Last Thursday – World Cocktail Day – saw crowds pile in to George Street’s Ivy to watch the Magnificent 7 Final Shootout and celebrate the anniversary of the cocktail.
After a full day of grueling competition – following a year long program – Sydney’s Luke Redington, from Eau-De-Vie, took out the top honours after an entertaining performance in front of the large consumer crowd.
Thursday May 6 officially marks the beginning of World Cocktail Week – the week in which the cocktail loving world will celebrate the 204th anniversary of our favourite drink category being defined in print.
There’s just a week left of our 30 Bars in 30 Days odyssey, and as the journey approaches its end, I’m thinking our final lists will be as much about the bars we didn’t visit as the ones we managed to reach. 30 is a fraction of the bars this city has to offer, and as we hit the home straight, we keep hearing of new places popping up, exciting developments at old favourites and enough bar action to keep us going – well, all the way through to next March.
One of the aspects of Sydney bar culture that we should really be celebrating is its growing diversity. Many attribute this to legislative changes like the new ‘small bar license’ and ‘Primary Service Authorities’. Personally I’d like to think that Sydney’s (and indeed Australia’s) drinkers are reaching a new stage of enlightenment. Drinkers are driving change by demanding a new breed of bar.
After the success of the Behind Bars Trivia in 2008, you’ll be pleased to hear that it’s making a return in 2010 – bigger, badder and better than ever! In conjunction with Diageo’s Alchemy, trivia heats will be hosted around the country, culminating with a final in September in Sydney during Sydney BarShow Week.
Well it’s here and it’s making waves: Eau-De-Vie, the bar by the dynamic duo Sven and Amber Almenning, has already been subject to rave consumer reviews – and you thought it would just be an industry bar!