Cocktail Class 202: Stepping Up To The Bar

This next step cocktail course will cover the in-depth secrets of elevating your cocktail game to bar quality levels. Your instructors will cover in-depth;

1. The types, styles and definitions of most spirits common to a bar
2. More complex cocktails (going beyond the mother cocktails, including tiki drinks)
3. Techniques for upping the ‘wow’ factor of your drinks

Particular attention will be paid to understanding the nuance of finding balance between flavor, aroma and appearance when creating your version of a cocktail.

Suggested Pairings

We recommend Death & Co: Modern Classics as the companion book to this course. 

About Your Instructors

Peter Marsala

Peter started his professional life teaching and pursuing a career in geology and field geochemistry research. As a lover of craft beverages, after much soul searching, Peter decided to change gears and pursue a career in the craft alcohol industry. Experiencing and learning about different local craft producers eventually spurred his interest in cocktails and craft bartending. After polishing his hospitality and bartending skills through positions at Far From the Tree Cider, Opus in Salem and two award-winning premiere craft cocktail and beer bars at Encore Boston Harbor, Peter landed a dream job at The Speakeasy Lab at Deacon Giles Distillery. He took over and began developing the beverage program for his favorite distillery. At Deacon Giles, Peter is able to marry his passion for local craft spirits with his background in science, while taking his cocktail skill set in new and interesting directions!

Jesse Brenneman

With 14+ years in alcoholic beverage production, Jesse has crafted libations throughout the northeast, including roles at Old Dominion, Gordon Biersch, and Harpoon Breweries. His interest in distilling formed when he started exploring cocktails as a break from the saturation of overly hoppy beers available. Oftentimes spirits producers rely solely on their distillation equipment for the production of spirits, but Jesse applies his step-by-step quality-control oriented approach, learned through the production of beer, to every spirit he makes, from raw ingredient to finished spirit. The results are high quality spirits with clean flavors and exceptional nuance - ‘Put good in, get better out!’

Drinks, beyond what is taught during the course, are not included.