Your bartenders’ weekend begins on Sunday for many of you, and blessed be those bartenders who back it up to serve you on the Sabbath. Like the guys at Sydney bar and restaurant, Whirly Bird — every Sunday they’re doing amari, Spritzes, and their in-house vermouth at special (read: cheap) prices, and putting on a staff feed as well.
You’re going to get amari at a cool $5 a pop (yes please), and their in-house vermouths for $10, or you can take your Braulio, Averna or Montenegro and make it a Spritz for $12.
It’s just the thing for whatever ails you on a Sunday afternoon, and it’s from 4pm every Sunday at Whirly Bird, 84 Union Street, Pyrmont.
We asked bar manager Liam Doherty-Penzer to tell us more below, and you can take a look at Whirly Bird’s recipe for their Braulio Spritz here.
Why have you gone for the focus on amari? How big’s your range?
We chose to focus on amari simply as it’s something Rollo and I love to drink, especially as both of us worked with Cristiano [Beretta, former bar manager at The Rook] for some time, he showed us a love for all things bitter and Italian. After we experimented with a few Spritzes, we thought what could be better then smashing a few of these to finish out your week.
Our range at the moment isn’t the biggest but what we do have is delicious, week by week I’m looking for new products to get in and keep expanding our range.
Can you tell us a bit about what you’re doing with the in-house vermouths and why?
One of our house cocktails, the Harvest, uses a thyme-infused dry vermouth, and after infusing the first batch I thought it would make a great, simple apertif drink, so I just added some soda. Then the idea came of doing the same but with a sweet vermouth; rosemary is a herb that I love and thought would pair well to give a more herbaceous and piney flavou — add some tonic and it makes a killer vermouth and tonic. It’s pretty simple really but the final drink is something you’ve had before with a touch more complexity (and it’s too easy to drink).
What should bartenders expect when they head down for Sundays?
The idea for the Sundays was pretty much a sort of recovery session. After working hard all week, and probably having a few too many after Saturday night’s service, pop on down for a couple of fresh light drinks, cheap eats, in a nice atmosphere with some great tunes. A perfect way to end your week or have a few recovery drinks before you head out on a Sunday.
