The Botanist York Bar & Restaurant – Best Cocktail Masterclass In York

Last Updated on 3rd September 2022

This post about The Botanist York contains a gifted press experience for review purposes, as always, all thoughts and opinions are entirely my own. Please see my disclaimer for more.

I just want to apologise profusely for the terrible quality of these photos; the atmosphere of the event was amazing but it was a little too dark to take decent photos. The photos were also taken on my old camera over five years ago now, so I’m definitely due another to The Botanist York to take some updated pictures!

I’ve been to The Botanist cocktail bar in York on numerous occasions over the years, so when I was invited to their first birthday party in 2017, I couldn’t wait to head back for review purposes.

The evening began with prosecco on arrival and we were introduced to the lovely Megan who’d invited me along. I brought one of my oldest friends, Steph, along with me and even though she’s not a blogger herself, she also had an amazing time.

We chatted to Megan for a good while, discussing our jobs and the blogging industry and then we headed to the gin-making station that was hosted by a lovely guy called Matt.

I always thought that I despised gin and whenever I’ve tried it before I was never impressed at all, that is until I tried Brockmans Gin at The Botanist. Matt revealed to us that it was probably never actually the gin that we didn’t like; it was the mixer that we were drinking it with.

Previously, whenever I’d tried gin, I’d always had it with tonic and I realised that was my downfall; because gin is actually bloody delicious.

We had the Brockmans Gin accompanied by ginger beer and garnished with strawberries, blueberries, an orange slice and some mint and it was absolutely delightful!

It reminded me of summer so even though it wasn’t a drink I would necessarily recommend for the colder months, I’d still drink it because it was bloody lovely.

Steph and I then took a seat at one of the tables in the restaurant and we enjoyed chatting away while drinking our numerous drinks. The waiters kept filling our prosecco glasses up and we were offered a number of different cocktails to try too; it’s safe to say that we were a little tipsy by the time we were called for food…

We chatted to Megan for ages while we waited for other people to go up to the “canapé station” and I can safely say that she was the most lovely PR girl I have ever met. I’ve been incredibly lucky to attend a number of events this year but The Botanist York event was hands down the best one so far, and that was largely due to how accommodating and welcoming Megan was.

After a little while, we decided to head up to where the canapés were displayed but unfortunately, we’d left it a little late as there really wasn’t too much food left…

We still managed to grab a small plate of pork scratchings and some delicious bread in the shape of a pretzel. The pork scratchings were so delicious and I do wish that we’d had the chance to eat more of the food at The Botanist as I’ve always loved every dish I’ve eaten there previously, I’m still so glad that we were able to focus on the drinks!

After food and even more prosecco, Steph and I wandered up to another cocktail-making station where Felix was teaching the guests how to make a Strawberry Cucumber Breeze.

If you follow me on Instagram then you may have seen this process on my Stories but essentially we were given step-by-step guidance on how to make the perfect cocktail. It was incredibly fun to mix all the ingredients together and I definitely felt a bit like Tom Cruise in Cocktail…

Once we’d finished the cocktail making, we sat back down to enjoy our concoctions and revel in our amazing cocktail-making skills. Megan also joined us for another chat and we had such a lovely time with her.

At about 10 PM (bearing in mind that we’d been there since 6.30 PM…), we decided to call it a night and head back home.

A special thank you goes out to the lovely staff at The Botanist York for hosting such a lovely evening and a huge thank you to Megan for inviting me to the event; I had such an amazing evening!

Have you ever been to The Botanist York? What’s your favourite cocktail? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter at @imjustagirl_16.