Cocktails at the Sky Bar, Grape and Olive, Swansea

I had a real treat last Thursday – a night out at the launch of the brand new Sky Bar at the Grape and Olive here in Swansea.

I was invited along to celebrate the launch with a group of other bloggers and local businesses, and couldn’t wait to get there and see what they had to offer.

The last time I was at the Grape and Olive was for their Christmas event, which was a really lovely evening.  The food we sampled that night was absolutely delicious so I had really quite high expectations for the cocktails and food we would be tasting at the Sky Bar, and honestly I was not disappointed!

The whole evening started well for me, with a walk along the Swansea Bay seafront to the meridian tower.  It was a gorgeous warm evening and it was amazing to experience a visit to the top of the tower in such good weather.

The Sky Bar is right at the very top of the tower and the views from up there are stunning.  That in itself makes it a great place to visit, before you even get started tasting the food and drink they have to offer!

When I arrived I was greeted once again with a very warm welcome from Ffion, who quickly handed me a glass of fizz and introduced me to the rest of the group.  There were several bloggers there that I had met at the Christmas event which was lovely because I do still get quite nervous about the idea of not knowing anyone at these kinds of things.

Then when I went to sit down I realised that sitting opposite me was the gorgeous Georgia from It’s Georgia Eloise, who I met last summer when we both photographed the ‘We are here‘ event for the centenary of the battle of the Somme.  It was such a nice surprise to see her, and to have a good catch up chat!

Whilst we chatted and drank our fizz I had a little look over the new Sky Bar menu to see what was on offer.

The menu looks really good, there’s a nice selection of drinks available without it being overwhelming.  And I really like the fact that they offer mocktails for anyone who might be driving but still fancy something a bit more interesting than a lemonade!

Once everyone had arrived we were invited over to the bar area for a little demonstration.

A beautiful selection of cocktails was lined up on the bar when we got over there, and then we were shown how a few of them were made.

It was fascinating watching the attention to detail that goes into making these cocktails, it really is quite a craft!

Every step is geared towards getting the most of all the flavours that go into the drinks, from muddling mint leaves and sugar syrup to burning orange peel to release the oil to get more flavour from it.

The impression I got is that a lot of care goes into each drink that is made here, so you really do get a fantastic experience on a night out.

I had a taste of a few of the drinks and they were all delicious, and worryingly easy to drink!

They all looked so beautiful too, you almost don’t want to ruin it by drinking them.

Almost!

After sampling a few different drinks I decided to have an espresso martini, and I was delighted with that decision!

I’m a big coffee drinker so this cocktail was right up my street.  

Made with a freshly brewed espresso and cazcabel coffee tequila, it’s a simple cocktail but it’s absolutely delicious.

I had to make a real effort to take my time and sip it because it would’ve been far to easy for it to just disappear in seconds!

Luckily we were brought a selection of nibbles to try which helped me pace myself with the drink.  As I expected, everything I tasted was mouthwateringly good.  I would honestly go back to the Grape and Olive just for the puddings, as the little chocolate brownies we tried were absolutely perfect.

By the end of the evening I was full of delicious food and cocktails, and had a big smile on my face from a lovely few hours spent in good company.

And the caffeine from the espresso martini powered me along on my walk back home!

If you’re in Swansea, and looking for somewhere a little different to go for drinks, I would highly recommend the Sky Bar at the Grape and Olive.  The views over Swansea Bay and the marina are amazing, the staff know their stuff, the drinks are amazing and the food is just delicious if you want something to accompany your cocktails.

What more could you want?!

Thank you to Ffion and the team for putting on another wonderful event, and for inviting me along!