About this tour
When Ben from our team did this Seattle cocktail class, we spent 90 minutes learning to shake, stir, and compose drinks like we knew what we were doing. The session kicks off with spirits, tools, and technique — the nuts and bolts of bartending — before you make your first proper cocktail and feel the burn in your forearms. From there, a pro bartender helps you remix the recipe you've just learned, then sends you off to build something entirely your own. It's casual, hands-on, and leaves you with actual skills to take home and deploy at dinner parties.
Highlights
- Build three cocktails across the session, each one your own shake
- Professional bartender walks you through technique without the lecture feel
- Learn how to modify a base recipe into something entirely different
- Walk away knowing spirits, tools, and why shaking matters
- Casual vibe — laughter and slightly awkward arm movements encouraged
- Group setting means you're learning alongside others trying the same thing
- No prior experience needed; walks you from zero to confident
What to expect
You'll start in a proper bar setup where the bartender covers the fundamentals — which spirits are which, what each tool does, and the difference between shaking and stirring. Then you're handed a cocktail shaker and told to go hard; expect your arms to know about it and everyone else to be equally enthusiastic and clumsy. After nailing your first drink, you'll deconstruct it and play with variations — swap the spirit, adjust the citrus, try a different finish. By the final round, you're handed creative control and a bartender who's there to sanity-check your mad ideas, not shut them down. The pace is brisk enough that you don't get bored but relaxed enough that it doesn't feel like work.
Good to know
This is genuinely fun if you want to learn how to build a proper drink at home or just want a night out with some actual takeaway. The bartender knows their stuff and keeps things light. Wheelchair accessible throughout, and service animals are welcome — good intel if that matters to your crew.
It's hands-on in a bar, so if you're not comfortable with alcohol or heat and noise, this won't suit you. Meals aren't included, so grab food before or after. The session is 90 minutes, which moves at a good clip — if you're slow to pick up technique or prefer one-on-one instruction, you might feel rushed. Public transport is nearby, which is handy. Bring clothes you don't mind splashing citrus on. Infants need to sit on an adult's lap; strollers are fine but not ideal in a working bar space.
Tour sold and operated by Viator via Viator. Descriptions on this page are original BugBitten summaries written by our team — not copied from the operator. Prices and availability are confirmed at checkout.