Make your own signature scent in this class led by Bar Manager and Production Lead, Erica Kassel.

Learn about the science behind scent, try a fragrant cocktail, and create your own personal fragrance from natural perfumery ingredients. Learn, smell, and sip through this 90-minute class as you learn the basics of fragrance creation.Each guest will create a small bottle of their own custom fragrance to take home.

This is an in-person class, $75 per person.

Additional Information:

Hosted at the Sfumato Fragrances shop: 3980 Second Avenue Midtown Detroit
On-street parking is free on Alexandrine and Second Avenue on the south side of Alexandrine.

Enhance your cocktail making abilities! This in-person class will detail the two primary cocktail making techniques, shaking and stirring. Technique is often the key factor separating the drinks you make at home from the ones made at your favorite bars. Even if you buy all the right ingredients, there are three variables that are critical to making your cocktails shine: temperature, dilution, and aeration. All three variables are controlled with proper technique. Luckily, armed with a bit of knowledge, you can create optimum drinks every time.

In this class we will make both an old-fashioned (stirred) and a daiquiri (shaken), while explaining the details behind each step. The price of the class includes all the ingredients needed to make the cocktails.

This class is targeted toward the enthusiastic home cocktail maker or cocktail consumer. We will cover basic descriptions of ingredients and tools, but spend most of our time on practical tips and tricks for making the best drinks possible at home.

This is an in-person class taught by Castalia co-owner DuPree.

Make your own signature scent in this class led by Bar Manager and Production Lead, Erica Kassel.

Learn about the science behind scent, try a fragrant cocktail, and create your own personal fragrance from natural perfumery ingredients. Learn, smell, and sip through this 90-minute class as you learn the basics of fragrance creation.Each guest will create a small bottle of their own custom fragrance to take home.

This is an in-person class, $75 per person.

Additional Information:

Hosted at the Sfumato Fragrances shop: 3980 Second Avenue Midtown Detroit
On-street parking is free on Alexandrine and Second Avenue on the south side of Alexandrine.

Make your own signature scent in this class led by the Nose of Sfumato, Kevin Peterson.

Learn about the science behind scent, try a fragrant cocktail, and create your own personal fragrance from natural perfumery ingredients. Learn, smell, and sip through this 90-minute class as you learn the basics of fragrance creation.Each guest will create a small bottle of their own custom fragrance to take home.

This is an in-person class, $75 per person.

Additional Information:

Hosted at the Sfumato Fragrances shop: 3980 Second Avenue Midtown Detroit
On-street parking is free on Alexandrine and Second Avenue on the south side of Alexandrine.

Make your own signature scent in this class led by the Nose of Sfumato, Kevin Peterson.

Learn about the science behind scent, try a fragrant cocktail, and create your own personal fragrance from natural perfumery ingredients. Learn, smell, and sip through this 90-minute class as you learn the basics of fragrance creation.Each guest will create a small bottle of their own custom fragrance to take home.

This is an in-person class, $75 per person.

Additional Information:

Hosted at the Sfumato Fragrances shop: 3980 Second Avenue Midtown Detroit
On-street parking is free on Alexandrine and Second Avenue on the south side of Alexandrine.

Whiskey lovers unite! This class will go behind the scenes of the whiskey world, looking at the grains from which whiskey is made, the sources of flavor in the final product, and how blenders use multiple batches to produce a smooth and balanced final product. Special guest Lance Havelka of Drexel Spirits will guide a tasting through samples not available on the market, and each attendee will blend their own 4oz bottle of whiskey.

Drexel Spirits is an award-winning small-batch spirits distillery located on the East side of Detroit. Lance Havelka is the founder and head blender of Drexel Spirits. He honed his blending skills in Scotland before returning home to Detroit to share his great passion for whisky.

The class price includes a variety of whiskey samples equal to about 3 drinks worth of alcohol. This is an in-person class with limited seating, $75 per person.

Coffee and cocktails are a match made in heaven! From the coffee liqueur in a white Russian, to the espresso in an espresso martini, coffee beans offer their flavor to a range of classics, and coffee makes a great modifier to lots of drinks that can benefit from additional depth of flavor, or a little caffeine boost.

We'll use coffee in several forms, and both shake and stir a cocktail. No prior experience necessary, and all materials included. The class will include two full-size drinks and several additional tastes.

This is an in-person class, $75 per person.

Make your own signature scent in this class led by the Nose of Sfumato, Kevin Peterson, on Mother’s Day.

Learn about the science behind scent, try a fragrant cocktail, and create your own personal fragrance from natural perfumery ingredients. Learn, smell, and sip through this 90-minute class as you learn the basics of fragrance creation.Each guest will create a small bottle of their own custom fragrance to take home.

This is an in-person class, $75 per person.

Additional Information:

Hosted at the Sfumato Fragrances shop: 3980 Second Avenue Midtown Detroit
On-street parking is free on Alexandrine and Second Avenue on the south side of Alexandrine.

SOLD OUT
Whiskey lovers unite! This class will go behind the scenes of the whiskey world, looking at the grains from which whiskey is made, the sources of flavor in the final product, and how blenders use multiple batches to produce a smooth and balanced final product. Special guest Lance Havelka of Drexel Spirits will guide a tasting through samples not available on the market, and each attendee will blend their own 4oz bottle of whiskey.

Drexel Spirits is an award-winning small-batch spirits distillery located on the East side of Detroit. Lance Havelka is the founder and head blender of Drexel Spirits. He honed his blending skills in Scotland before returning home to Detroit to share his great passion for whisky.

The class price includes a variety of whiskey samples equal to about 3 drinks worth of alcohol. This is an in-person class with limited seating, $95 per person.

Learn about the dark history and bright future of gin! This class will cover historical aspects of gin, the botanicals that define and shape the category, and the cocktails that let juniper shine. We'll sip a number of gin-based cocktails, and taste fractions of a deconstructed gin from Drexel Spirits. We'll taste and smell the botanicals that give gin its flavor, and create a 'choose your own adventure' gin and tonic.

Special guest, Courtney Booms is a mixologist and former manager/co-head bartender of The Relief and Resource Co. in Fenton, MI. She's a spirits and beverage history enthusiast with a fascination for all things botanical.

The class price includes 2 full-size cocktails along with several more tastes. This is an in-person class with limited seating, $75 per person.

Rum has been enjoyed by centuries, and is made in countries across the globe. Over time and distance, production and aging techniques have varied enough to create numerous distinct styles, each with their own flavor, ideal application, and classic cocktails. In this in-person class we'll discuss and taste numerous categories of rum, including Jamaican, agricole, cachaca, and black strap. We'll try these spirits neat, and try cocktails that highlight the unique flavor of each bottle.

We will make both a rum old-fashioned (stirred) and a daiquiri (shaken), while explaining the tools, form, and science behind each step.

This is an in-person, $75 per person.

Make your own signature scent in this class led by the Nose of Sfumato, Kevin Peterson.

Learn about the science behind scent, try a fragrant cocktail, and create your own personal fragrance from natural perfumery ingredients. Learn, smell, and sip through this 90-minute class as you learn the basics of fragrance creation.Each guest will create a small bottle of their own custom fragrance to take home.

This is an in-person class, $75 per person.

Additional Information:

Hosted at the Sfumato Fragrances shop: 3980 Second Avenue Midtown Detroit
On-street parking is free on Alexandrine and Second Avenue on the south side of Alexandrine.

Calling all old-fashioned lovers! In this class we'll make a classic old fashioned, along with tasting how the relative proportions of bitter and sweet make or break the drink. We'll chop clear ice, and use some tricks of thermodynamics to make an old fashioned that can sit in the glass for 30 minutes and still taste great. We'll make a modern 'Oaxaca' variation on the classic, and for the sake of completeness, we'll even taste the often-reviled Wisconsin old-fashioned. If your favorite classic is the tried and true old-fashioned, you need to be in this class.

The class price includes 2 full-size old-fashioneds along with several more tastes.

This is an in-person class limited to 10 attendees, $75/person.

Make your own signature scent in this class led by the Nose of Sfumato, Kevin Peterson.

Learn about the science behind scent, try a fragrant cocktail, and create your own personal fragrance from natural perfumery ingredients. Learn, smell, and sip through this 90-minute class as you learn the basics of fragrance creation.Each guest will create a small bottle of their own custom fragrance to take home.

This is an in-person class, limited to 10 attendees. $75 per person.

Additional Information:

Hosted at the Sfumato Fragrances shop: 3980 Second Avenue Midtown Detroit
On-street parking is free on Alexandrine and Second Avenue on the south side of Alexandrine.

Have you ever wondered how to invent a cocktail? And how to make sure that invention matches the person you are making it for? Freestyling cocktails is useful for making tasty drinks out of the random assortment of ingredients in your liquor cabinet, broadening your ability to use unique spirits, and impressing guests and friends. In this class, we'll go over the key questions to ask when freestyling a cocktail, as well as freestyling two drinks to match your personal preferences.

The class price includes 2 full-size cocktails along with several more tastes.

This is an in-person class limited to 10 attendees, $75/person.

Make your own signature scent in this class led by the Nose of Sfumato, Kevin Peterson.

Learn about the science behind scent, try a fragrant cocktail, and create your own personal fragrance from natural perfumery ingredients. Learn, smell, and sip through this 90-minute class as you learn the basics of fragrance creation.Each guest will create a small bottle of their own custom fragrance to take home.

This is an in-person class, limited to 10 attendees. $75 per person.

Additional Information:

Hosted at the Sfumato Fragrances shop: 3980 Second Avenue Midtown Detroit
On-street parking is free on Alexandrine and Second Avenue on the south side of Alexandrine.

Make your own signature scent in this class led by the Nose of Sfumato, Kevin Peterson.

Learn about the science behind scent, try a fragrant cocktail, and create your own personal fragrance from natural perfumery ingredients. Learn, smell, and sip through this 90-minute class as you learn the basics of fragrance creation.Each guest will create a small bottle of their own custom fragrance to take home.

This is an in-person class, limited to 10 attendees. $75 per person.

Additional Information:

Hosted at the Sfumato Fragrances shop: 3980 Second Avenue Midtown Detroit
On-street parking is free on Alexandrine and Second Avenue on the south side of Alexandrine.

Enhance your cocktail making abilities through science! Drinks without alcohol can have all the complexity and nuance of the alcohol-containing counterparts. In this class, we'll look at a variety of techniques, tips, and tricks for building non-alcoholic drinks that are full of flavor, when you're not drinking for whatever reason. We'll create a botanical tea that can be used in place of spirits, and make a flavored syrup that can be added to a variety of ingredients to add depth and intrigue.

The class price includes 2 full-size non-alcoholic cocktails and tastes of several more.

This is an in-person class limited to 10 attendees, $55/person.

Enhance your cocktail making abilities through science! Drinks without alcohol can have all the complexity and nuance of the alcohol-containing counterparts. In this class, we'll look at a variety of techniques, tips, and tricks for building non-alcoholic drinks that are full of flavor, when you're not drinking for whatever reason. We'll create a botanical tea that can be used in place of spirits, and make a flavored syrup that can be added to a variety of ingredients to add depth and intrigue.

The class price includes 2 full-size non-alcoholic cocktails and tastes of several more.

This is an in-person class limited to 10 attendees, $55/person.

Make your own signature scent in this class led by the Nose of Sfumato, Kevin Peterson.

Learn about the science behind scent, try a fragrant cocktail, and create your own personal fragrance from natural perfumery ingredients. Learn, smell, and sip through this 90-minute class as you learn the basics of fragrance creation.Each guest will create a small bottle of their own custom fragrance to take home.

This is an in-person class, limited to 10 attendees. $65 per person.

Additional Information:

Hosted at the Sfumato Fragrances shop: 3980 Second Avenue Midtown Detroit
On-street parking is free on Alexandrine and Second Avenue on the south side of Alexandrine.

There are 3 critical cocktail ‘ingredients’ that don’t come in a bottle, and they are:

1. Temperature. The temperature of the drink.

2. Dilution. The additional water in a drink due to ice melted during shaking or stirring.

3. Aeration. The tiny bubbles in a drink, added while shaking or due to carbonation.

I dub these three non-ingredient-ingredients ‘The Big 3,’ since they have a huge impact on how a cocktail is perceived, and can be the difference between a good drink or a bad drink, for the exact same recipe.

In this class, we will learn how to measure, predict, and optimize the Big 3 to make great cocktails every time.

Non-engineers are welcome, however this will be a decidedly nerdly approach to cocktailing geared towards folks with a technical background or bartenders looking to increase their understanding of the science behind the cocktail. There will be many things to taste, and the class includes ~2.5 cocktails (spread among numerous smaller samples).

This is an in-person class limited to 10 attendees.

Tinctures are an amazing tool for adjusting the flavor of a drink. Made by macerating botanicals in high-proof spirits, tinctures capture the essence of an herb, spice, root, or bark, and with long shelf stability, provide a bartender’s spice rack for bumping up the flavor in a variety of directions. Tinctures are a great way to add intrigue to a cocktail, and just a few drops can be noticeable in the flavor of a drink.

In this class, each student will make a tincture to take home, as well as have access to Castalia's catalog of about 100 botanical tinctures, using them to alter 2 different classic cocktails, one shaken and one stirred. We'll cover the equipment needed, give some general guidelines, and talk about which tinctures work best with which types of drinks.

This is an in-person class limited to 10 attendees.

Smoke is a potent memory trigger from time immemorial. Playing a role in everything from mezcal to Scotch to smoky old-fashioneds, not all smokes are created equal, and in this class we will learn why. As a former combustion engineer, Kevin Peterson (co-owner at Castalia) has an intimate familiarity with smoke, and in this class we will play with the variables that affect smoke's flavor. We'll use temperature and moisture levels to control the sweetness of the smoke, learn how to appropriately dose smoke for cocktails, and look at several ways to introduce the flavor into drinks.

In this class we will make both a smoked sazerac (stirred) and a penicillin (shaken), while explaining the tools, form, and science behind each step. The price of the class includes all the ingredients needed to make the cocktails, and a number of other smoky tastes.

This class is targeted toward the enthusiastic home cocktail maker or cocktail consumer, but with the assumption that you haven't tended bar professionally before. We will cover basic descriptions of ingredients and tools, but spend most of our time on practical tips and tricks for making the best drinks possible at home.

This is an in-person class limited to 10 attendees, $85/person.

Make your own signature scent in this class led by the Nose of Sfumato, Kevin Peterson.

Learn about the science behind scent, try a fragrant cocktail, and create your own personal fragrance from natural perfumery ingredients. Learn, smell, and sip through this 90-minute class as you learn the basics of fragrance creation.Each guest will create a small bottle of their own custom fragrance to take home.

This is an in-person class, limited to 10 attendees. $65 per person.

Additional Information:

Hosted at the Sfumato Fragrances shop: 3980 Second Avenue Midtown Detroit
On-street parking is free on Alexandrine and Second Avenue on the south side of Alexandrine.

We trust our senses to faithfully convey information about the world around us into our brains. But the senses are fickle beasts, tricking us into seeing things, falling for optical illusions, and suspiciously blocking out the requests of our significant others. Taste is equally fallible, although often as a result of chemical interactions. In this class, we will study and taste four different compounds that have dramatic effects on taste. We will study the Szechuan peppercorn, which tastes like electricity, Gymnema, which inhibits your ability to taste sugar, and the miracle berry, which makes sourness taste sweet.

This class will be a wild journey through the alternate dimensions of flavor, where goat cheese will taste like cheesecake, candy will lose its enticing hold, and you'll feel your tongue tingle like never before. We can't guarantee that every bite will be delicious, but the sweetness of newfound knowledge will outweigh the momentary weirdness.

We’ll drink roughly the equivalent of 2.5 drinks, spread across a number of smaller cocktail tastes, along with numerous food bites, equivalent to a modest snack.

This is an in-person class limited to 10 attendees, $65/person.

Make your own signature scent in this class led by the Nose of Sfumato, Kevin Peterson.

Learn about the science behind scent, try a fragrant cocktail, and create your own personal fragrance from natural perfumery ingredients. Learn, smell, and sip through this 90-minute class as you learn the basics of fragrance creation.Each guest will create a small bottle of their own custom fragrance to take home.

This is an in-person class, limited to 10 attendees. $65 per person.

Additional Information:

Hosted at the Sfumato Fragrances shop: 3980 Second Avenue Midtown Detroit
On-street parking is free on Alexandrine and Second Avenue on the south side of Alexandrine.

Are you curious about bittersweet Italian liqueurs? Amaro is a class of heavily infused liqueurs that often have a pronounced bitterness, and are the backbone of many classics. Campari, Aperol, Fernet Branca, and Montenegro are among the best known, yet often very little is known about this category despite its recognizability.

In this class, we'll not only talk through (and taste!) the common ingredients in amari, we'll also make two classics centered around amaro, and each student will even make their own 4oz bottle with a recipe of their choosing. For a deep dive into this little-known category, this class is a must!

No prior knowledge is expected, but some enjoyment of bitterness is recommended.

This is an in-person class limited to 10 attendees.

Enhance your cocktail making abilities through science! This in-person class will explore the two primary cocktail making techniques, shaking and stirring. Technique is often the key factor separating the drinks you make at home from the ones made at your favorite bars. Even if you buy all the right ingredients, there are three variables that are critical to making your cocktails shine: temperature, dilution, and aeration. All three variables are controlled with proper technique. Luckily, armed with a bit of knowledge, you can use the science of cocktails to your advantage and create optimum drinks every time.

In this class we will make both an old-fashioned (stirred) and a daiquiri (shaken), while explaining the tools, form, and science behind each step. The price of the class includes all the ingredients needed to make the cocktails.

This class is targeted toward the enthusiastic home cocktail maker or cocktail consumer, but with the assumption that you haven't tended bar professionally before. We will cover basic descriptions of ingredients and tools, but spend most of our time on practical tips and tricks for making the best drinks possible at home.

This is an in-person class limited to 10 attendees.

Make your own signature scent in this class led by the Nose of Sfumato, Kevin Peterson.

Learn about the science behind scent, try a fragrant cocktail, and create your own personal fragrance from natural perfumery ingredients. Learn, smell, and sip through this 90-minute class as you learn the basics of fragrance creation.Each guest will create a small bottle of their own custom fragrance to take home.

This is an in-person class, limited to 10 attendees. $65 per person.

Additional Information:

Hosted at the Sfumato Fragrances shop: 3980 Second Avenue Midtown Detroit
On-street parking is free on Alexandrine and Second Avenue on the south side of Alexandrine.

SOLD OUT - The next class is July 10th and open to sign up!

SOLD OUT - Check out the May 1st class!

Make your own signature scent in this class led by the Nose of Sfumato, Kevin Peterson.

Learn about the science behind scent, try a fragrant cocktail, and create your own personal fragrance from natural perfumery ingredients. Learn, smell, and sip through this 90-minute class as you learn the basics of fragrance creation.Each guest will create a small bottle of their own custom fragrance to take home.

This is an in-person class, limited to 10 attendees. $65 per person.

Additional Information:

Hosted at the Sfumato Fragrances shop: 3980 Second Avenue Midtown Detroit
On-street parking is free on Alexandrine and Second Avenue on the south side of Alexandrine.