Not to brag (okay, maybe a little), but High Road has an amazing group of employees with creative, strategic thinking, problem solving, time management, and all-around awesome skills. As a company who likes to work hard and party hard, we thought we’d consult the pros at Toronto Institute of Bartending and add another skill set to our resumes – martini madness bartending skills!

Some of High Road’s keenest learners recently headed over to TIB for a lesson on how to make the best martinis and cocktails. Our instructors Brad and Clint started us off strong with a Vesper Martini (from Bond girl Vesper Lynd) and a Manhattan, and progressed into sweeter drinks like the original Cosmopolitan (not to be confused with the bright pink, too much cranberry juiced version from Sex and the City), to the interesting Spiced Breakfast Martini (which involved a spoonful of marmalade and a piece of orange peel lit on fire!) to the crowd pleasing “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” created by Ernest Hemingway during his time in Cuba, which involved freshly squeezed grapefruit juice and amber rum.

Some key learnings we discovered:

• Always use fresh juices whenever possible (grapefruit, lemon, lime), it makes a world of difference
• Sometimes the most interesting or odd ingredients make the best drinks (marmalade, egg whites)
• Homemade pickled celery sticks are perhaps the best Caesar garnish ever
• The easiest way to impress your guests is to slice off a small piece of orange peel, squeeze it, and hold a lighter up to it – the oils will create a large flame and caramelize the garnish

Cheers to that!