Pleasant surprises at Herbs and Spice cocktails soiree

Aksum Bar in Serena Hotel. FILE PHOTO | NMG

I’m not a gin person but a month ago I drank Tanqueray Rangpur Dry Gin at my sister’s housewarming party. She had single-handedly built a retirement house (remotely, at that), a highwire act if you have ever dealt with fundis. 

We drank the gin in the garden, deep into the starless night. (Tip: apply alcohol on your skin, it repels mosquitoes?) You don’t forget a moment like that, which means you don’t forget the drink you were having.

Which meant that when Serena Nairobi and Tanqueray had a Cocktail Soiree at their Herbs and Spice (H&S) restaurant I went because I had enjoyed the Rangpur, yes, but I kind of like the word “Soiree”. 

Most of my male friends are averse to cocktails. This is largely because of how cocktails are presented; sometimes with colourful umbrellas and vibrant mixers that make your glass look like you are having a smoothie.

The other reason, of course, is those cocktail glasses which feel like holding a blow dryer.

I know what you are thinking, and it’s what the younger crowd with tattoos on their legs would term toxic masculinity. I think it’s just a generational chasm. 

Later, at the bar, this gentleman I was having a conversation with insisted on using a short whisky glass to drink his cocktail, which I think takes away the cocktail experience because half of the drinking is the glass. 

Nonetheless, I enjoyed the cocktails, they played around with the different types of Tanqueray gins, my favourite being the Blackcurrant Royale.

At some point, I excused myself to go see a man about a dog. On my way back, I heard some rhumba music coming from across the foyer, so I followed the music and it led me to Aksum bar that had a band playing.

The chaps at Aksum Bar were clearly having a riotous time with this band which I was told was called Flames Band. They truly were setting the place aflame.

I leaned against the bar counter, between two men in work shirts and shiny faces, and ordered a Tanqueray number Ten.

“Can I please have it in a short glass instead of a Highball glass?” I told the barman because you are who you are.

→[email protected]