Honeyed Heather

The launch of the new Johnnie Walker Blue was a great opportunity to hear a few good stories about the brand.

It was also a great opportunity to enjoy some delicious Pear Old Fashioneds. It sort of drove home to me that the worst fate a bottle of scotch can have is to sit at home not getting drunk.

You don’t need to do much to to it, slight tweaks to bring out some different parts of the spirits flavour profile.

Honeyed Heather

50mls Johnnie Walker Blue Label, 10mls honey syrup, 7.5mls freshly squeezed lemon juice, a single dash of Boker’s Bitters.

Stir down over ice and strain up into a chilled glass. Lemon peel garnish and a good time.

A Modern Classic

I wrote a couple of weeks back about the True Originals campaign from Bacardi and the Global Legacy Cocktail Competition that hung off the back of it.

Well, the first contest has wrapped in Barcelona and the gorgeous looking drink in the photo above is the winning drink. It’s a rethink of the Ramos Gin Fizz, swapping gin for rum and orange blossom water for something deliciously herbal and made by monks.

Marco’s Bacardi Fizz
by Marc Bonneton

50ml Bacardi Superior rum
40ml Cream
15ml Green Chartreuse
15ml Lemon Juice
15ml Lime Juice
15ml Simple Syrup
1 egg white
Top with soda water
Mint sprig for garnish

Dry-shake the egg white in a shaker with no ice, then add all the other ingredients and ice and shake for a long time to emulsify to egg white and the cream. Fine-strain into a tall glass and top with soda water. Garnish with a sprig of mint.

Hat Tip Camper English at Alcademics, who actually was on the ground in Spain watching it all unfold.

The Afternoontini

It’s been a quiet couple of months on this blog.

I have been getting my house in order as my love and I prepared for a fifty percent increase in the size of our family. Our little boy Otis turned up a week ago and I’ve been able to think of little else since.

My soon to be sister in law visited today, and asked for something cold, without any alcohol. I’ve made more than a few drinks that deliver on flavour without relying on liqour of late, so this is what I whipped up.

The Afternoontini

60mls Earl Grey Tea, 30mls cloudy apple juice, 30mls fig syrup, 22.5mls freshly squeezed lemon juice, 6 drops Boker’s Bitters. Shake over ice and double strain into a iced tea service. Garnish with a sprig of rosemary and serve with tea and tiny cakes.

If you’re in Sydney, the figs are cheap and plentiful. Macerate 6 or 7 through a large strainer and combine with 500mls of simple syrup. Bottle and store in your fridge.

I have an enormous backlog of things to write about, and am judging the Gentleman’s Drink round of World Class in Sydney this month.

Stay tuned.

Rosemary Redux

I’ve been a big fan of the effect that rosemary has on Campari since the official cocktail from Tales two years ago opened my eyes to what can be best described as flavour sensation.

It was with no small measure of excitement that I clocked a six foot rosemary bush growing at the back of the summer holiday home I spent much of my summer escape at. I knew the bottle of Campari would be getting acquainted in no short order.

I put together a thick syrup (2:1) of Demerara sugar and about a cup of chopped rosemary, you could use less, but when you have an abundance, why not…. Leave it to steep for a couple of hours under the warm New Zealand sun before you strain, bottle and refrigerate it.

I had laid my hands on some Italian Vermouth from Dolin as well before heading north along the coast, and the rose petal note I had been enjoying in my summertime Negroni’s seemed like they might make a welcome addition to a more summery interpretation of the Winter Sour. My soon to be mother in law, for whom I was making the drink, seemed to think it worked pretty well.

One for the Mother in Law.

45mls Campari, 20mls freshly squeezed lemon juice, 20mls Dolin sweet vermouth, 15mls rosemary demerara syrup.

Combine all ingredients over ice, shake and strain over a well iced rocks glass. In cases of abundant rosemary, it makes an appropriate garnish.

 

The first drink of Christmas: Champagne

“Three be the things I shall never attain: Envy, content and sufficient champagne”

Dorothy Parker

Like no other product, Champagne epitomises a collective celebration. Weddings, success and life’s little highlights, the bubbly amalgamation of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier is seen by many as the perfect accompaniment to good old times. What happens however, if you’re lucky enough to have a glut? There are certainly many out there who would believe that there is no such thing.

Regardless, here are a few options to get you underway. These will work just as well, and in some cases greatly improve the product if you’ve got Methode Traditionelle or something else that bubbles.

Morning.

Perhaps the greatest aspect of the now quasi-religious holiday is that drinking becomes socially acceptable or even expected before the traditional 11 o’clock start point. Hitting the heavier stuff might not be such a grand idea, especially if you’re entertaining an older crew. Cut back the booze with some fruity goodness and get the day started right.

Mimosas & Bellinis

Mimosas mix bubbles and juice together. At the most traditional, use orange juice. I’m always astonished by the number of people who will mix a fifty dollar bottle of bubbles with a two dollar tetrapak of OJ. Show your guests a little bit of love and squeeze the juice fresh. The results will be better than you’ve ever imagined.

1/2 glass Fresh OJ, top with Champagne. For something a little brighter combine 10mls Grand Marnier with 20mls Fresh OJ.

Bellinis call for a puree of fruit. The Italian who came up with the drink used fresh white peaches, if you’d like to do the same, be aware that if you try and make the puree ahead of time it will oxidise and turn a funky brown colour. You could try adding an anti-oxidising agent, like lemon juice, but you’re best just to do it the laborious old fashioned way, to order as they are needed.

1/3 glass White Peach puree, top with Champagne

With both of these, there is huge room for experimentation, use whatever local, ripe, amazing fruit you can get your hands on. The Tokyo Strawberry Bellini is worth a crack too.

Noon.

Personally, i think lunch is the absolute perfect time for a sparkling glass. But if you must have something that’s been adulterated, let me suggest the Imperial Mojito, The French 75 or perhaps a delicious punch.

The Sparkling Ginger Daisy & The East Hollywood Sparkling Sangria over at Sloshed! also are going to be making it on my Christmas drinks list.

Night.

While the classic Champagne cocktail is a great way to start any night, I’d also recommend changing the Gin for Cognac in your French 75. Alternatively, try this:

Ritz Cocktail

22.5mls ounce Cognac (Hennessy), 15mls Cointreau, 15mls Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur, 15mls  Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice,  Champagne (approximately 90mls) stir all but the Champagne over ice, strain up and top with champagne.   Garnish with a flamed orange peel

 

 

The 20th Century Cocktail

I do love a drink that comes with a story. After being rebuffed in her request for a Last Word last week, my girlfriend was instead offered up the 20th Century Cocktail as an alternative.

This drink first appeared in print 1937, in the Cafe Royal Bar Book. Many of my online colleagues link the drink to the Art Deco beauty of Henry Dreyfus and his NYC Hudson train casings, While the drink was named for the train that ran between NYC and Chicago, Dreyfus’s design didn’t roll the rails until 1938, so maybe it was the drink that inspired the design.

The 20th Century Limited was the height of luxury, the train was refined in every way, with plush crimson carpets cushioning the travelers feet as they alighted at either end of the journey, men were given carnations, women flowers and perfume, the overall experience coining the phrase “the red carpet treatment” and starting a tradition that lives on today.

The drink is the equal of its story, lemon, herb and the strength of Gin, hiding a luxurious chocolate finish. Stunning.

The 20th Century Cocktail.

45mls Gin, 20mls Lillet Blanc, 15mls Creme de Cacao, 20mls freshly squeezed Lemon juice.

Shake and strain up, garnish with a twist of lemon.

Vote Goggin!

It appears that at least one of the contestants from 42 Below’s Cocktail World Cup last week is on his way to true global bartending rockstar status. James Sugarfoot Goggin, of the storied family Goggin, has become the first New Zealander to make the finals at Tales of the Cocktail, the pinnacle of this green earth’s drinking events.

I was lucky enough to be behind the bar in Queenstown for a little while. Goggin was struck by a bolt of genius and turned out a banana Sazerac, inside a banana skin. Somehow, methinks, this is not going to be the last Goggin recipe I post here.

Once Upon A Time

MixMarch #29: The Flying Dutchman

Updating the Classics is a tricky business. You are taking a recipe that is loved by people around the world. It’s a fucking hard thing to do with any level of success. Imagine my surprise then, when American Bartender of the Year, Jim Meehan, stepped up to update both a classic and one of my favourite drinks, the Aviation Cocktail.

I’ve tried a few updates on the Aviation, and most end up like the Cherry Aviation at Pocket Bar in Burton St, too sweet, too different, just not really at all like the Cocktail they’re supposed to be channeling.

This is so very different to that scenario.

Jim’s drink amplifys everything I love about the Aviation, Strong, Sour and fruity floral. Sitting at home back in Sydney, I’m ready to book a ticket, pack my bags and fly half way around the world just so he can make me another one.

The Flying Dutchman

.75 oz. (22.5mls) Clear Creek Plum Brandy, .75 oz. (22.5mls) Bols Genever, .5 oz. (15mls) Creme Yvette .5 oz. (15mls)Lemon Juice, .5 oz. (15mls) Pineapple Juice, 1 Barspoon (5mls) of Luxardo Maraschino

Shake with ice and fine strain into a chilled coupe

Garnish with one brandied cherry

(Jim Meehan, Winter 2010)

An ancestor of the Aviation Cocktail, first published in Hugo Ensslin’s Recipes for Mixed Drinks in 1916, this blue plum, pineapple, cherry and violet accented sour references Dutch genever, not the cursed ship forever lost at sea.

MixMarch #17: The South Ireland Sour

No, there hasn’t been a terrorist attack, it St Patrick’s Day. A day for everyone on earth to pretend they’re Irish, hang up their moral compass and run naked through the streets of common sense. In Chicago, they like it so much they’ll poison their rivers with “organic” food colouring. In order to properly honour this day of days, I present to you, dear reader, The South Ireland Sour.

This drink is the brainchild of Jacob Briars, enfant terrible of the international bar cheffing community, voted second most likely to blow up the Houses of Parliament by his year 2 classmates and 42Below‘s Professor of vodka.

Briar’s came up with the idea for the drink whilst undertaking a walking tour of Ireland’s bog snorkelling arena. Up to his eyeballs in Bog Violet and tadpoles, the most unusal pairing of Feijoa and Guinness entered his mind, and stayed there, despite numerous attempts to scour it out with Bushmills at a Cork Hotel later that evening.

It was not until Jacob made it back to New Munster that this curious recipe got to see the light of day. And so it was, at the 2007 Cocktail World Cup in Queenstown, New Zealand, the drink was shook. And poured, and supped.

The first remarks were “that has the look of filthy pondwater” quickly followed by “that’s a hell of a drink”

So, go on, get a little Irish in ya.

The South Ireland Sour*

Take equal parts Guinness, 42Below Feijoa Vodka, Simple Syrup and fresh lemon juice. Add a dash of fresh egg white. Ice and shake like you’ve lost ownsership of all your lands and you’ve naught to eat but pa-tay-tas. Strain up. Obvious garnish choices would include a four-leaf clover, a leprechaun or the false hopes of a technology led economy.

*Just in case there’s Americans reading this who otherwise might miss the witty subtext: Cork, where the drink was conceived is in the county of Munster in the Emerald Isle. The South Island in New Zealand was once called New Munster, by our first Governor, William Hobson, largely due to the abundance of pots of gold and wee folk. By using the words ‘South Ireland’ for a drink made in the ‘South Island’, Jacob has alluded to the connection between the two places and the ingredients in the beverage. This is what is called a homophonic pun, but has nothing to do with gay rights. It is exactly this type of considered, intelligent wordplay that prompted the North Seatoun Bowling Club, Domino Shack and College of Cardinals** to award Jacob his Professorial Degree.

**I realise this name is quite a mouthful and sounds a tad made up, in all honesty though, it is proof of what happens when a mixed member proportional system of government, devised by an invading power and meant to cripple a country, is instituted in a small shire like New Zealand. Special Interest groups quickly combine, unholy trinities result and the next thing you know, Winston Peters is the country’s Foreign Minister.

P.S. Should any of you plowed on this far, prepare to reap the reward of your efforts as I weld one more tenuous link in the chain that has become this article and link the drink with the otherwise incongruous photo the beginning. Before it was named New Munster, the South Island had another name Te Wai Pounamu, or, The Waters of Green Stone. Which links nicely to those green waters at the start. No loose ends here then, move along.

MixMarch #7: The Possum Hunt

I’ve been a massive fan of 42 Below Feijoa for a long time. The wintergreen note is addictive, like licking deep heat and tiger balm off a mattress. It sounds bad at first, but once you’re into it there is no turning back.

Mostly this isn’t a flavour that does well with North Americans, and while if I’m being proper, this is a mixed drink and not a cocktail, and finding an American willing to try and convert people to the gospel, I just had to add it here.

The Possum Hunt.

Double shot of 42 Below Feijoa over lots of rocks.
Top with a mere splash of soda.
Double squeeze of lemon.
Get huntin’.

Thanks to the fine cocktail blog in the empire city for sharing this first. Embury Cocktails.

MixMarch #1: Penicillin Cocktail

Now, It’d be no fun at at all if I just picked cocktails at random, so I’m going to limit myself to drinks I make and photograph; or, like this one, drinks that I can link to my current surroundings, experience or the current affairs of my day.

We’ve just had the Mardi Gras parade here in Sydney, and while Oxford St bathed in lurid pink lights and elborate extroverted floats are, quite literally, half a world away from Fat Tuesday on the streets of New Orleans, there is very much a connection.

It’s with that in mind I started thinking about the Sazerac, the absinthe stained,  rye and (in some cases) cognac sling. I was also reminded of a Scotch based take of the Sazerac I tried a couple of weeks back at Eau de Vie. Barry, who leads the team there, has definitely had a drink at Milk & Honey if his resume doesn’t include it as well.

That all ties together doesn’t it? This drink is from Milk & Honey, in New York invented by Sam Ross. I’m sorry to say, that’s their photo, not mine. I’m yet to be able to put together anything in a rocks glass that looks quite as polished as that. I’m still trying though.

The Penicillin at least went to the same school as the Sazerac, even if they’re not quite real brothers. Speaking of brothers, and weirdly completing my tenuous circle of connection to this drink, Sam Ross has a big sister called Alex, that some of you will know from Ginger in Melbourne. But I digress, both drinks bring the best out of the spirits involved, using sugar and an aromatizing agent  to both bookend and smooth the edges. The Islay malt has a smoky character that is quite similar to the anise wash the absinthe brings to the table.

It’s surely true the Penicillin does taste more than just a little medicinal, but it’s my kind of medicine.

Penicillin Cocktail

• 60mls Famous Grouse blended scotch
• 20mls fresh lemon juice
• 20mls ginger-honey syrup
• 10mls Laphroaig scotch

Combine blended scotch, lemon juice and syrup in a shaker, fill with ice and shake well. Strain into an ice-filled rocks glass and float Islay scotch on top.

Friday Fix: ホットサワー

With 42 Below’s Cocktail World Cup just around the corner, I’ve been once again staring open eyed at drinks that show a level of commitment and creativity that frankly astonishes me. I’ve also been watching a lot of the Winter Olympic coverage, in stunning HD on Channel 9 here in Australia, and it was that coverage that led me to the Toronto View website, and this great article on the cocktail scene there.

I’ve got all the ingredients for this either at home or in one of the great Asian supermarkets downstairs from my office, so I’m off home to make one of these tonight. I’ve taken a small liberty in renaming the drink the Hottosawa in katakana, somehow I like it more than the Hot and Sour, which seems a little plain for such an amazing looking drink.

ホットサワー Hottosawa

½ oz Choya 23° plum liqueur (this is a umeshu-salt/sour/sweet liquer from Japan), 1 ½ oz Bulleit bourbon (I’m going to use Basil Hayden’s instead), 4 pieces nori seaweed, 4 or 5 drops of sriracha (this is a hot chili & vinegar paste from thailand. If you can’t find it, mash up chili, garlic, salt, sugar & vinegar. I’d start with equal amounts and go by taste), 1 pinch wasabi, 1 egg white, 1 ½ oz citrus (lemon and lime juice), 3 cilantro leaves (that’s Coriander to you and me), ½ oz maple syrup (this drink is from Canada, after all), ½ oz simple syrup. Combine all those over ice and shake hard to make a great foamy consistency for the drink. Stain it into an ice filled rocks glass

The one in the picture is rimmed with a mixture of powdered Miso, lime salt and nori (seaweed). Then further garnished with a sliver of nori, tobiko (flying fish roe) & ikura (salmon roe). You could probably use Masago (capelin roe) without anyone pulling you up. If someone does, take the drink back and pour them an eight ounce glass of  Blue Curacao.

Garden Party Punch

“One part sour, two parts sweet, three parts strong and four parts weak and a pinch of spice” muttered the Hatter, waiting ever impatiently for something, not quite remembering who.

While this snippet didn’t make it into Carroll’s epistle, it is a valuable lesson in the construction of punch. It was passed on to me by Jacob Briars, vodka professor, chairman of the drinking classes and curator of the world’s largest collection of Hawthorn strainer springs.

I had a challenge of making punch for a hundred people. This recipe tantalized and intrigued, while being strong (and odd) enough to not be readily consumed by all in attendance.

Garden Party Punch (fills a 10 litre punch bowl)

3 750ml bottles of 42 Below feijoa vodka, 750mls fresh squeezed lemon juice, 1.5 liters elderflower cordial, 1.5 liters of cloudy apple juice, 1.5 liters of ginger beer.

The sober among you will know that only makes 7.5 liters. I’d suggest filling up 2 liters of that available space with a giant ice cube, done in layers with fruit or a fresh (non poisonous) flower. The remaining space should accommodate at least a cucumbers worth of thin slices, the adventurous among you could cut stars or other event relevant shapes. A good handful of ripped mint leaves will finish things off wonderfully.

Stir frequently and sip wisely.

The elderflower turns the taste of the feijoa up to the max, as my American cousins are fond of saying. If you don’t know what a feijoa is, I suggest a trip to New Zealand, where they are prevalent, or Chile, where they are native.

Friday Fix: Grandmother’s Minted Pear Cooler

The latest fruit to become seasonally inexpensive in Sydney has been the Packham Pear. Incorporating pears into a drink with resorting to a nasty schnapps has been a bit tough for me in the past, muddling is a lot of work and only seems to impart flavor without that great velvety texture that I associate and love about pears.

With this idea, and a kilo of Packham pears for only 2.99 from Harris Farm markets, I hit the kitchen and got to work making poached pear syrup. First, I peeled the pears, leaving the stalk, as it makes it easy to grab the pear out of the hot syrup later in the process. I used two pears to make my syrup, but if you wanted to have them for dessert you could add one for each guest. Of those two pears, one will be for eating after and one will be for the syrup itself. So on one of them, cut a deep X into the base, halfway up the pear, so it gets really soft. Leave the other one peeled but otherwise whole.

In a saucepan, add 250grams of sugar and 350mls of hot water, stirring it until the sugar crystals dissolve. Add the pears to the pot, put the lid on and set the element to a low heat. (My stove, mark 4 is perfect, it only just simmers but not boils.) Leave it on the stove for a good couple of hours.

The pear with the X might slump a little, so grab some tongs and put it in a blender, put the other pear on a plate, pouring over a couple of tablespoons of the syrup. Add the remainder of the syrup to the blender and pulse until smooth. Strain this over a bowl, you might want to push the pulp through with the back of a spoon and strain it again as well, depending on how much process you can handle.

You should be left with about 350-400mls of cloudy but fine poached pear syrup. While it cools, go and eat the other pear.

The poached pear syrup is great in a Champagne cocktail and makes a fine addition to most sour cocktails.

Grandma’s Minted Pear Cooler.

Combine 60mls Basil Hayden’s Bourbon, 15mls poached pear syrup, 20mls fresh lemon juice, 6 mint leaves and a couple of dashes of Peychaud’s Bitters over ice. Give it a crisp shake and strain it up. It shouldn’t require a double strain due to your efforts earlier on. Garnish with a mint sprig.

I’m also partial to the same drink made with Gin, minus the bitters and I’d love to try it with Fee Brothers Peppermint Bitters too.

You can also serve it in an old fashioned glass with some ice and a splash of soda if you want to summer things up a little, or it’s daytime and drinking from a martini glass makes you feel a touch of a lush.

Friday Fix: Cherry Gin Sour

One of the great things about this time of year in Sydney is the fresh cherries. Head up to the Kings Cross markets on a Saturday and you’;l find at least a couple of stands selling beautiful boxes of cherries.

While the fruit are quite hard to whip up into cocktails, short of making syrups or muddling handfuls and steeping them in spirits, there is another side of the proliferation of these special little fruit, Pressed Cherry Juice. The juice is made from those cherries not pretty enough to move of the shelf, luckily, these are also some of the sweetest and juiciest as well.

The juice is not a manufactured product, so expect a lot of variation between products and you’ll need to tweak the recipe to make sure you don’t just end up with Cherry tasting juice that’s alcoholic.

The Cherry Gin Sour

60mls Tanqueray 10 Gin, 10 mls pressed cherry juice, 15mls freshly squeezed lemon juice, 5mls sugar syrup. Combine all ingredients over ice in a shaker, shake, strain over a sour glass filled with fresh ice. Green garnishes look great against the deep red of the drink.

Summer Loving

While the Northern Hemisphere tilts away from the warming light of the sun, hot punch recipes are being dusted off. Some provide warmth, others exist solely to bring a tint of colour to the milky white skin of Englishmen.

Rejoice then, that you live in Sydney, where access to sun, surf, parks and beaches are plentiful and open to all.

As you head to any of these places, to meet in large groups or small, the default choice for refreshment is a six pack of coldies or a bottle of wine. I’d ask you to consider for a moment stepping outside of that norm and heading, replete, with a fine jar of tippling punch on your next park sojourn.

Punch was invented back when alcohol was so rough, punters only wanted to mask the flavour enough to get it down and start the glorious journey to intoxication, these days, punches in the summer or the winter showcase flavours of booze,  fruit and herbacious additives. Experimentation is the key here, perfect punch is a very fluid concept, go with what’s fresh and match the flavours as best you can.

Punches are best described in ratios, as everyone will have a different sized jar, bowl or bathtub, depending on the size of one’s frivolity, and frankly your ambition.

My Summer Punch

Fill a preserving jar with ice and slide slices of lemons, limes and oranges down the side with a barspoon. Add 2 parts Tanqueray Gin, 1 part Lillet Blanc, 1 part pomegranate juice, 1 part cloudy apple juice, 1/2 part fresh squeezed lemon juice. Garnish with mint, think bush not sprig.

The walk or drive to the destination should provide sufficient mixing.

Enjoy, and feel free to share your own punch combos in the comments.

That’s a tasty Beveridge.

I already wrote today about the newest edition to my liquor cabinet, Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve. The master blender at Johnnie Walker, perfectly named Mr Beveridge has opened the Gold Label reserve stock to create a great new extension to the brand.

The quality and character of the spirit shine through in this version of the blended whisky standard, The Sour.

The tasty Beveridge.

45ml Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve, 15ml freshly squeezed lemon juice, 15ml real Canadian maple syrup, about 1/2 an egg white. Combine all the ingredients in a Boston glass and top with ice. Shake vigorously, you want to get the protein fibers from the egg to turn into meringue and give a great fluffy finish to the drink.

I know some people are squeamish about adding raw egg to a drink. It might be a little dicey, but the finish it gives the drink just can’t be found another way. Just to make things better, use an egg that is a couple of days old, it will fluff up much more than one straight from the chicken.

Friday Fix from Tales – The Winter Sour

Something nice and new to try from N’Awlins. This recipe is by Chris Odeja of Varnish. It belongs to an article from Tales that you can read here, with some home truths about starting a bar. Like all of the drinks recipes, it doesn’t have a method, just a description. So again, this is how I would make it.

40 mls Campari, 20 mls lemon juice, 10 mls orange juice (both freshly squeezed) 15 mls rosemary syrup. Combine over ice in a shaker and go to work on it. Strain it up or over ice. garnish with a sprig of rosemary.

Making rosemary syrup: combine 500g sugar with 500 mls of water. hot, cold, boiled, your choice. I like to boil the water, take it off the heat and then stir in the sugar. Add plenty of fresh rosemary to the mixture and let it steep for at least an hour.

The end result should be a bitter sweet spicy symphony that warms the cockles of your heart.

Good weekend everyone.

Toko

Toko sets the bar for modern Japanese in Sydney, while its not the same as the food I’ve enjoyed in the land of the rising sun, it does a fantastic job of showcasing the fantastic seafood that is available here. 

There are no bookings taken here, apart from the large function room out the back that’s only really available to groups of 20 plus. Arrive early if you are looking to eat, especially on the weekend. The experience of being told there is a 2 hour wait isn’t perhaps the warmest way to first experience a restaurant but the fare is definitely worth the wait.

Toko, despite high prices seems completely unaffected by the recession, so expect a crowd to go with that wait.

All of this apparent negativity is tempered by the cocktails on offer. There is a plethora of handcrafted ingredients available behind the bar, from infusions of liquor, authentic japanese ingredients and sugars, not to mention a mammoth block of double frozen ice sitting on the countertop.

Standouts for me are the Old Fashioned and the Sazerac, both great examples of modern variations on the original, they capture the essence but offer something interesting, contemporary and tasty. This one’s also a contempo classic winner:

Ume Plum Crusta

Muddled Ume plums (a salty preserved Tokyo treat) with Hennessy VSOP, plum sake and lemon juice, served with a citrus sugar rim.

 

The longer drinks are great too, especially when temperatures in Sydney start to climb and the out door seating area really comes into play.

Yamazaki Mule

Red grapes muddled with quince paste & ginger sugar, shaken up with Glenfiddich 15yr old, poured long with ginger beer.

Tasty!

490 crown street

surry hills
nsw australia 2010

Google map here.

T: +61 2 9357 6100

Fog Cutter Friday Fix

It’s a rainy crappy old day here in Sydney, so I’m going home to make a drink that will improve my sodden spirits and to cut through the length and breadth of another week in advertising.

The Fog Cutter is a tiki drink that’s not as sugary sweet as many in the class, but packs the punch of a zombie.

Start with a well iced shaker, add to it 45mls of Havana Club light rum, 15mls brandy, 15mls gin, 45mls orange juice, 15mls lemon juice and 15mls of orgeat. Shake the living fuck out of it.

Strain it into a tall iced glass, or better yet, a Tiki mug, float between 10 and 20 mls of Sherry on the top of the drink, garnish it with a South Seas maiden.

A couple of these and you won’t even notice the cold.