Billy Bob’s Ruckus Juice
60-90ml of lager
30ml lime
20ml orgeat
45ml spiced rum
Top with ginger beer
Build as you would a shandy. Garnish with a slice of lime in a schooner glass.
This one came courtesy of the lads at Mechanics Institute in Perth, and it’s a cracker of a drink for summer.
“It was kind of a pisstake at the start — it was originally called the Handy Shandy,” bar manager Dimitri Rtshiladze told us last year. “It started when this lady came in and ordered a shandy, and I hadn’t made a shandy since I worked in a pub, so we came up with a drink that was kind of a shandy and had a bit of beer in it. We’ve sold about 14,000 of them.”
Southside Fizz
30ml lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
60ml The Botanist Gin
2 sprigs of mint
Shake all ingredients and strain over ice into a highball.
Garnish with mint sprig.
Adapted from The Savoy Cocktail Book 1930
Sometimes in summer you need gin, and the old faithful standby, the Gin & Tonic, just isn’t cutting it (though do check out the Gin Tonica recipes on page 17).
Well, that’s when you should dip into the Mojito of the gin world, the Southside. Served long like this, with that whack of fresh mint — well, that’s exactly what you want: hydration plus flavour plus, of course, booze. Another, please.
Photo: Anna Kucera
40ml Seppletfield Fino Flor (Pineapple skin macerated)
35ml Rosso Antica Rosso Vermouth
Dash Orange Bitters
Stir all ingredients and strain into coupe glass.
“The drink was created by trying to make the most of the waste from producing pineapple juice,” said Dead Ringer’s Tim Philips. “After juicing pineapple we are left with the pulp and the skins of the fruit. The skin (which had residual flesh still on it), is dehydrated for six hours to get rid of excess water, then vacuum packed in the fino to limit oxidisation, for one week. The pineapple skins are then strained off, and the Pineapple Fino is re-bottled.
“The pineapple ‘jerky’ is made by blending the pulp and core of the pineapple with 100g of sugar and 2g of citric acid.
“This is spread thinly over parchment paper and dehydrated at 70 degrees for 10 hours. The finished product has the texture of jerky.”
Sherry Cobbler
120ml dry Oloroso or Amontillado sherry
15ml sugar syrup
2 or 3 slices of orange
Add ingredients to a shaker. Fill with shaved ice, shake well and pour into a fancy bar glass. Cap with a little more ice and ornament with berries in season. Imbibe through a straw.
Hey — here’s some more sherry! If you’re not familiar with this drink, then acquaint yourselves: it’s ice cold, easy on the alcohol content, and all kinds of delicious. This suggestion came courtesy of Jess Arnott, whom you may remember from such cooking programs as Masterchef and such hashtags as #masterjess.
You could use the recipe above, or you could get a little more rustic, as Arnott suggested: “take one bucket, fill with crushed ice and sherry. Drink.”
We might add “Repeat” to those instructions.
Tasting Notes
The Botanist: The Botanist Gin hails from Islay and uses 22 botanicals native to the island to augment 9 traditional botanicals like juniper and coriander seed. The end product? A distinctive and complex, floral gin.
SouthTrade
Monin Falernum: Think summer, and you might get thinking about tiki. In which case you’ll need Monin’s new Falernum. It’s a mix of spices, lime and almond, and is a staple ingredient in many tiki drinks. It’s also featured in fine classic cocktails like The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and the Corn & Oil.
Stuart Alexander