The Workshop
A while back I was invited by a friend to go to a cake workshop at Journeyman Distillery. It was being hosted by another blogger that I knew Sweet Melissa’s Desserts. I had met Melissa a few times prior to that and had tasted some of her work and I was soooo excited to attend. I already knew that I would not be disappointed. My girlfriend, Nicki knew Melissa from collaborating with her on a few projects, my girlfriend does beautiful Calligraphy and did the sign (shown above) from her shop at TandemCalligraphy on Etsy. It was a treat to see her work on such a big scale.
The venue was amazing and tucked away at Journeyman Distillery, in Three Oaks Michigan. The workshop was being held above the restaurant and you could still see the distillery from where we were. It was really quite elegant. The floor we were on also had beautiful large windows letting in great sunlight. I immediately fell in love with the space and will be coming back to other events that Journeyman offers.
After looking around at the space, people started to show up, so I went over to the tables and picked a seat. I loved how everything was organized and you could tell what you were in for. Every station had a three-layered cake with buttercream frosting and tools for flowers.
The floral display was beautiful as well and was provided by Leah Bayes. I was very exciting to see all the flowers together in one space. Very inviting!
The whole event lasted about 2 hours. Along with my ticket, we were able to choose one free drink. Feeling in the fall mood, I decided to go with the O.C.G Cocktail, which was whiskey, apple cider, apple juice and spices. Delish!
First Melissa taught us the proper way to place the buttercream and smear to get the naked cake look and then she turned it over to the florist to show us how to dress the cake in layers. It was a lot of fun and you could hear giggling and laughing from everyone whom had never dressed a cake before, myself included. My drink helped with the creativity, I think. 🙂 It was really nice how it was setup because we could converse with the people sitting next us and make new friends.
Afterwards, we were allowed to mingle and take Instagram worthy pictures of our hard work. There also just so happened to be a photography friend who was there taking pictures of the event from Laura Duggleby Photography. The whole experience was amazing, I would go again and again. For the price of my ticket, I was able to get a 3 tiered cake with florals, a drink and a swag bag that had Melissa’s delicious caramels and a whole bottle of lemon vodka from Journeyman! It was such a great experience, perfect for a girls trip or a date night. I am all about getting a great experience for the price, and I felt Sweet Melissa’s desserts delivered that, please follow her on facebook or instagram or go to her site to make sure you don’t miss one of her workshops, every workshop has been sold out so tickets go fast.
The Staymaker Restaurant
Because the event was about 45 min away from where I lived, I decided to invite my husband and sister-in-law to meet me afterward for dinner. We had talked about going there for dinner so many times, so I thought it was the perfect excuse to do it right after the workshop.
The restaurant had a relaxed and open feel to it. I really enjoyed the layout and we were sitting next to the large vats that are used to distill the whiskey so I enjoyed the mix between rustic wood and metal. It really fit the whiskey distillery vibes. After looking over the menu, I immediately saw what I wanted, El Diablo! House made gin salami with a fried egg, white cheddar and sriracha mayo. All of my favorite things in one sandwich. I was so excited. We all ordered a round of bloody marys and they were amazing! When my burger came, it was everything I had hoped it would be. If I had one small complaint, it would be that there was a little too much gin in that salami. The cheese and egg toned it down some but it was the main flavor in the burger. I let my husband try it though and he thought it was perfect as is. You better believe I at the whole thing though. It was really good.
My sister-in-law, April, ordered the Bison burger. The bison burger came with whiskey caramelized onion, white cheddar and whiskey BBQ sauce. She really enjoyed it. She cut me off some to try and I was surprised and how plump, juicy and flavorful they could make bison taste. It was really good.
April’s husband Randy ordered the Elk burger. I must admit when I read blueberry compote with blue cheese on top of elk, I thought what in the world? Separately, all of those things sound good, but together? My interest was piqued. Oh my gosh you guys, it was amazing! Probably my favorite entree of the group. It was delicious and not too sweet like I thought it would be. It was really good.
My husband was in a pizza mood, so he ordered the roasted corn and chorizo pizza. They make their own chorizo there and top it with cheese and creme fraiche. It was delicious! This was my husband’s favorite out of everything we ordered.
Last but not least, we had to get dessert. I mean booze and dessert go hand in hand, right? We ordered the stick bread pudding. It came with toffee, whiskey caramel, boozy raisins, and powdered sugar, and it was amazing!!! You definitely had to make sure that you ate the boozy raisins with the bread pudding because they are oh so boozy, but I loved every bite and would go back just for this dessert. It was that good.
Overall, I enjoyed myself so much and had such a great experience at Journeyman that I definitely will be going back again and again. They host so many different events that you will not get bored going there.
Have you been to Journeyman Distillery? What did you eat there and what are your thoughts?
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