Month: April 2012

Salt to Season Chinatown Nightlife

Maz Salt, Director of Melbourne’s Office of Public Works (behind Section 8, Baba and Southpaw) has unveiled plans for a new cocktail bar that should be serving up well-chilled drinks by the time this magazine arrives in your lap.

Ferdydurke, as the venue will be named, is located directly next to Section 8 on Tattersalls lane in Chinatown. At present Salt isn’t giving away a lot about his new venture though he is letting us know it will be an artistic driven venue

Classic: The Caipiriñha

Many will insist a proper Caipiriñha should be made with limao casca fina, limon de pica, or what you’d probably better know as Mexican or key lime. This type of lime – endemic in the Americas – is touted to be smaller and more fragrant than the Tahitian lime found in Australia, but once doused in a couple of ounces of Cachaça it’s unlikely anyone will be the wiser for your substitution.

Bar Profile – EDV, Melbourne

From the outset the Almenning’s vision for the Eau de Vie brand was to be more about making a statement and less about ‘being a business’, according to Sanderson. “Eau-de-Vie was all about creating a venue where people walk away talking about the amazing drinking experiences they had rather than about the music, the crowd or the design.”

Drinks With: Sean Muldoon

Working his way from Northern Ireland’s mean streets to operate one of the most awarded Hotels doing the rounds, Sean Muldoon has never shied away from adversity. After years of working for the ‘man’ Sean is set to launch The Dead Rabbit Community Tavern in New York City – the final realisation of his dream to own and operate his own venue. Head to 4bars.com.au to read the full, unedited interview and check out his new venue at thedeadrabbittavern.com

Spey River & Glen Moray malts

NILWA has a couple of Spey malts that are at opposite ends of the ageing spectrum, and they’re both a ready addition to a cocktail.

The Bottom End

“Where at the bottom end of Melbourne’s CBD,” says Creative Director Michael Delaney Korabelnikova. Licensed for 1500 patrons, 365 days of the year and 24 hours a day, this is certainly one of the most ambitious venues that Melbourne has welcomed to the market in recent times.

The venue bring with it a number of different levels, and styles, with the street level acting as a pub, diner and disco and the other levels, well perhaps Delaney should explain. “On the middle level of the building we run SURVIVOR! a Saturday night mega rave dance party club. On the floor above that we run POOF DOOF, a Saturday night gay club for homos.” Thanks for clearing that up.

Masterclass – Cider Rules

It’s no secret that at present the cider market is experiencing the giddy heights of popularity, but just how giddy? Well take a look at some of these numbers courtesy of the 2011 Nielsen Cider Report: national cider sales increased 34.7% in value terms and 23.2% in volume terms over in 12 months, this was set against an annual decrease of 0.5% that the liquor market is experiencing. The cider category on a whole is also growing rapidly, with some 45+ new cider brands emerging into the Australian market over the last 12-14 months.

Introducing – Fraser Campbell

Fraser Campbell can be found tending bar at the Fitzroy hanut, The Alchemist. If he’s not there he might be refining his bottle opening technique, watching The Lost Boys or reading tips for the modern man in Man Up: Skills for the Modern Guy. If you catch him on his break, he’ll appreciate a pint of Negroni. If you get the chance too, then check out The Alchemist’s sweet website, it’s certainly worth a look.

Iron Bartender IV

Iron Bartender is back – and this time two of Melbourne’s top barkeeps will trade blows for the ultimate bragging rights

The Hotel Georgia

The dry shake – shaking a cocktail containing egg white without ice in order to properly emulsify the ingredients before adding ice and re-shaking – makes complete scientific sense, and any cook or chef worth his or her salt understands this. But very few bartenders understood this at the beginning of this century, and when Solomon brought this piece of methodology to my attention, I started to realise that the game was changing.

Parched March 2012 raises $20,000

This time round $20,000 was raised for the Animal Welfare League (NSW) and Parched March founder, Amy Cooper, was thrilled at the outcome.”We’re thrilled to have doubled last year’s total,” Cooper said. “The support and enthusiasm we had from our participating bars this year was unprecedented. They created amazing drinks, put on exciting events and threw themselves into raising money for a very grateful Animal Welfare League NSW.”

Philip Duff – Livin’ On The Edge

A problem I’ve seen lately is that such brands are already anticipating being bought by big firms and have an only slightly daring take on things. They are like secretaries ordering Cosmopolitans instead of Fuzzy Navels and thinking themselves cutting-edge fashionistas. I recently evaluated a new whiskey brand for a potential client. It had an attractive, colourful, different appearance and layers upon layers of detail, but not one thing stood out.