Elite Event: Pisco Sour Masterclass

So much fun!
Such a well organised Unilocal event as per usual, this was my first solo event and it was a bit daunting at first but I can honestly say that I had a ball with the table of ladies that I was with.
The cocktail class was great and the food and drinks were amazing. Chorizo bites, corn croquettes and lamb ribs — yumo!
I hadn’t been to the public house before but I most definitely will be coming back again.
Thanks again for a great night Laura x

I’ve always had fond memories of cocktails at Public House, with many a fun night spent sampling my way through their cocktail tasting boards. So it’s no surprise that when an invite to a cocktail masterclass landed in my inbox that I was beyond excited!
I had expected to just be making one cocktail, but lo and behold when we arrived that not only would we be making two, but we would also get one professionally made for us, and get to sample of their food as well — winning! The two cocktails we got to make were the Pisco Sour (my favourite) and the Pure Passion. The actual cocktail making part was a little chaotic — 30 excited Unilocalers catching up with one another while the bartender tried to keep us organised plus not all the ingredients not being on the table made for a little confusion, but it seemed like everyone was having too much fun to mind. We were drinking free cocktails after all!
The food was great — corn chips with some spicy guacamole and sweet potato chips kept us busy while we shook our cocktails, and a rather impressive platter with some delicious croquettes and ribs appeared when we got our cocktails from the professionals behind the bar.
Big thanks to Laura and the team of Public House for fun event!

What a great interactively social thing to instead of just boozing up your evening. I had a great time learning to make cocktails, sampling food and receiving the real version from an actual bar tender. Lets just say theirs was better. What a great night out, thanks all.

As always, Unilocal elite events are bomb-​diggity and this one was no exception! Always love coming to Public House, the cocktails are amazing and so is the tasty south american food. It was really great being taught how to make the cocktails ourselves definitely a very fun and hands on experience, also kudos to the wonderful staff for helping us along the way and giving us some 101 bartender tips :-)

Oh what an event this was! Learning to shake it like the pros to produce the perfect pisco sour and passion pop delight.
I’m definitely not made for making the cocktails but it was great to hand that over to the guys at public house to make me that.
The nibbles were absolutely delish as well and kept the alcohol levels at bay.
Thanks Unilocal and the public house team for a great mid week out!
Can’t wait until the next one!

Before last night I had no idea what a Pisco Sour was, today I am am much more clued in.
The Unilocal Elite Event last night was as always outstanding and something completely new to me. In the last two years I have been introduced to plenty of things I did not know existed prior to joining Unilocal.
I’m not completely sure our table passed the cocktail making course, but it was fun trying to work out how exactly to make the cocktails. It would have been a little easier had the ingredients been marked, our few educated guesses came off as major fails. Our second attempt was much better, but maybe this was because this was the simpler of the two cocktails?
The snacks provided were outstanding, I have only been to Public House once for a quick lunch but this is a reminder that I really need to get back here sometime to try out more of their delicious food.
It was great to catch up with Unilocalers I have not seen for absolutely ages and put some more faces to names. As well as check in on what everyone has been doing and of course the new venues that everyone has been trying out.
Thanks again to Laura. D and the Unilocal crew for again creating an awesome night, a nice way to break the working week up.

Being a fan of drinking Pisco Sours and eating South American food, I was so excited to read that the next Elite Event was a Pisco Sour Masterclass. Count. Me. In. On arrival (with convenient parking down on the Esplanade), we checked in and checked out the bar before grabbing a seat at the front of the class, all nerd-​like to learn more about Pisco and cocktails. The main ingredients were all laid out in front of us all we needed was the guidance to make cocktail magic.
We had some quick snacks brought out, some corn chips and salsa (the lightest, flakiest corn chips you ever did see), and some rather soggy but nevertheless delicious sweet potato chips. The jalapeño cream that came with it was a hot delight!
The cocktail session itself was informative and fun, but could’ve been a bit more smoothly run. We were a fairly raucous bunch and it could be hard to hear the bartenders wisdom, and small things like a delay in receiving the egg whites and ice were minor issues. After building and tasting the two cocktails, we chose one to be professionally made for us and a snack plate was brought out with lamb ribs, corn & manchego croquettes and popcorn, yucca chips, chorizo and more corn chips and guacamole. They were unsurprisingly the perfect accompaniment to the summery cocktails.
Public House run these Pisco Sour Masterclasses upon booking for groups of 10 to 30 people. Due to noise being a factor when alcohol and excitement is involved, I would probably recommend more the 10 people end of the scale… but I would definitely recommend it! A fun and bit different way to spend some time with friends!
Stacy B and I stuck around for some extra food afterwards to soak up some of the booze. The salmon coconut ceviche is a slightly sweeter, creamier take on the usual citrussy hit of a ceviche and the empanadas and buttermilk sliders were both worthy bar snacks.

My first (of many, I hope) Unilocal event was a great night.
Everything ran very smoothly and we got to make some great cocktails as well as learn a thing or two!
Being a foodie, my eyes light up when it arrives to the table! Public House provided delicious food, my favourite being those juicy ribs… yum!
Luckily, we signed up to become members so we can return for more great food and and take advantage of those $ 10 cocktails!
Thanks for having me!

My first event as a an Elite and it was a great place to start! Met some lovely folks, tried some new and interesting cocktails… got my «shake» on!
Great night and some delish food from Public House. We stayed after for some extra nibbles, the Salmon ceviche was lovely as were the buttermilk sliders.
Looking forward to coming back to Public House and trying the cocktail tasting plate!
Also looking forward to future Elite events
x

Sensational night with my Unilocal family! So lovely to catch up with the gang and meet some new Unilocalers. Thank you so much Laura for organising such a great night once again!
The food was amazing I can’t wait to go back and try more! I loved the ribs, sweet potato chips and the cheesy/​corn balls.
It was so much fun trying to make our own cocktails, mixing and shaking them like Tom Cruise, haha. We got to taste both cocktails and then were treated to the cocktail of our choice by the professionals. My first time trying Pisci cocktails.
I’m going to organise a group of my friends to join me for another class soon!

I love Elite events, they are awesome to check out new venues, catch up with ‘old’ Unilocalers and meet the newly Elite.
I had so much fun tonight talking to everyone on our table and making cocktails… The deceiving part of the event was the word master in the title, the Unilocalers on our table unfortunately we’re not masters in the art of cocktail making! (Sorry guys!) In fact we found out we are quite terrible at reading recipes and following instructions as well!!! Possibly because we all just wanted to chat about Nathan and Claire’s adventures at Petition…
Anyway, the class itself was good. We were given most of the ingredients on our table, recipes and the equipment. The 4 out of 5 stars is because of a couple of things, firstly the ingredients weren’t labelled so we made some mistakes… secondly because we were given ‘Secrets’ after we had already stuffed up our cocktails and finally because we were to measure 5ml and 10ml quantities with a 15ml or 30ml cone measurer. It was fine and we did some estimates /​guesstimates… They are all little thing that could be tweaked.
The food was great. We had sweet potato chips with a spicy sauce, crispy pastry (perhaps won ton skins or similar) with an avocado dip and a share platter with chorizo, ribs, the won ton skins again, something deep fried — like aranchini balls and a few other options… Sorry I can’t remember them all. The chorizo was my favourite by far and sticks in my mind.
The lovely Laura did a draw to win a battery pack charger — I was lucky enough to receive one, yay! The gorgeous Danika was back as our photographer tonight, I was so excited to see her as she missed the last Unilocal event I was at. There’s no photographer that compares! She’s so wonderful and will take snaps of you and your Unilocal buddies when you ask and she takes great action shots too, I feel she really captures the fun in her shots.
We also received ‘show bags’ with cocktail recipes and a few other treats.
All in all, a successful night, lots of fun, laughs and cuddles and some good cocktails — made by trained bar staff, not us!!!
Thanks Laura and Unilocal for another great night!

I arrived a little early for this event so I headed straight to the bar and ordered a Law Breaker! After a few of these cocktails I am sure I would be trying to break a few laws! The Law Breaker was expertly concocted with illegal mezcal, pineapple, lime and sugar served short with an amazing chilli salt rim. It certainly put me in the right mood for the Pisco Masterclass!
We were ushered to a private area and from then on, it was all fun and games! Under the expert tutelage of the charming Public House staff we poured, we measured and we shook up the ingredients producing a couple of cocktails which tasted legit! Using a Boston shaker is harder than it looks, somehow we could not quite master it but certainly had lots of fun with our feeble attempts! A good night is always assured when Laura plans an event and my gorgeous fellow Unilocalers provided entertainment. Should we be called upon, we can now skillfully mix a mean Pisco Sour and a Pure Passion cocktail. However, we were eager beavers at my table and skipped ahead when we should have been listening, resulting in a few spills. It was a bit of lighthearted fun though and laughter prevailed throughout the evening! What we lacked in experience we certainly made up for with passion and vigour!
Crispy tortilla chips were served with a tasty avocado salsa and we enjoyed these with a cheeky Pisco Sour expertly made by the very capable bartender. Next, we were treated to a huge platter of assorted tapas which included corn and manchego croquettes with a spicy sauce, ribs, sweet potato chips, yuca fries with chipotle mayo, spicy chorizo and more house made tortilla chips. We enjoyed it so much we left the platter clean.
Once again hats off to our lovely Laura who has once again managed to organize a stellar event enjoyed by all who attended. I will certainly recommend the Pisco Masterclass to all and sundry because at $ 30pp it is a veritable bargain! The Public House has all the hallmarks of a great venue so keep it in mind when planning your next function. Gracias to Public House for putting some pop and passion into our working week!

Wow, another awesome Elite event. Thanks to Laura and Public house staff for making it so fun.
We started the night with some yummy snacks. Lightly salted chip/​crackers, yummy with a hint of chilli. It also came with an avocado type dip (which I didn’t try as I’m not a fan). Second up was sweet potato chips which were also nice but could have done with a but more salt (personal preference).
The the fun started, we divided into groups to make two different type of cocktails. I am not sure on the names but the first one had sugar, egg whites, bitters to name a few of the ingredients. Was nice but a wee but on the bitter side for me, I added more sugar syrup after the fact. Second cocktail had passionfruit, lemon, sugar syrup as some of the ingredients and was also nice but also wasn’t quite sweet enough so again I added a bit more passionfruit and sugar.
After making we got to choose which one the bar staff could make for us and I chose the passionfruit one. It was so yummy. It became clear to me I suck at making cocktails and should stick to my day job lol as the ones the professionals made were much nicer.
We also had another tray bought out with some delicious food. Another type of root vegetable chips, lamb ribs, some more of the cracker/​chips that we had at the beginning of the night, some cheesey balls. All were so yummy.
I had so much fun and got to meet a few more people which was lovely. Lovely to put names to faces and to chat.
It was well organised and took just the right amount of time.
Thanks again to Unilocal,Laura and the staff at the Public house.

After gulping down some shiraz and stuffing my face with prawn and avocado lime dip served on a spoon (seriously whatever happened to toothpicks), I power walked over from the Hilton to the public house excited for my pisco sour cocktail making class at the public house.
I was welcomed by the gorgeous Laura and beautiful tresna and led over to a table adorned with cocktail making instructions and equipment. We were to make two cocktails — the pisco sour and the pachacha. But before that we were provided with some delicious homemade chips which tasted like an Indian fried flour snack called mathri. These were served with a homemade guacamole dip with a hint of spice in it. They were delicious.
This was then quickly followed by homemade hand cut sweet potato chips served with spicy capsicum dip. Mm. What a great comboo sweet salty and spicy. Sugar salt and spice — all so nice!
Then came the hard work. Making the cocktails. We went a bit overboard making our pisco sour and mistook the passionfruit syrup required for the pachacha for egg white (blonde moment). However our waitress remedied our cocktail by adding sugar syrup to it. Then came the shaking to get the egg white all frothy. Shake it over your shoulder. Shake it in the air. Shake it all over like you just don’t care. We then added the ice, shook it some more and then strained it into our glasses. Added a lime wedge to each glass and my was it tasty. The other group on our table didn’t like theirs and they followed the instructions to the tee. Hehe. Never hurts to experiment. I call our formulated cocktail the passionate pisco sour.
We then made the pachacha with the passion fruit syrup. This one didn’t require straining and you actually shake it with ice unlike the pisco sour. I didn’t like this cocktail much. It has a zesty taste to it like orange peel. Hmm.
And omg we then got to order a cocktail each. I got me a pisco sour. While waiting, we were served with a massive board laden with food.
We had mouth melting, delicious tasting, corn croquette with more of that freshly made spicy capsicum dip. Some lamb ribs that disappeared before I could say pisco. Chorizo just the right amount of salty and more of those delicious flour chips. More guacamole. Some spicy popcorn.
Wow what great food and great service.
Now for some information.
Pisco sour originated in Peru but the Chileans like to call it their native cocktail.
Public house does a cocktail making class for a cheap ass $ 30 dollars per person. Omg cocktail making class usually cost $ 150 to $ 200 bucks.
The food is amzelicious and well suited to those that like food with a kick to it.
You can sign up to be a member which guarantees you $ 10 cocktails.
We left with our tummies full, smiles on our face, slightly intoxicated, and with goodie bags containing cocktail recipes and meal discounts.
Love public house and their cocktails. Definitely going back. Need to learn how to get the glass out of the shaker. It’s tough. :)

My first Unilocal Elite event! It was great, yummy nibbles and lovely people. I haven’t been to Public House since it first opened and I’ll definitely be going back, especially as I’ve joined their loyalty program which gives you $ 10 cocktails!

So these events almost always deliver the goods but Public House just set a new benchmark for the future gigs. We were taken to the private-​ish area in the back and had our tables set up for the Pisco Sour Masterclass. May I please comment on the lighting and the décor at the PH — it’s outstanding! It’s sexy but without overdoing it. All the little details like galvanised pipes holding the bottles in the back bar to little murals on toilet doors — looks get a 6 out of 5 stars.
Our classes started with instructions and being the secret mixologists we all are, we poured, we added, we shook an we dumped (all over the table) and were very pleased to know that a professional was going to make the real deal after the class for us to try. In saying that, our drinks were quite nice for the first go, however, i will stick to the this side of the bar. Pisco sours are to die for indeed!
Food was amazing — especially the little ribs and the spicey sauce served with cheesy balls. Variety of flavors that blend perfectly — safe food options that are not too experimental or too boring. I really enjoyed the fact that they did not hold back spicey food. As a Turk, I highly appreciate it when my food has a good kick to it.
A great Unilocal event and an amazing introduction to a city joint that I had never been to before, but will be a regular at. Especially with their amazing offers for members. Thanks Laura, and the guys at PH!

How could I not appreciate and rave about such an event that blends old friends and new, the adventure of trying something different, free food and of course, alcohol? It is impossible.
Thus, I give the thumbs up, as usual, to the venue, to our wonderful bar hostess who put on an excellent show with a professional attitude, despite being over-​tired, to Laura who was sweet and welcoming as usual, to my Unilocaler mates that I LOVE seeing as often as I do (and those of you who I don’t see as regularly) and to the remaining staff, seen and unseen, who provided the goods.
Well done Public Group for another great function and well done Unilocal for continuing the outstanding entertainment. Also, great to see Unilocaler Extraordinaire Tresna L in our ‘hood. x

The Public House is a great place to hold an event. The relaxed and friendly attitude helps make the evening sensational.
Attempting to make cocktails was challenging as the ingreidents were not marked so we accidently added passionfruit (we thought it was egg!). But it made for a good laugh and we really got to try something different. At the end of the night when they were making our favourtie out of the two cocktails, they were not phased when I said I didn’t like either. They simply offerred something else to drink — a gin based cocktail.
It was great meeting up with everybody and there were lots of discussions on our table about recent eating adventures.
Thanks to Laura & the Public House Team for put on a great event.