines.
2.30pm/4.30pm/6.30pm.
Alfie’s Mixology Masterclass, learn to mix the perfect cocktails – shaken, stirred and everything in between. Includes three drinks.
Extras
12noon-7pm.
Gin and wine stalls and pop up tiki bar serving.
Street Food by Digbeth Dining Club.
Live music.
Tastings and offers on craft beers at Mockingbird Theatre.