Month: January 2012

Editor’s Page – Hurricane Hater

What is it about Hurricane glasses I hate so much? Is it the fact that they scream my cocktail list is stuck in the 80s? Or maybe the bartender loved it so much they stole it from the Tropicana bar at Hamilton Island? Either way, I can’t tell you how much I cringe at the sight of this glassware.

I have visited enough cocktail bars and judged enough cocktail competitions over the past decade to know that if you fancy this 15 ounce mountain of glass that customers have to stand on their stool to take a sip from, then your drinks list is a concern.

G’Vine Gin Connoisseur 2012

G’Vine Gin de France has recently announced the launch of the G’Vine Gin Connoisseur 2012. What is it? A global quest for the world’s best gin bartender.

In 2010 Martin Lange (Sling Lounge) made it to the global final, however 2011 saw a lack of Australian ‘tenders promoting their botanicals and it was enough to get Philip Duff seriously concerned.

The Negroni.

Negroni

A local Count, Camillo Negroni was known for frequenting Florentine bars and his favoured tipple…

Drinks With…Sasha Petraske

This month we take a little time out with one of the cocktail industry’s iconic operators, Mr Sasha Petraske. In 2000 Petraske opened Milk & Honey (New York) in what he says was a response to the decline in the city’s bar culture. Six years later he was named in the New York magazine as one of the city’s most influential people – high praise when you consider that Hillary Clinton (the current US Secretary of State) has also made the list.

Threefold Foodstore & Eatery

Threefold is a newly opened bar that’s combining a few elements in order to bring out its best. Operating as a food shop, café and bar that serves through breakfast to lunch Monday to Friday, it also operates as a bar that serves dinner and snacks on Thursday and Friday evenings.

The Mediterranean styled food is enough to tempt you in while the sun is high, and then come back for the night time offerings which includes sommelier Jane Thornton’s wine list of 15 by the glass options. The head chef, Stephen Black, striving to capture

Jameson Gold Reserve

Recently introduced to Australia, Jameson Gold Reserve is a whiskey of exceptional harmony, notable for its delicate balance and gentility.

Diligently fashioned from a blend of three pot still whiskeys and matured in sherry casks and American virgin oak, Jameson Gold Reserve showcases exceptional maturation techniques that give it a more complex taste.

Bar Ampère

Danger. Madness. Vernon Chalker’s newest Melbourne destination – Bar Ampere – is finally up and running. It’s been a while in the making, but good things come to those that…you know the word. Bar Ampere, which stands above an antiquated electrical substation, serves as a monument to the French physicist Andre-Marie Ampere.

Bar Ampere is Chalker’s realisation of a futurist dream and in testament to his vision the staff reject all traditional notions of consumption. Splayds (those things that look like a fork, knife and spoon in one) are the tool of choice for diners – a move which Chalker says ‘allows guests one hand free to engage in more animated table talk’.

Classic Cocktail – La Batanga

This Classic featured in the January issue of Australian Bartender magazine By Simon McGoram Photography…

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Not so Shady. The Baxter Inn opens its doors.

When the opening of a new bar makes it into the News pages of Bartender, it’s got to be something pretty special. Back in mid-2011 we showed off Anton Forte and Jason Scott in the midst of renovating their basement site, and now months later we’re back and The Baxter Inn is humming.

It’s a trifle hard to find, and that’s the point, but if you don’t mind walking past bins and down alleys and fire escapes then you’re in for a treat as this gem of a venue. The old unused basement is replete with Romanesque-aqueduct style brick arches, vintage memorabilia and a dark hardwood bar that runs the length of the venue.

Introducing – Finbarr Shaw

Finnbarr might have ended up behind a bar but before he turned to the art of drinks mixing he was on track for the a more divine calling. Now with six years of ‘tending under his belt the and currently holding court at The Crimean in Melbourne he could be found tucking into on of his favourite porters or drinking almost unpronounceable eastern European elixirs on his nights away from the bar.

Pub duo to fire up the pizza oven!

Well known Sydney pub operators Jaime Wirth and James Miller are set to re-launch the iconic Forresters Hotel, once ‘home of the cheap steak’. With a host of successful venues already running (Norfolk, Flinders, Carrington, Abercrombie and Duke) their latest launch is set for mid-February and will showcase their love of simple, good quality and inexpensive Italian fare. “We’ll be offering pizzas, pastas and a rotisserie what will be different each day,” said Wirth.

On top of the Italian styled foods, the bar will be serving up an Italiano inspired cocktail list with Luke Ashton (Duke) preparing the offering. Miller explained that they’ve covered a range of different food styles with their current venues and that they see a good Italian offering at a pub as something that is missing from the area. Forresters is their biggest hotel yet; equal to both the Norfolk and the Carrington in capacity.

Absolut Elyx

Absolut has launched Absolut Elyx – a vodka of real substance that honours the roots of Swedish spirit-making tradition. Manually distilled in a copper column still from 1929, Elyx is made from a single harvest of Swedish winter wheat and the resulting spirit has a natural pure taste and unique silky texture.

There are subtle, floral and fruity tones on the nose and the palate is fresh, pure and invigorating with a silky texture, a long-lasting smooth finish, and a subtle spiciness.