This Manchester bar is selling roast dinner-flavoured cocktails with ‘all the trimmings’
Putting together potato vodka, cranberry, rosemary, Christmas stuffing 'air' and more, this roast in a glass brings a whole new meaning to 'liquid lunch' - and there's pudding, too
A Manchester bar is selling a festive roast dinner cocktail with ‘all the trimmings’ – and we really just can’t get over how good it sounds.
The limited-edition savoury cocktail combines the flavours of the ultimate Christmas roast, putting together potato, cranberry, rosemary, stuffing and more – bringing a whole new meaning to the term ‘liquid lunch’.
Aptly called ‘All the Trimmings’, the team describes the savoury cocktail as “an explosion of savoury, festive flavours if you’re after something more daring”.
Image: The Alchemist via Instagram
Made with cranberry juice, festive syrup, Ketel One potato vodka, torched rosemary and a Christmas stuffing air, it sounds like our perfect roast dinner – albeit, served in a glass.
And that’s not all.
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The little elves at The Alchemist have thought about pudding, too – giving you two courses of Sunday lunch in purely liquid form.
Covering the pudding department and all sweet tooths who might not be interested in going full-savoury, is a mince pie flavoured twist on an old fashioned.
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Made with mincemeat-infused Appleton Estate rum, bitters, and sugar, it’s diluted slightly before serving by being quickly stirred over ice.
Available for one weekend only, both cocktails will be served at The Alchemist on New York Street from Thursday 28, October across the coming weekend. / Image: The Alchemist
Both cocktails have been created in collaboration with Great! Christmas movies, in a bid to get everyone into the Christmas spirit early this year.
The channel, which you can find on Sky319, Freeview 51, Virgin 424 and Freesat 303, is showing a host of back-to-back Christmas movies from now until the big day itself – including titles like A Christmas Melody, starring Mariah Carey, Just In Time For Christmas featuring Christopher Lloyd and On Strike For Christmas.
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And that’s not all, further festive favourites on show include The Christmas Sitters, Beaus of Holly, family comedy Call Me Claus with Whoopi Goldberg, A Husband for Christmas, and Crazy for Christmas.
Available for one weekend only, both cocktails will be served at The Alchemist on New York Street from Thursday 28, October across the coming weekend.
Featured Image – The Alchemist via Instagram
Manchester
The Manchester cafe serving viral Dubai pistachio chocolate, smores platters, chocolate fondue and more
Daisy Jackson
There’s a cafe in Manchester that is dedicated to ticking off every chocolate food craze under one roof, from indulgent platters to those viral ‘Dubai’ pistachio bars.
We are of course talking about Cocoa Cabana, a pretty little spot in the heart of Ancoats (as well as its original site over in Didsbury), which specialises in all things artisan chocolate.
From beautiful cakes and chocolates made by hand and displayed in their cabinets, to traditional afternoon teas, to brunches and lunches – there’s a LOT to satisfy your sweet and savoury tooth at Cocoa Cabana.
First founded by Sarah Gallacher back in 2012, this is one of those spots that keeps people coming back time and time again thanks to a packed programme of experiences, including cocktail-making classes, tasting events, and chocolate making classes.
Now, if you’re one of those people who orders the sizzling fajitas in a restaurant, you’re going to enjoy the Cocoa Cabana smores platter, which arrives with a similar amount of ‘ooh look at me’ pomp and ceremony.
You’re presented with your own miniature firepit-in-a-tin, flickering blue flames surrounded by a mountain of giant marshmallows, homemade cookies, and little jars of molten chocolate.
A smores platter at Cocoa Cabana in Ancoats. Credit: The Manc Group
Skewer your squishy mallow, stick it over the fire until its outsides are all golden and bubbling, then squash that between two cookies and apply whatever sauce – white chocolate, dark chocolate, or pistachio sauce – you fancy. Sickly, yes, but so good.
There’s also the option to have a more traditional chocolate fondue, again presented on fire.
This time it’s a dark vat of artisan molten chocolate, with a heaped bowl of fresh strawberries, banana, chocolate straws, waffles, brownies, and more for dipping.
Dunking a fudgy, iced brownie into a pot of chocolate is the ultimate indulgence.
Cocoa Cabana’s chocolate fondue. Credit: The Manc GroupCocoa Cabana in Manchester sells the viral Dubai pistachio chocolate. Credit: The Manc Group
And then, as all smart chocolatiers have done this year, Cocoa Cabana has brought those viral pistachio chocolate bars from Dubai straight to Manchester.
These enormous bars are stuffed with pistachio sauce and knafeh, a crunchy, traditional Arabic pastry that is sort of reminiscent of when you use to make Easter nests with a Shredded Wheat in primary school.
Cocoa Cabana finishes theirs in a shimmering coat of edible gold (because why not).
This is just one of those spots that proves you don’t need a golden ticket to find chocolate heaven in Manchester.
Listen to Bring Me the Horizon’s cover of an Oasis classic
Danny Jones
Sheffield favourites Bring Me the Horizon have covered not just an Oasis classic but arguably their biggest song of all time – but is it any good?
The high-flying alternative metalcore band are one of the biggest contemporary rock artists on the planet right now, having most recently been nominated as ‘Group of the Year’ ahead of the 2025 BRIT Awards.
Undoubtedly one of the best-known acts to ever come out of not just Sheffield but Yorkshire as a whole, there’s no project or challenge too big for these lads at this point, which is exactly why they had no trouble taking on one of the most famous songs ever written.
We never thought we’d hear Bring Me the Horizon covering Oasis‘ ‘Wonderwall’, but here we are.
Covering the legendary Britpop anthem to Spotify singles, if you’re expecting it to sound anything like the ‘Wonderwall’ you know, then you’re in for a shock.
It’s certainly not just a straightforward stripped-back bashed out quickly in a studio with an acoustic guitar – far from it…
However, if you are a fan of the current Bring Me sound, you’ll be glad to hear that the Northern heavyweights are tapping into that raw aggression with plenty of nu-metal production value.
On the other hand, although frontman Oli Sykes’ softer and more melodic vocals of late get a good deal of the spotlight, there are plenty of rip-roaring screams layered throughout, not to mention some emo-esque guitar playing and shredding drums with plenty of staccato, double-time and fun fills thrown in.
They even recreated that iconic shot from the music video for the cover art:
They faired rather well.
Uncanny, lads.
Put simply, it’s got some of the best bits from both old and new BMTH only with those iconic lyrics; it does take a minute to get used to hearing ‘Because mayyybe‘ being sung like that, but it’s definitely a grower in our opinion.
The single release also comes with a new somewhat lo-fi electronic ‘EarthcOre remix’ of ‘YOUtopa’ from their most recent seventh studio album, POST HUMAN: NeX GEn; again, this version is rather different from the original but we like both.
Without further ado, please enjoy a short preview down below and you can listen to the Bring Me the Horizon cover version of ‘Wonderwall’ by Oasis in full HERE.
What do you make of it?
Does the Bring Me The Horizon cover make ‘Wonderwall’ feel interesting again or is it still just Oasis’ most over-played song ever?
Georgina Pellant -
28th October 2021 
