Watch the trailer for the doco, Hey Bartender, being released throughout the States and to iTunes (our fingers are crossed for Aussie distribution). The movie follows the fortunes of two bartenders — one of them at New York bar Employees Only — and features the biggest names in US bartendeing. Bartenders like Dale DeGroff, Jim Meehan (PDT), Julie Reiner (Flatiron Lounge), Sasha Petraske (Milk & Honey), Dushan Zaric (Employees Only), Simon Ford (86 Company) all make appearances in the film. And there’s more gold to be found at the facebook page.
Video
Video
Richard Boccato is at the centre of all things tiki in New York. He started his bar career manning the door at Little Branch before getting behind the bar, ending up at Milk & Honey. He then went on to open Dutch Kills and then tiki bar PKNY (originally called Painkiller). His talent with tiki caught the eye of Damian Griffiths, who brought Boccato out to Brisbane to help launch the tiki bar at Alfred & Constance, White Lightning. They’ve put a new cocktail list out recently, with Boccato visiting to implement it, and we asked him to walk us through the 1934 Zombie he’s put on the list.
Who knew Google was so enthused about cocktail book archaeology? Last week they had Jim Meehan, owner of NYC’s PDT and author of his very own cocktail book, pop in to their offices to give a Google Talk. Meehan broke out the mezcal, making everyone a cocktail before launching in to a 45 minute talk that traced the history of cocktail books with a look towards their future.
Reading through the pages of most cocktail books written before the second world war can get to be a pretty dull read pretty quickly — particularly if there isn’t a well-stocked bar at one’s disposal or the hour is unsociably early. Yet Charles H. Baker Jr’s prose stands apart from the pack.
It’s a drink that takes a long time to make, so we thought we enlist a bartender who’s been around a long time too. Veteran bartender Cristiano Beretta (The Rook, Sydney) has made his fair share of Ramos Gin Fizzes through the years, so press play below and pay attention…
Take a squiz at the video below from Australian Bartender Advisory Panel member and all-round Tequila guru Phil Bayly. You’ll see a younger Bayly, Tom Estes, Angus Winchester, and Dre Masso step behind the bar at the legendary La Capilla, on Julio Bermejo’s first Writer’s Tour of Tequila in 2004.
We stopped by new Sydney bar, Bulletin Place, to catch up with bartender and co-owner Tim Philips — whom you may have heard of — and asked him about what makes a good cocktail list.