April’s issue of Australian Bartender magazine saw a couple of bartenders submit variations on a superb ‘forgotten classic’ known as – you guessed it – The Avenue.
Recipes
Drinks
The 4bars news desk eagerly awaits each seasonal update of Der Raum’s award winning cocktail list. The latest release to pop into our inbox is their enticing new autumn menu.
What is the one beverage that sells you cases of stock over a busy weekend? You know, the one that makes the owners money, keeps suppliers on-side and furnishes thirsty punters with a cooling beverage. Some may call it the ‘vodka, lime & soda’, others – if they’re going to be tricky about it – may call it a Vodka Rickey.
This month’s ‘How To’ is inspired by the modern classic: Tommy’s Margarita. The Tommy’s Margarita is a creation by Julio Bermejo considered by many as the world’s leading Tequila aficionado and Tequila ambassador to the US. This particular Margarita is one that he started serving in the 1980’s at his father’s restaurant the legendary Tommy’s Restaurant and World’s Best Tequila Bar in San Francisco.
Before you get too excited about the racy name, keep in mind that in Edwardian England the term ‘hanky panky’ didn’t have the same libidinous connotations as it has today, but was rather used to describe black magic or an evil trick. The term comes from the Romani (Gypsy) term ‘hakk’ni panki’ meaning “the great trick” and is similarly linked to another familiar term ‘hocus pocus’.
With summer now in full swing the team here at 4bars.com.au and Bartender magazine are getting a mighty thirst on. Every month we get sent some cracking cocktail recipes and menus from all around the country, we get to sample fine potions on our travels and often drink superlative beverages compounded for the country’s top cocktail competitions.
We’re always excited to see what the guys at Der Raum are up to with their drinks. The guys are particularly excited about the new technique applied in the Velvet Fog, and promise they will be looking at further ways to develop this through the year with some more interesting stuff coming out for autumn & winter.
Sydney’s multi-award winning Zeta bar will be transformed into a 50’s-style ice cream parlour each Friday evening until the end of March, to serve their iced cocktails in cones and cups from the new Cryogenic Sorbet and Cocktail Bar.
I’ve always been a fan of a good story and of a good gin drink too. The Florodora (often spelt misspelt in bar books as the ‘Floradora’) is a great marriage of both these wonderful things and so is not to be passed up in these pages. Here’s how the story goes…
In the grand scheme of things vodka has really only graced the Western palate in more modern times. Sure the clear stuff was around, but it really wasn’t until the 1940s and ’50s that the stuff really took hold in the US. Unfortunately for vodka this late start means that there are relatively few vodka cocktails that we really deem as ‘classics’.