Attending A Cocktail Class + Book Launch At Joui Wine
Joui Wine is a chic wine bar in Dayton that I adore, but have not frequented, and I find that to be a downright shame. In an attempt to remedy this, I signed up for a cocktail class they were hosting that doubled as a book launch event for, wouldn’t you know it, a cocktail book.
Despite having been to many a wine tasting and fancy dinners, I had never been to a cocktail technique class. While I am quite good at drinking cocktails, I can’t say the same about making them, so I was really excited to see what all we’d be learning and doing in this two and a half hour class. Plus, the ticket said you get to drink three cocktails, so I was looking forward to that, as well.
I actually got to Joui an hour before the event because I wanted to have a snack. Not only did I want something in my stomach before drinking, but I had been interested in trying their food for a while and hadn’t had the chance to yet.
When I walked in, it was relatively empty, so I sat pretty much smack dab in the middle of the bar and took a look at their small plates menu:
Two small sheets of paper, one being the wine and beer menu and one being the small bites menu. The small plates menu has things like spinach artichoke dip, a cheese and charcuterie plate, Cincinnati chili deviled eggs, etc. The wine menu is split into sparkling, skin contact, white, and red, with beer being at the bottom.
Also let’s take a moment to appreciate how pretty their bar is:
The entire back wall of the bar is a light colored wood with six huge oval shapes cut out. Each oval has four glass shelves that hold liquor bottles, decanters, stuff like that. There's mirrors on the back wall of each oval. Each oval is lit with vertical strip lights.
It’s such a unique design, and I love the lighting!
Though it was a tough call between the deviled eggs, the charcuterie, and the dirty martini dip, I decided to have the charcuterie board:
A circular white plate with all the charcuterie on it. There's salami, prosciutto, cornichons, sweety drop peppers, two small blocks of white cheese, and some accompanying jams and whatnot.
This came with a fennel salami, a 14 month aged prosciutto, an Italian black truffle cheese, an aged goat’s cheese, lingonberry jam, honeycomb, a dijon mustard (if I remember correctly), Marcona almonds, Peruvian sweety drop peppers, and cornichons. Crackers came on a separate plate, so even though they’re not pictured rest assured there was a vehicle for all that lingonberry goodness.
I finished eating, all the other attendees shuffled in, and it was finally time to start the class.
Everyone got a welcome cocktail, which consisted of Cocchi Americano, Lillet Blanc, Dolin Blanc, Dolin Rogue, and Carpano Antica Vermouth. This was truly unlike any cocktail I’ve had before, as I don’t normally have vermouth. It was unique and very complex.
So, the cocktail book is called This is a Cocktail Book, and is by cocktail extraordinaire and writer Branden von Fugate. Branden was also the teacher of the class, so after introducing himself and explaining how the class was gonna go, we got these papers:
A sheet of paper with six cocktail recipes on it. The first two are under the
Basically, you get to pick one drink from each category and make it yourself. And then drink it!
Before being let loose to self-bartend, Branden showed us some techniques. For shaking, he played some songs that were specific BPMs so we could know how quickly to shake, told us all about when shaking is a good idea vs stirring, when to strain with a fine mesh strainer rather than a Hawthorne or a Julep, how much dilution is ideal, all that good stuff.
For my first drink, I picked the Caipirinha over the Penicillin because I don’t like whiskey, plus the Caipirinha has demerara sugar in it, which I am a fiend for.
The Caipirinha is made with cachaça, which Branden told us is different from rum because it’s made with sugarcane juice rather than a by-product like molasses, and has to come from Brazil. I’d never even heard of this spirit before, so I was excited to try it for the first time.
I measured the cachaça, muddled the lime and demerara sugar cubes, shook it all with ice, and instead of straining this one you just dump everything into your glass, lime wedges and all. As Branden said, you get little bits of sugar to nibble on throughout the drink.
Here was mine:
A glass filled halfway with a dark yellow liquid. The ice fills the entire glass, and a couple of lime wedges sit on top of the ice.
A little bit of user error there, since it seems to be on the side of glass half empty, but this drink was so tasty! I loved the sweetness of the sugarcane flavor, the lime was so bright and fresh, and the molasses-y sugar crystals really made all the difference. I honestly really loved the muddling part of this cocktail. It was so much fun to pulverize the sugar cubes.
For our next drink, I chose to make the Vesper over the Sazerac, again because I don’t like whiskey. Basically every drink choice I ever make is in favor of avoiding whiskey.
We were told that drinks that consist mostly of spirits are the ones you want to stir, whereas drinks with things like dairy or egg whites are the kind you want to shake. So the Vesper was the perfect one to stir, as it only has gin, vodka, and Lillet Blanc. Though it turned out the bar had some Cocchi Americano on hand, so he swapped out the Lillet Blanc for Cocchi Americano.
Branden showed us how to perfectly hold the stirring spoon and how the pros stir, and then it was off to the races:
A martini glass filled to the brim with clear liquid. One could mistake it for water.
There was only supposed to be an ounce and a half of gin in it, but it came out so quickly I definitely poured at least two ounces of gin if not more, and this was a dry gin so my drink was strong tasting. I still liked it but it was definitely different from what I’m used to drinking.
For the final drink, we got an extensive history lesson in Tiki drinks, which was honestly really fascinating. It was pretty clear Branden knew a lot about this topic, and it’s something I never would’ve looked into myself, so I’m glad I got to learn about it!
While both Tiki options sounded good to me, I decided to go with the Jungle Bird rather than the Three Dots and a Dash because it had a few less ingredients and I was the one making it instead of a bartender, so I figured I’d make it easier on myself.
A short glass filled with a reddish pink liquid. There's a small layer of foam on top, and the ice fills the glass.
Rum, pineapple juice, simple syrup, what’s not to like! I love tropical-type drinks like this, they’re always so bright and sweet, and this totally transported me from 15-degree Ohio to the beach. I loved the fun color of this one, especially since the last one had been basically clear.
All in all, the cocktail class was a lot of fun. I was glad to have tried several new things, and learned even more. Branden was a super-informative instructor and also pretty dang hilarious. None of the information was boring, and all the drinks were delicious. I would be happy to attend another class in the future.
While there had only been about a dozen people for the actual cocktail class, the afterparty/book launch event was much more populated. Joui made a special cocktail menu for the event:
A cocktail menu consisting of six drinks. Each one is priced at twelve dollars. There's a QR Code at the bottom to the Kickstarter of the cocktail book. There's also the sponsor of
Some of these cocktails sounded absolutely wild to me, like the one with Tabasco and beef broth. I almost got it out of sheer curiosity, but I opted for the Sherry Cobbler instead since it had lemon, sugar, and berries. It was a little more my speed.
A short glass filled to the brim with a brownish orange liquid and ice. There's an orange slice garnish as well as a lime slice and two raspberries.
Also how cool is it that if you backed the Kickstarter for the book, you get a free drink!
Speaking of the Kickstarter, if you would like a copy of This is a Cocktail Book, it is on Kickstarter right now, and just got onto the “Projects We Love” page. Not only can you buy yourself a digital or physical copy of the book, but you could even have Branden come to you, hand-deliver your copy of the book, and host a cocktail class for you and up to 15 of your comrades! (Only two of these are available, so definitely a very exclusive offer.)
You can also follow Branden on Instagram, as well as his page for This is a Cocktail Book. And of course be sure to follow Joui Wine on Instagram as well, or check out their website! They were wonderful hosts of this truly awesome event. I’m so glad I attended.
Which drinks would you have made? Would you have tried the beef broth cocktail? Let me know your thoughts in the comments, and have a great day!
-AMS
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