An afternoon at St. George Spirits is probably my favorite way to add instant fun to a weekend, especially when I can bring friends who have never been there before.  So last month, my wife and I decided to throw her birthday party there and rent out the Pilot’s Lounge for their Cocktail Flight School.  It’s $30 per person (very reasonable) for 1.5 hours and also fetches each person a 10% discount at the store.

You can rent out the Pilot’s Lounge with a party of 10-20 people.  They also have a separate Tasting Room for groups of 20-40.  They’ve decked out the Pilot’s Lounge with cool decorations that match the hangar theme, including a bar made out of an airplane wing, “loveseats” lifted from an airplane cabin, old St. George bottlings, and random vintage knick-knacks.

I especially loved this vintage Gilbey’s Gin thermometer (is it hot enough for gin yet?) and these cocktail glasses that are ready to help you blast off.

Class is in session!  The Cocktail Flight School is a guided tasting that includes 3 cocktails.  You taste the 2 St. George spirits that go into each cocktail separately, then your host (our host was Sascha) mixes the spirits into a delicious cocktail for you to try as well.  All of the cocktails were really great and absolutely something that anyone can make by themselves at home.

I was really impressed by the latest version of the St. George Single Malt…Lot 10.  A lot less sweet than Lot 9 and a lot more fruit influence.  They described Lot 9 as a “gateway whiskey” for non-whiskey drinkers…so I guess Lot 10 is for the whiskey lovers.  I was especially proud that one of my friends, having previously declared that he “doesn’t drink that brown sh*t”, came away totally impressed and actually bought a bottle to bring back to Philly.  Lot 10 was recently mentioned in Wall Street Journal’s Spirits of America, which profiled some of the most innovative independent distilleries in the U.S.

Our resident charmer, David Brown, pictured center here, also got Sascha to give us all a pour of the limited edition Chipotle Vodka, which was…WOW…spicy and very green peppery.  A lot to drink on its own, but would probably be kickass in a Bloody Mary.

We started our day with lunch that we catered from a nearby Vietnamese sandwich place.  They have a very nice picnic area out front for you to hang out, eat and mingle.  Then we went inside for the always-entertaining tour with Pauly, who has new jokes and stories every time I go.  We also took the requisite picture with the shark from Deep Blue Sea, which, by the way, my wife just made me watch this week.  It’s epically…bad.

I’ll leave you with this majestic shot of the St. George stills and Whiskey Town from the second floor.  I don’t work for St George (I can only wish), but every experience there is amazing — if you have an occasion to hang out with friends over some alcohol, I highly recommend renting out one of their lounges for an afternoon!