Perth Cocktail Week is coming soon, offering a range of deals to attendees – but are the drinks worth the hype?
The cocktails from local venues may be cheap once you buy your wristbands – several priced as low as £6 – but does this price mean less quality?
I wanted to find out which of the cocktails were up to scratch, so headed along for a preview of some of the Perth Cocktail Week deals.
Here are the cocktails we tried, ranked from best to worst.
1. Green Velvet – St John’s Bar and Restaurant
Though it was a wet and miserable night when we began our Perth Cocktail Week crawl, the enthusiastic staff in St John’s Bar and Restaurant immediately brightened our spirits.
Their quirky-looking signature cocktail was very intriguing (though it reminded my colleague Poppy of Shrek).
The Green Velvet cocktail costs just £7, which is an excellent price for such a flamboyant-looking drink.
But did the taste match the appearance?
This was – and I’m not exaggerating – one of the best cocktails I’ve ever had.
It’s a kiwi-based cocktail, which I have never come across before.
It consists of homemade kiwi puree, Midori, almond syrup, lime juice, vanilla vodka and pineapple juice.
The kiwi flavour was delicious, and the sweetness of the fruit juice didn’t overpower it.
It was very easy to drink – once you dodged the flavoured bubbles.
Poppy went for mocktails on our Perth Cocktail Week crawl, and her favourite was also from St John’s Bar and Restaurant.
The aptly named Driving Home from Perthshire was deliciously fruity and very prettily presented.
The ingredients were apple juice, pineapple juice, honey, ginger syrup and lime juice.
Unlike other mocktails we have both tried before, this was sweet without being overpowering or sickly.
Address: 22 King Edward St, Perth PH1 5UT
2. Giddy in Pink – The Giddy Goose
Our second best cocktail of the night was enjoyed at The Giddy Goose, Perth.
The drink we tried, Giddy in Pink, only costs £6 during Perth Cocktail Week 2024.
This combines Disaronno, pink gin, raspberry, and basil, topped with lemonade.
The Giddy in Pink was our second favourite thanks to the excellent flavour combinations. The basil was a really interesting – and delicious – touch.
It added a nice earthy flavour to counterbalance the sweetness of the gin and liqueur.
The mocktail version included raspberry syrup, Amaretto-flavoured syrup, and was again topped with lemonade and basil.
The Amaretto flavour really came through in the mocktail, which was delicious.
Poppy really enjoyed the fizz of this one – it was fizzier than all the other drinks we tried.
Address: 1 St John’s Pl, Perth PH1 5SZ
3. Guava Bien – The Bothy
The next cocktail on the list is The Guava Bien from The Bothy, Perth.
The Bothy is a gorgeous building inside and out, with a stylish bar available beyond the main dining area.
The signature cocktail from The Bothy is £6, and they’re also offering a cocktail masterclass which includes 3 drinks for £19.95 per person.
So how did the cocktail taste?
This one was quite strong for me. It combined tequila, lychee liqueur, Chambord, agave, lemon and soda.
It was tasty, though I would have liked more agave in there to balance out the kick of the tequila with some more sweetness.
The mocktail version swapped alcohol for alcohol-free Whitley Neill raspberry gin.
For Poppy, this was a little too sweet, but also very moreish.
Sadly, they had ran out of edible flowers so the presentation was a little lacking in both the mocktail and cocktail.
Address: 33 Kinnoull St, Perth PH1 5EN
4. Cool Rummings – Perth Playhouse
We were wowed by this Perth Cocktail Week venue.
The Perth Playhouse cinema has that brilliant American feel to it, with the old timey billboards outside listing which films are playing.
The inside is just as cool, with walls covered in movie posters old and new.
We also spotted that they serve milkshakes, which I am sure would enhance any cinema experience.
The cocktail I tried was named Cool Rummings, a play on the movie Cool Runnings which will be playing during Perth Cocktail Week 2024.
They have a deal on offering a cocktail plus a cinema ticket for £12.
The cocktail was very sweet, incorporating pineapple rum, creme de banana, dehydrated pineapple and American cream soda.
Although I loved the movie/drink theming, the cream soda overpowered this drink for me, sadly, and that was all I could taste.
The Perth Playhouse didn’t have a mocktail option for Poppy to try.
Address: 6 Murray St, Perth PH1 5PJ
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