Not ones for resting on their considerable laurels, the award-winning Eau de Vie is releasing their very own brand of small batch bottled cocktails. It’s something that has been on the cards for a while, according to owner Sven Almenning.
Month: November 2013
Over 350 people gathered at Sydney’s Hugos Lounge to witness the five state finalists of Suntory’s Cocktail Connoisseur competition shake, stir and mix it up against one another. At stake was bragging rights and a once in a lifetime trip to Japan with a cool $1000 cash in spending money.
Only a few years ago the number of mezcals out in this country was minimal, and either hard to find or hard to drink (that is to say, they were craptacular). Now though there’s a verifiable monsoon of mezcal sweeping our shores with the latest addition being these mezcals from Casamexico.
We wrap some of the latest in drinks news: Playboy getting into the vodka market, a couple of new spiced spirits, a name change for Independent Distillers and getting drunk without taking a drink.
The Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Pub Guide has announced the winners in their 2014 edition. We recently highlighted just how good the Woolwich Pier Hotel’s renovations were (and how tasty the new food offering is), so its good to see those efforts being rewarded, with the hotel taking out the best pub award this year.
Campari Australia have welcomed premium English gin, Bulldog Gin, into their stable of brands. The agreement to distribute the super premium London dry style gin took effect on the 1st of November.
Not only has Hello Sailor been one of the more talked about Sydney bar openings of this year, it’s also lent its name to a verb (one that shouldn’t need much in the way of explanation). Indeed, thanks to Marco Faraone, Luke Redington and Mike Edkins it is now possible to go and get “sailor’d”.
There was a time when the mark of a cocktail bar was the line of fluro-coloured liqueur bottles sitting on the back bar. You can scoff, nowadays with your amari and small batch organic moonshine, but they’re there in old photos of the Bayswater Brasserie and in top bars around the country. It was a thing, man.
With all the talk about mezcals these days, could it be that tequila has become mainstream? Has the zeitgeist moved on? Has tequila sold out?
We gathered together a panel of five bartenders to plough through a tasting of six tequilas to find out.
We’ve tracked the growth of tapas bars that do real, proper pintxos across a few states now, and Perth is getting in on the act with its first proper taste of the San Sebastian specialty, with Wolf Lane’s Bar de Halcyon.
Think Spirits has had a cracking year in 2013, and they’re not done just yet. They’ve announced that they are taking on board the popular Evan Williams range of bourbons.
One of the most respected authorities on Irish whiskey worldwide and a craftsman in the purist form of the word, we sit down with Midleton Distillery’s Master Cooper, Ger Buckley, to discuss his deep-seated appreciation of wood, whiskey, and a job well done.