Pocket Bar

It’s time to leave Surry Hills and visit Darlinghurst. The coolest place in town no longer sits amongst the agencies and junkies. Happily you won’t have to tramp too far Sydney’s newest den of iniquity, walk north along Crown until you cross Oxford and the road falls down the hill into Darlinghurst (or the East Village, if you’re trying to be specific.) Right there on the corner of Burton St, you’ll find Pocket Bar.

It seems like everyone is writing about the fact the small bars are about to spring forth all over the city and we are about to enter a new era of drinking pleasure. Pocket is one of the first manifestations of this phenomenon, along with the Pond, Chingalings and Low 302, just a few steps back up the hill.

Pocket offers a gaggle of Frenchmen, assisted by a few great floor staff and an engaging and polite doorman (a real surprise for this city) I loved the cocktail list, where the Manhattan was listed with three base bourbons, at three price points encouraging a level of experimentation and education that has been ignored at most bars. The originals on the list make interesting reading as well, after a short perusal, I went for Cherry Aviations for the boys and the Rossini, which bears more than a passing resemblance to my Tokyo Strawberry Bellini.

The cherry Aviations were good, if a little sweet, but that’s the dominant French style, and since the Aviation is a bit of a personal favourite, I was always going to be looking for issues. The Bellini’s were quickly followed by a second round, and the Manhattan was bang on.

The walls are covered in graf styled illustrations. The place feels good, and the door policy keeps it full but not packed. The food looked great and I’ll be back to get amongst some crepes. Everyone in the place seemed to be drinking bottles of Tiger, which in a country with as good a beer selection as Australia seemed a little odd, but maybe its some hipster insider thing that I’m not privy too.

I liked it and I’m definitely going back.

Find pocket on Google maps here.

Filed under: Bar, Sydney , Burton St, Cherry Aviation, Crown St, Darlinghurst, Frenchmen, Great Service, Manhattan, Strawberry Bellini

Rum Club November

Join the Sydney Rum Club on Monday 16 November, 2009 for an in-depth, interactive presentation from rum guru and Reserve Brands Ambassador Nick van Tiel.

This Rum Club will give members the opportunity to taste one of the world’s finest rums, Ron Zacapa, as well as learn about the intricacies of the spirit.

Rum Club has been running for over five years and has members in London, Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne. Session host Nick van Tiel has previously worked at London’s Trailer Happiness Bar where Rum Club was founded.

Come along to learn, ask questions and enjoy a few drinks with other like-minded rum aficionados.

The Rum Club will meet at Eden Bar & Restaurant at 6.30pm. The session costs $10, which includes membership.

Eden Bar & Restaurant

Shop 2, Level 8

MLC Centre

19 Martin Place

Sydney

http://www.therumclub.com/the_sydney_rum_club.phtml

To RSVP for the evening, email info@edenbarandrestaurant.com.au

Filed under: Bar, Sydney, Training , Ron Zacapa Centenario 23yr old rum, Sydney Rum Club

Bootleg

Across the road from Jimmy Liks, Bootleg offers a well designed and relaxed environment that fuses eating and drinking together. Grab a seat at the bar and munch down some chicken liver costini and exquisitely cooked calamari. The olives are expensive (6.50 for a little bowl) but they are definately quality and worth every cent.

Grab a seat further down the back amongst old radios and darkly cool hipster ephemera if you’ve turned up in a group.

While the bar doesn’t have a cocktail list, the Negroni and the Martini are exceptionally well turned out, and I dare say if you know what you like they’d be able to help you with it. The wine list is also quite extensive.

175 Victoria Street
Potts Point NSW 2011
Phone (02) 9361 3884

You can also find them on Google maps here.

Filed under: Bar, Sydney , Victoria St, Bootleg, Italian Food, relaxed, cool interior

The Brothers Fee, now in Sydney

Mr Heinz built his global business on the strength of 57 varieties. Fee Brothers bring no less than 83 different cocktail products to the market. If you read much on cocktails being written around the world, it won’t be long before a recipe stipulates the use of one or more of them in the production of a brilliant new drink or a faithful reinvention of something from the distant past.

The company’s roots go right back to 1863 in San Fransisco, but mass production and distribution only really started during Prohibition when the Fee’s cordial flavourings were a popular addition to homemade hooch to cover up the heads and tails. Global scale has only really occurred since the mid nineties, where a change in labelling aligned with a global expansion of the cocktail business and a new generation of self styled mixoligists went looking for something a little different.

They grace the back bars around town easily enough, but I had been struggling to find them as a mere home enthusiast. Gouldburn Wines and Spirits now have it in stock. You can find them on Brisbane St, which is just off the lower end of Oxford St. Google Map it here.

The entrance might not look much, but the selection as enough to make you giddy.Anything you can’t find in Sydney, this would be a good option to track it down.

The taste profile of the flavoured bitters can be a lot different for those you might have experienced from the Houses of Angostura and Peychaud. I particularly like the Rhubarb Bitters, and I’ll be looking to build my collection and make some great tasty drinks.

Filed under: At home, Bottle Shop, Sydney , Bitters, Fee Brothers, Gouldburn Wines and Spirits, Tasty, Wishlist

Moore’s Vintage Dry Gin

One of the real gems that I found at the Bar Show was Moore’s Vintage Dry Gin, produced only an hour’s drive (on a good day without traffic) outside of Sydney at the St. Fiacre Distillery on the beautiful central coast.

Handcrafted by self proclaimed wizard of the still, Philip Moore, this Vintage Dry Gin is the product of a sevenfold blend of vapour infused distallates. These are produced in a Carter Head still.

Now you may have noticed a level of explanation that I don’t usually go to, and there is a very good reason for that. There are only reckoned to be five operational Carter Head stills on this green earth and guess who has used one to produce a delightful, delicate Gin that has taken the world by storm? who else but Hendricks, of course. They too blend a number of infused distillates together to create their masterpiece.

Where Hendricks could be taken as a Scottish thumbing of noses at the bastions of English Gin conventions, Moore’s is an unashamedly Australian affair. A strong and pleasantly oily citrus base of grapefruits, Tahitian limes and wild limes from Queensland forms the base flavour and takes it towards Tanqueray Ten or Beefeater 24 territory. Setting this Gin firmly on its own in the marketplace is the addition of four Australian botanicals. Cinnamon Myrtle, Coriander seeds, Illawarra Plum and Macadamia nut give a very different finish, smooth, subtle and pleasurably different.

The branding is a bit crap, it certainly doesn’t do the product inside the bottle justice and with my marketing hat on it’s going to be tough for the brand to have the sort of success that Hendricks has, with the way its speaking now.

However, you should still find yourself a bottle, because (1) its great to have a local product that has been made this well and tastes this good, (2) you can be the cool kid introducing something before everyone knows about it, (3) It will be amazing in a long G&T or Collins this Sydney summer and (4) you can’t buy this in America (and with FDA approval of non-US native botanicals being what it is, you maybe never will be)

Philip Moore also produces a range of Australian liqueurs (38.00), which are on sale alongside the Gin (49.95) on the St. Fiacre Distillery web store if you can’t find it in a local store, or make the trip up the coast.

There’s a reason I mention the liqueurs. I’d like to update a David Wondrich cocktail to make something a little more local.

The Central Coast Classic.

60 mls Moore’s Vintage Dry Gin, 10 mls Native Plant Spirits Mandarin Liqueur, a couple of dashes of Fee’s Rhubarb Bitters. Give that a good stir over ice in a tin, and strain it over a couple of big ice cubes in an old fashioned glass and I have been garnishing pretty much everything with the peel of those amazing blood oranges that are in season right now.

Delicious.

Filed under: Cocktail, Spirit, Sydney , Gin, Moore's Vintage Dry Gin, Central Coast, Local, Excellent, Central Coast Classic., Fee Brothers Rhubarb Bitters, Carter Head Still

Red Sky in the morning, Bartenders warning.

Bar Show is rolling to a close today, after a very auspicious start to the day with red dust changing the skies and the air quality very dramatically.

The Bar Show had a great crowd as I walked the floor today, the 42Below Cocktail World Cup Qualifiers were fun to watch, and I tried some excellent products which I’ll document over the next few days.

Bar Awards are tonight, and I’ll be there, seeing if the predictions I made are even close to coming true.

Looking forward to a great night.

Filed under: Sydney , Bar Awards, Sydney Bar Show

Salve, Gruppo Campari

Gruppo Camapri have just announced that they’re opening a Sydney office! They are looking to hire a whole team, from Marketing Director to Logistics and everything in between.

The group owns a largish family featuring a heavier than usual showing of Aperitifs, Camapri (the bitter orange classic), Aperol (made with both bitter and sweet, a slightly smoother experience), Cynar (again, a bitter aperitif, made from Artichokes and featuring one on the label), Cinzano (Italian vermouths across the colour spectrum) & BiancoSarti (the vigorous aperitif, largely unknown outside of Italy). On the spirit side, they’ve acquired Skyy, Wild Turkey, Cabo Wabo Tequlia and a whole range of Brazilian brandies and scotch.

You can find all of the job listings for Campari Australia here.

Filed under: Spirit, Sydney , Campari, Jobs

It’s Bartender Christmas in only one more sleep!

One more day until the Sydney Barshow gets underway and despite the late cancellations of Lorna Vasquez from Ron Zacapa and Ann Tuennerman from Tales of the Cocktail, the lineup of speakers and spirits is looking exciting.

The Smuggler’s Den is looking mighty tasty with donations from around the world rolling in to whet lips and palates.

I’m resting my liver, and looking forward to a couple of tasty days and nights over the next couple.

Filed under: Sydney , Sydney Bar Show

Rum Club Redux

Last night at the Eden Bar and Restaurant in Martin Place, the Sydney Rum Club gathered for a tasting of the Bacardi portfolio. After a refreshing Mojito made by Bacardi Ambassadors’ Jeremy Shipley and Loy Catada.

After a short and somewhat informative presentation on the history of the brand and the innovations Bacardi bought to the rum industry (parallel process, where two base rums are produced at the same time and blended; charcoal filtration, to smooth the rough edges of the Devils Kin; La Levadura, the use of a specific yeast to ferment the blackstrap and water mash & deliberate aging, to add character, body and a smooth finish to the product.) it was time to drink the sweet, sweet liquor.

Starting with Carta Blanca (the famous white rum; banana, almonds and icing sugar on the nose; brunt wheat and vanilla on the palate with a smooth finish,) followed by Bacardi Oro (a gold/yellow rum; green banana’s on the nose; orange peely to taste and a warmer finish,) next came Bacardi Black (a brown/black rum; raisins and paint on the nose; rich caramel to taste running into a smooth finish,) next up was Bacardi 8 (a rich brown/amber rum with a nose to match, the 8 is smooth in taste and finish, perfect in old school cocktails like the old fashioned and smooth enough to drink on its own,) the penultimate selection was Bacardi Limon (clear, flavoured spirit not legally allowed to be called rum in Australia, macerated lemons give the spirit a heady zest, sweetening the final product to an almost liqueur like consistency.) The last rum in the tasting was Bacardi Reserva Limitada. This one was so good, it’s getting it’s own post.

The evening wrapped up with the announcement of the winner of the naming competition for the Rum Club’s barrel. Astonishingly, I carried off the win, a share of the barrel and a Rum cocktail experience at Eden. In 12 months time, the Governor’s Downfall will be ready, bottle with the owners name and serial number. There is enough rum for 33 bottles, and there are still a few left. $50 and a visit to Eden would probably secure you one, or you could email info@edenbarandrestaurant.com.au and make your case.

A quick hand shaken Bacardi Daiquiri and I was out the door before 9pm. A really enjoyable night, highly recommended.

Filed under: Sydney, Training , A great time, Bacardi, Daiquiri, Eden Bar & Restaurant, Martin Place, Mojito, Rum Club, Sydney CBD

Rum Club Tonight!!!

Eden Bar & Restaurant’ Upper Concourse Level, MLC Centre, 19 Martin Place. 6.30pm

Bacardi are hosting, and I hear that there might even be a little Reserva Limitida on the bar.

On Google Maps. 9223 4333 if you still can’t find the entrance.

Further details available here.

Filed under: Sydney, Training , Bacardi, Martin Place, Rum, Rum Club