Cheap date night aside, my husband can be quite critical of cocktails - previously, he's only really liked those available from Be At One - so having him help me review a cocktail bar works in my favour.
I'll start off by saying that we were both quite impressed with Epic, not least because we were handed a free drink the minute we'd walked through the door (even though there was some confusion as to which name my entrance was booked under). In fact, the husband is actually happy to go back again, which is a very good sign.
When we arrived it was fairly quiet but the majority of the tables were already taken, so we took a couple of chairs at the downstairs bar. We'd been given two drinks vouchers each and a choice of four house cocktails to choose from, one from each of the main sections in the menu - gin, rum, vodka and whisky.
In fact, we were almost tempted just to order the same again as it was so tasty, but we knew we'd kick ourselves if we didn't try something else, especially after watching a few others being made in front of us.
This time we opted for the Siam Daiquiri to cater to my love of rum and spice. It was probably one of the more unusual cocktails I've ever tried but it is now one of my favourites. As well as truly decent Koko Kanu rum and ginger beer, this cocktail contained chilli, adding a hot kick that was absolutely perfect. The slices of jalapeno that garnished the glass added to this further, making this cocktail just what we wanted after getting absolutely soaked in the downpour before we made it to the bar.
Just as with other places that serve fancy drinks in the city, Epic seems to be confused as to whether it's a club or a cocktail bar so the music was incredibly loud. In my experience, those who want to drink cocktails also want to engage in conversation, which is hard to do when you need to shout.
Also, I don't get why bars think high chairs are a good idea. Yes, I know I'm accident prone so this may be personal, but I never understand what's wrong with chairs you don't need a ladder to get onto.
These gripes aside, I'll definitely be going back for another cocktail or two and recommend people give it a try if they like to try some interesting drinks.