Room Escape Artist

High spirits

Location: London, England

Date Played: February 15, 2025

Team Size: We recommend 2-4

Duration: around 2 hours

Price: £58 per player for a welcome cocktail, puzzle experience, and a cocktail masterclass with 2 signature cocktails

Ticketing: Publicly ticketed in a shared space, but each group gets their own table and copy of materials

Accessibility Consideration: Stairs

Emergency Exit Rating: [A+] No Lock

Physical Restraints: [A+] No Physical Restraints

REA Reaction

Cahoots is a 1940s-themed cocktail bar with 3 locations around London: a Ticket Hall and Underground across the street from each other in Soho, and a Postal Office in Borough Yards. As a public transit nerd and philatelist, I was instantly enamored with this theming, and as a cocktail nerd, I was equally delighted by their creative cocktails.

Each of these locations was worth visiting as an immersive environment. The decor was playful, detailed, and impeccably lit. There were also some interactive elements, particularly at the Postal Office location which featured a fantastical pneumatic tube system for delivering certain cocktails. (Fun fact: Chris Lattner from The Room Labs worked on the design of the Postal Office!)

For escape room enthusiasts and immersive fans, the interactivity went even deeper with Bootlegger Breakout, a light puzzle experience and cocktail-making workshop that’s hosted every Saturday afternoon at Cahoots’ Underground location. The premise for Bootlegger Breakout was clever: our bartender had been caught by the cops and was handcuffed to the back wall of the speakeasy. We needed to solve a series of puzzles which would lead us to the keys needed to free him… so he could teach us how to make our cocktails.

If that’s not good motivation to expeditiously solve some puzzles, I don’t know what is.

2 Ounces of Puzzles with a Dash of Immersive Theatre

I’ve grown skeptical of most “immersive cocktail experiences” as they’re typically just cash grabs that lack any real substance beyond a few decent Instagrammable moments, but I’m happy to report that Bootlegger Breakout was the real deal. From the moment we queued up, we were greeted by a fantastic actor who immersed us in the time period and provided an engaging introduction to the experience. Bootlegger Breakout took place in a dedicated private space that was just as intricately decorated as the main bar above. We were greeted with a tasty welcome cocktail, and after a humorous introduction, we dove into some puzzling.

The gameplay in Bootlegger Breakout was solid, especially for a bar that’s unaffiliated with any escape room company. As you might expect, the puzzles were all easy and quick, yet they were strongly thematic and nicely presented in a layered “break-in” crate. At their best, certain puzzles led us to interact with cool features in the environment around us. At its worst, one puzzle needlessly used an escape room trope that was hard to see in the bar’s lighting and required some external data without sufficient cluing.

Marvelous Mixological Mentorship

The real star of the show was the cocktail workshop that followed. Our instructor was a charismatic fount of mixological knowledge. Participants with limited cocktail-making experience were patiently guided through the basics, and I — having studied mixology for years and regularly hosted cocktail parties — still learned a ton about some unusual ingredients and processes. We were guided through making 2 delicious cocktails, including one of Cahoots’ signature drinks: the Winston Churchill (served in an appropriately shaped cup!) Each group received their own box of ingredients, and the box itself was incredible satisfying to open. This workshop strongly emphasized adjusting each cocktail’s ratios according to our own personal tastes, including how boozy we wanted to make them.

Cahoots also offered phenomenal non-alcoholic options that were just as tasty as their alcoholic counterparts. Just make sure to specify this preference, along with any other dietary restrictions, while booking.

When frequenting themed cocktail bars, I often wish that the standard experience went just a bit deeper, and Cahoots’ Bootlegger Breakout offered just that. Whether you’re a fan of cocktails, puzzles, or immersive theatre, Bootlegger Breakout is a stellar way to spend an afternoon with some friends.

Tips For Visiting

• Cahoots has multiple locations around London. Bootlegger Breakout takes place at the Cahoots Underground location in Soho.

Book your hour with Cahoot’s Bootlegger Breakout, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.