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It might be a dreary, wintery Tuesday, but there’s nothing like a little competitive cooking show fun to brighten your day.
Leeroy “just like Tom Cruise in the movie Cocktail” Petersen and Barry “round of applause for the beard” Chalmers square off in the bloodsport that is Ready Steady Cook.
Bondi locals will have one more reason to stay put with the opening of new bar and restaurant Neighbourhood, by a collective that features Eddie de Souza, Joshua Evans, Stuart Morrow, Anthony Hughes and Keith Hodgson, along with former Bartender drinks editor, Simon McGoram.
It’s a tough time for journalists — the old media world is in tumult, print mastheads that have for many decades made the news have now become the news themselves. They could do with a drink, and this one has their name all over it.
Recently one of the big banks ran an advertising campaign praising the honesty of average Australians. A characteristic I’ve observed myself. Handing in a wallet, returning a lost pet, pointing out being undercharged for an item of clothing—most people (in my experience) do the right thing when given the opportunity. However, I’d dearly like to know why some otherwise upstanding, law-abiding members of the community dispense with all propriety while in bars and restaurants.
He left our shores to test his skills in the wide world and has landed firmly on his feet in London with a rold of Group Bars Manager at Hix Restaurants. Bartender Magazine had a bit of a chat with Lee to see what he’s been up to…
Bartenders, prepare to be put on notice. We have seen the future, and there’s no place for your rubbish chat and drink-guzzling, drink-slinging inefficiency. There’s no place for a heavy pour of free drinks with that pretty girl you want to get off with.
If you’ve been to Balmain recently, you’ll know that the blue collar crowd that once filled the terraced streets is merely a memory. This ritzy postcode with its sweeping city views is more ristretto than Nescafe but some of the vestiges of its proud working class roots are still on show. Mostly with its historic pubs (of which there are many!) and now, thanks to the Riversdale Group (the fellas behind Lo-Fi in Darlinghurst and more recently The Marlborough in Newtown), with a small bar called The Workers on Darling Street.
In our June issue, publisher Dave Spanton took a trip through Oaxaca as part of his agave spirit tour with the incomparable Phil Bayly and Tomas Estes. Oaxaca obviously is all about the mezcal, and we checked out just what it is that makes mezcal the elemental spirit that it is. See below for a guide on identifying traditional, artisanal mezcal.
Nowadays, when a bartender is throwing Scotch into their mixing glass, they’re most likely reaching for a blended whisky. That’s what we think of when we read “Scotch whisky” in a cocktail book, right? We think of consistent, all-rounder blends.
But in the days of Harry Johnson and Jerry Thomas, the Scotch they would have reached for most likely would have been a single malt.
The highly regarded tequila from La Fortaleza distillery have finally made their way to Australian shores, with Vanguard Luxury Brands adding the traditionally made, 100% agave tequilas to their portfolio in two weeks time.
It feels as those every other week we’re writing about a new bar opening up in the heart of Sydney’s CBD. The latest bar to hit the CBD — The Lobo Plantation —promises plenty of good eats and most importantly, rum.
“Julius Lobo was a sugar baron who owned about 17 or 19 sugar mills in Cuba in the early 1900s,” said Jared Merlino (ex-Ivy Pool Club), one of the owners of the new venture. “So he sort of defined that era in Cuba when Americans were coming down during Prohibition. Then it came to an end when the revolution came through and kicked him off the island,” he said.
Irish Whiskey or Scotch Whiskey? We hear the compelling arguments from both sides…