It isn’t every day that Boston gets to be on the cutting edge of new trends. And yet there we were, leading the nation on the revival of the cocktail hour. Of this we can be so proud.

The leader of our city’s charge into the finer points of cocktailing was Jackson Cannon, the Head Mixologist for Eastern Standard and Island Creek Oyster Bar and now the mastermind behind The Hawthorne, his new cocktail lounge in the Hotel Commonwealth. Jackson made us see that well-liquor vodka tonics were our past, and hand-crafted Salzeracs are our future. 

Although we now love and revere the cocktail, most of us are still unsure of how to mix it up in our own homes. But never fear, The Urban Grape is bringing you the Sensei himself to lead a Home Mixology 101 seminar. Along with his cocktail disciple Nicole Lebedevitch, Jackson will help us decipher what spirits are absolutely necessary for a home bar, as well as how to get creative when it comes time to mix a drink.

We’ll sample four cocktails, paired with simple yet tasty nibbles from the Hawthorne bar. This is a more hands-on evening than in the past, so you’ve been forewarned that you may be asked to produce a perfect lemon twist.