Most bartenders are well acquainted with 5am, though it’s not often when the snooze button gets slammed. More often it’s tequila (or whiskey) getting slammed and kick-ons begin. If I’m kicking anything on at 5am, it’s the shower because I’m too hungover, too tired or god forbid.. it’s still dark.
Explainer
The corner stone of any great bar is the bar team, the atmosphere, a rotovap and of course, the toilets. Your porcelain palace is just as important as what you pour, writes Charlie Lehmann.
‘Sweet, floral, grassy and pungent.’ Everything you need to know about using pandan in drinks and why you’re seeing it more than ever right now.
Here, Nguyen-Luu explains the why and the how of rotovap drinks and steps us through the process behind their pickled onion distillate, which they use in one of the best Martini variations we’ve tasted, the Clarence House Gibson. If onions are your thing, give their spec a go.
We’ve shared some of Australia’s best gin bars’ tips for making the perfect Gin & Tonic, but how much do you know about tonic water history? Tonic water — and quinine in particular — has saved countless lives.
“The question is, why does your bar need to exist? Why does the culture need you?” Brands are everywhere in the world today. We wanted to know what steps you need to take to build your bar’s identity, and so we gathered experts in social media, design, brand strategy and hospitality to explore the topic.
Vodka, poor, super-premium vodka. In a world where smokey, funky, estery mezcals are highly…
The Global Drinks Forum was held the day before Bar Convent Berlin began, and it gathered a few dozen drinks industry heavyweights (and us) to discuss marketing, strategy, and insights for the global drinks business. It’s the kind of thing we’d usually move away from very quickly in the opposite direction, too afraid of a torrent of ‘touchpoints’. But this one, well, it was different. We wanted to work out just what we could take from it that would be of use to bartenders and bar owners.
How does a bar make the World’s 50 Best Bars list? What makes a bar a world-beater? During Sydney Bar Week, this was the topic up for discussion at the Business of Bars Conference at The Whisky Room at The Clock Hotel. On the panel were some heavy hitters: Luke Whearty, from Operation Dagger, Chris Hysted-Adams from Black Pearl, Jason Williams from Proof & Company and 28 Hong Kong Street, and Jason Scott from Swillhouse — all of whom are from bars on the World’s 50 Best list — along with award-winners Mike Enright from The Barber Shop, Jeremy Shipley from Solotel, and Hayley Morison from Beam-Suntory.
It helps to understand just how this great agave stuff makes its way into the bottle. Here, seven steps to great tequila.
‘They put them in galvanised iron huts as cold as an ice chest in winter.’ The little-known story behind Australia’s sugar trade.
Finding the right location is arguably the single most important thing to consider when you are opening a new venue. The following musings are some of what I’ve learned along the way, as well as my thoughts on different types of locations and the benefits and drawbacks of each.