There are SO many options for dining on Disney World property, but you can also find some fantastic options just outside of Disney World! If you are willing to make a short drive from Disney World, you can explore so many amazing dining options nearby.

One of those dining options is the Four Flamingos – A Richard Blais Florida Kitchen. This is the first Florida restaurant from Celebrity Chef Richard Blais, featuring cuisine inspired by Florida’s seasonal flavors. The menu is constantly changing, and we recently stopped by for one of their special events!

We recently had the opportunity to head to Four Flamingos for a Hard Truth Cocktail Class. This class explored the art of crafting exquisite cocktails at Four Flamingos, featuring bourbon, whiskey, and rye paired with food. We learned about techniques and explored ingredients with Four Flamingos’ Chief Mixologist, Macarena Portales, and Hard Truth Distilling’s Master Sommelier. There was even a guest appearance by Richard Blais, who is the owner of Four Flamingos.

The Four Flamingos is located inside the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress and is open nightly from 5 PM until 10 PM. The restaurant is located just up the road from Disney Springs (about a 10-minute drive) and could be a great option for a sit-down restaurant after a day at the theme parks or if you are looking to celebrate a special occasion. The restaurant usually has walk-up availability and offers complimentary valet and self-parking for diners.

This class was the first in a series of special events that Four Flamingos will be hosting throughout the remainder of the year. Upcoming classes include:

• Bacardi Cocktail Class (September 26th, 3 PM -4 PM): focusing on rum and Florida-inspired ingredients
• Wine Tasting Dinner (October 1st, 6:30 PM): a specially curated five-course dinner featuring pairings with The Prisoner wines
• Espresso Martini Class (November 28th, 3 PM -4 PM): fall twists on the classic cocktail in celebration of Espresso Martini Month
• Holiday Cocktail Class (December 19th, 3 PM -4 PM): learn about holiday classics with assistance from Santa and his helpers

You can find more details about these events and book tickets when available on the Four Flamingos website. Additionally, there are some other exciting things happening at Four Flamingos!

• Chef Richard Blais will be at the restaurant from September 8th -10th
• Magical Dining runs through September 30th, where you can enjoy a three-course, prix-fixe dinner for $60 featuring Four Flamingos dishes like spiny lobster bisque, red grouper, and dulce de leche crème brûlée
• Happy Hour happens every day from 5 PM -6 PM, and Flamingo Hour happens every day from 9 PM -10 PM
• Four Flamingos is also taking reservations for holiday events and parties

Now, let’s get to the main reason we are here: drinks and food! During this cocktail class, we went through and learned about four different drinks (plus a secret menu drink!) and tasted a coordinating dish with each of the four drinks. Let’s dive in!

With each tasting, you get a pour of one of the Hard Truth whiskeys, bourbons, or ryes, and it was served with a dish. Each pour came served in the same glass and you got a good amount!

We started with the Sweet Mash Rye paired with Grilled Peach and Goat Cheese Brûlée Salad Honey Truffle Vinaigrette. The salad is a modified version of a salad you can get on their normal menu. When this salad was paired with the Sweet Mash Rye, the rye tasted very sweet with a toasted marshmallow or caramel kind of flavor. It is not super smoky, and it has a very pleasant flavor.

On the salad, it has fresh leafy greens and some crunchy seeds. We thought the grilled peaches were absolutely divine, and overall thought this salad was fresh tasting and delicious. It is definitely giving us summer vibes!

Next up, we tried the High Road Rye paired with Maple & Black Pepper Spice Country Style Ribs. This rye tasted a bit more bitter than the Sweet Mash Rye. We also tasted a more wooden taste; however, this one didn’t have as much of a bite as the Sweet Mash Rye. It still has that burn, but it wasn’t as intense as our first drink.

The ribs were boneless ribs that had a nice layer of fat on them. The seasoning was well spiced with a bit of sweetness. You can really taste the black pepper spice, and the maple brought a great amount of sweetness to balance. The ribs were sitting on an apricot slaw that added a wonderful crunch without overpowering the ribs. The ribs and High Road Rye paired well.

Then we moved onto the Sweet Mash Wheated Bourbon, which was paired with Black Pepper Crusted N.Y. Strip, Hot Honey Carrot Puree & Smoked Avocado Chimichurri. The Sweet Mash Whated Bourbon had some butterscotch and vanilla flavors to it, and we tasted some flavors of tobacco in the aftertaste. This one had a heftier flavor than the first two we tried.

The N.Y. Strip was wonderful. We could have eaten ten more of these and been completely content. It was cooked well, and the accompaniments were also tasty. The chimichurri was flavorful and herby, and the carrots added some wonderful texture to the dish. There were some deep-fried carrots on top, as well as a delicious carrot puree on the bottom.

We also tried the Sweet Mash Bourbon paired with Toffee Cheesecake, Pecan Coffee Crust & Amarena Cherries. The Sweet Mash Bourbon had a caramel pecan smell with hints of oak. With the aftertaste, we tasted a strong chocolate flavor. The earthier flavors of this bourbon paired nicely with the pecan flavors of the cheesecake.

The cheesecake was another hit for us! It has more of a mousse texture, but it is smooth and sweet with an almost butter pecan flavor. It sits on a pecan coffee crust that falls apart in your mouth, with lots of pecan flavor. Then it is topped with cherries that add a black cherry flavor to the dish.

Finally, we got to experience making a drink alongside Macarena Portales, the Chief Mixologist at Four Flamingos. She walked us through the process and provided us with a secret menu drink to taste! While this drink doesn’t have a name yet, they will be offering it for the next few weeks. 

This drink featured a rum butter, mint, and peach concentrate. We thought this tasted like a peach mint julep! It was a great dessert cocktail to end the experience, and we are hoping this drink will get a name soon. The combination of the sweet peach, sharp mint, and rum butter was fantastic. The peach and mint are the first flavors you taste, and then the alcohol flavor comes sneaking in at the end. 

Overall, we had a wonderful time at the Hard Truth Cocktail Class! The class was informative and featured the opportunity to try a wide variety of drinks and food options. It is a great option if you are hoping to try some items that you might not have otherwise. We definitely recommend checking out Four Flamingos and signing up for some of their future special events. We even got the chance to say hi to Richard Blais during the class!

Stay tuned to DFB for all your Disney food news!

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What is your favorite dining experience you have had? Let us know in the comments!

Disclosure: In nearly all circumstances, Disney Food Blog writers and photographers pay full price for their own travel, hotel, food, beverage, and event tickets. We do this because it’s important to us as journalists to ensure not only that we give you unbiased opinions, but also that you can trust us to do so since we’re paying our own way. On rare occasions, when we are invited by a company to attend a preview as media, and when we choose to accept that invitation, we will always make you, our readers, aware of that situation. Today, we were invited to attend the Four Flamingos Hard Truth Cocktail Class. Note that when we attend events as media, we are 1) Not required to review that event/food on any of our channels, and 2) Not required to review that event/food favorably. You can always count on DFB to give you a 100% unbiased and honest review of any event that we attend, food that we eat, or beverage that we drink. You can see more in our Disclosure Policy. Thank you for reading. — AJ