THE sun is out, the beachwear ready, and across Basingstoke people are looking for ways to embrace summer.
I don’t know about you, but as soon as the temperatures begin to rise, I look forward to spending my days off soaking up the rays with a glass of something refreshing in hand.
One of my favourite ways to spend such a glorious evening or weekend is to head out for cocktails with friends.
So, when Cosy Club’s Basingstoke branch at Festival Square invited me along to sample its new cocktail partnership with cocktail-in-a-bottle experts World of Zing, I was delighted to accept.
From the moment we arrived on an early Friday evening at 5.30pm, we were made to feel extremely welcome.
Our waitress, Rosie, was extremely friendly and helpful. We were given a choice of comfy seating at bar tables, and as the evening progressed both the area we were sat and the wider restaurant became much busier, but we at no point felt rushed or had to wait long to be served.
Cosy Club has partnered with premium craft bottled cocktail specialist World of Zing, to create an innovative and delicious cocktail menu.
Founded by Channel 4 Sunday Brunch cocktail expert Pritesh Mody, World of Zing (WOZ) has crafted six cocktails; from fresh to fruity, bitter to sweet, there’s something for everyone. Think Old Fashioned with a refreshing Seville orange twist, and gin spritz with uplifting elderflower and peach.
Now, I have been previously been impressed with the cocktail selection at Cosy Club , so it surprised me that they could come up with anything to top it.
The new additions to the menu are:
Grapefruit & Thyme Spritz (Aperol infused with grapefruit and thyme); Lychee & Ginger Spritz (Cointreau mixed with lychee and ginger); Peach & Elderflower Spritz. (Sapling Gin combined with peach and elderflower); Passionfruit & Orange Blossom Spritz (Cointreau and Passoã mixed with orange blossom); Seville Orange Old Fashioned (Woodford Reserve infused with Seville orange) and Seville orange Cherry Blossom Negroni (Sapling Gin, red vermouth, Campari, with hints of cherry blossom).
I started off with Peach and Eldeflower Spritz which was delicious. It’s white wine and tanqueray, one of my favourite go-to gins, so it didn’t surprise me that it suited my taste. It’s a really light and fruity drink, but not too sweet, and definitely a perfect choice for cooling down on a sunny day.
Meanwhile, in contrast, my friend Megan picked the Seville orange Old Fashioned. She had never tried an Old Fashioned before and wasn’t sure what to expect.
Despite it not being something she would usually opt for, she surprised herself. In way of review, she said: “It’s for someone who wants summer, but wants a serious cocktail!”.
For our second round, I went for another Spritz, this time the Grapefruit and Thyme, which is Aperol based cocktail. It was again really nice, sweeter than the first but, surprisingly, I loved it as I am not one to order Aperol.
Megan, also not a fan of Aperol, didn’t really like mine. Instead, she went for a Cherry Blossom Negroni. This was not my cup of tea at all, but I don’t tend to like cherry flavoured things.
Megan said that if you want something summery, you should probably stick with the spritzers, but added that the ones she had offer a good alternative and are nice if you don’t want a fizzy cocktail.
As there are four spritzers on the menu, we felt we had tried a good selection of the World of Zing offering so for the third and final round we picked classics we have had before. I went for a Raspberry Mojito, while Megan had an English Garden.
They were as good as we remember, and we judged them to be a really good size for the price.
All of the cocktails were under £10 each, and Cosy Club also offers a Happy Hour deal where you can get any two cocktails for just £11.95 between 4pm-8pm, Sunday-Thursday.
Megan and I agreed we would definitely return soon, and want to say a massive thank you to the lovely team at Cosy Club for a fantastic evening.
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