here’s few bar managers out there that can match the esteem that The Rook’s bar…
Tag: Keystone
You’ve read the Vodka Martini story — now watch The Keystone Group’s Jamie Walker show…
Sydney hospitality group, Keystone, is acquiring the restaurant group that owns the Jamie’s Italian franchises…
The Rook’s latest recruit, Izzy Comber, talks to us about her favourite cocktail, her favourite…
People always ask me how it is I came to be a sommelier. It’s not…
You may know him as the man behind Melbourne’s Agave Cartel. Alternatively you may recognise him by his collection of flower shirts (and his detailed knowledge of the origins of the different patterns on said shirts). Then again, you might recognise him from one of the dozens of bars he has graced over the years in his quest for knowledge and a great time. He also plays a mean honkytonk piano.
Looking for a bar? Well, don’t bother looking for the sign above a big, bold entry right on a main road. No siree, from what I can gather, those days are long gone. Bars in 2013 are secreted down laneways, up elevators, round corners, behind restaurants, or in basements. Sometimes you need a secret password.
As Parched March 2013 heads into its third week, the good times are rolling and the Parched March cocktails are flowing at the unique Sydney charity bar odyssey’s 76 participating bars.
With Sydney’s CBD basements slowly fllling up it was only a matter of time before bar owners started to look up, as the team at Keystone have now done. “It’s called the Rook,” said group director Paul Schulte, “it means a playful bird that hangs out up high.”
Is the era of the big ‘group’ in Sydney coming to an end? Or is the landscape just changing for the better?
Keystone’s new direction is set to get a nice splash of sun in the near future with John Duncan and Paul Schulte (pictured r-l) confirming that the Sugarmill will soon launch its much anticipated rooftop bar. “We’re looking to have it open in July,”
There’s no doubting that Sam Ross is ours, however for the better part of a decade he has been holding court at Milk & Honey, New York. In 2011 he took out the American Bartender of the Year award at Tales of the Cocktail and in December he popped his head up downunder to host a couple of seminars revealing a few tricks and insights to the NY bar scene. As they say in show biz….take it away Sam.