535 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, SW10 0SZ www.moonshinesaloon.com
The outside of Moonshine Saloon is inconspicuous, but from the second you step through the door every member of staff is in character, and within a few minutes you will be too.
The local tailor meets you and greets you with a Stetson hat, a shirt or waistcoat and of course a neckerchief before you are taken down into the bar and welcomed by the delightful bar owner Not before you hide your moonshine first though.
As you are seated the bartender comes and takes your bottle of moonshine and goes on to make you four personalised cocktails. In keeping with the theme, we took an American Whiskey and the cocktails that were made were unbelievably good.
We like our drinks to be slightly on the sour side, and they didn’t disappoint – we were treated to cocktails including a long, sour drink not dissimilar to a Long Island ice-tea that was refreshing and slipped down very easily, and a shorter raspberry-based drink that had hints of sweetness but brought out the natural sourness of the fruit. The bartenders definitely knew what they were doing, and every cocktail hit the spot every time.
Once your time in the Moonshine Saloon is over, the night doesn’t have to end there. Upstairs from the Moonshine Saloon is the General Store – don’t worry, you’ll meet the General Store owner earlier in the evening – which has its own bar where you can enjoy an extra cocktail or two.
A visit to the Moonshine Saloon will make for an unforgettable evening. Fantastic cocktails, entertainment and a great bunch of people – and all at pretty good value too for £33.99 a ticket. I recommend you grab your horse and ride on down while you can, for the express to the Wild West will only be running until the 25th August, Wednesday-Saturday.