Presented by Gio Sorrentino (@sorrentino.gioacchino) Bar Manager at Piccolo Bar @piccolobarkingscross (who also makes appearances at sister bar Vermuteria).

Shot on location at Vermuteria, 60 Kings Cross Road, Kings Cross @vermuteriasydney 

Photography & video by Christopher Pearce @christophernpearce

When it comes to the history of a cocktail, we often look to drinks historian David Wondrich for the origin story. When it comes to the Sherry Cobbler he suggests it originated sometime around the 1830s in the US, during a time when the only other refreshing cocktail on the market was a Julep.

What could be more refreshing than a big slug of sherry (which packs less of a punch than Bourbon), a bit of sweetness and some orange juice? This combo took off, partly attributed to the obsession with ice at the time, which had just become readily available and highly prized. It’s been suggested that the name ‘cobbler’ may even come from the ‘cobbles’ of ice in the drink.

This three-ingredient cocktail is also a perfect palate for adaptation. You could opt for a nutty amontillado style sherry or a spicy oloroso. You could also switch your citrus or opt for a flavoured sugar syrup. The possibilities are endless.

This three-ingredient cocktail is also a perfect palate for adaptation. You could opt for a nutty amontillado style sherry or a spicy oloroso. You could also switch your citrus or opt for a flavoured sugar syrup. The possibilities are endless.

The Vermuteria Sherry Cobbler
90ml Oloroso Sherry
15ml Sugar Syrup
3 orange slices
Garnish with olive & orange on a skewer

Pop into Vermuteria and try one of the classic cocktails spiked with sherry, like the Jerez Espresso Martini or the House Tommy’s. 60 Kings Cross Road, Kings Cross.

How to reinvent a bar – it’s more challenging than starting from scratch!

Story by James Bradey
Photography by Dominic Loneragan

For the past couple years both myself and my business partner Waz have been grappling with the idea of revamping our Surry Hills bar, The Wild Rover. After what is now ten years of drunken debauchery, tens of thousands of sausage rolls and countless whisky tastings, the venue needed some love. Combined with how the area has evolved and generally “smartened” up, with the additions of Poly, Pelligrino 2000, Firedoor and Nomad’s new digs, it was time for us to step up our game. I mean, women don’t even throw their bras across the bar at Big Griz at Tio’s anymore!!!

I’m no longer the same as I was ten years ago. What I look for has evolved and some would even say I’ve grown up. So, am I still the right person to be making decisions on what should change?

But how do you determine if Liquid & Larder’s second venue needs to change at all? Any business, let alone a bar, that has lasted through these last ten years in Sydney must be doing something right. How do you determine what needs to stay and what needs to change in order to last another ten years?

I’m no longer the same as I was ten years ago. What I look for has evolved and some would even say I’ve grown up. So, am I still the right person to be making decisions on what should change?

It’s been several years since I made drinks with any great consistency. The last time I did, I kept reaching for the clear bottle, bottom right of the speed rail… looking for sugar syrup and wondering why my drinks kept tasting more boozy? (I think it was a pre-made tequila something!).

It’s these questions that have caused us anxiety; indecision that what we are doing is correct and casting doubt over our ambitions. We are not the first people to redo a venue, and most certainly won’t be the last, but we have found this process extremely challenging.

So how did we go about determining what would make the Rover a success for the next ten years?

To start with we looked at who we are and what we stand for. What is it that the people coming to the area want most and why do our guests visit us and not one of the dozens of decent venues around?

Our answer was that we are a bloody good neighbourhood venue. The Rover is somewhere people always feel welcome from the moment that big green door is opened.

The “Rover roar” beckons you in, the team inside offers genuinely friendly service and it’s an overall experience which matches expectations by simply being hospitable. The jovial spirit of the venue must stay!

Then we determined how we could lift the venue up, adding layers of sophistication without alienating those who have loved the Rover over the years. We’ve added warmth, polish in a number of ways:

Product offering: We’ve increased and improved the food from simple bar food to a seafood-driven menu. I’m sure there are a number of people reading this (hopefully) who have spent time in New York at venues like Maison Premiere, Ten Bells and Pearl, to name a few. These venues have such a vibe. On the drinks front, we kept the whisky focus but Alex Gondzioulis added his craftsmanship to the cocktail list, creating drinks with finesse. Kyle Poole (Liquid & Larder’s Group Sommelier) has elevated the wine offering, putting forward a really punchy, fifty strong list of biodynamic & organic wines to complement the food.

Fit out: Nicer table tops, carpeted floors and a new back bar have been installed, but the main changes happened out front. Our hidden from plain sight entrance is no longer; our windows are now opened up so natural light now spills in. We figured the speakeasy style entrance had run its course and if people hadn’t found us by now they were not going to. Layers of polish have been added to create an environment which lends itself to indulging in the new seafood-led offering. Nobody wants to eat a dozen Moonlight Flats Oysters while slugging down a bottle of Larmandier Blanc de Blancs in a sweaty bar while the bartender is romping around with his shirt off!

Service: This element has been the key to bringing to life the new incarnation of our neighbourhood boozer. We’ll still be offering genuine hospitality but we’ve upskilled the team so they have the confidence to better recommend the expanded offering and feel comfortable working with food and wine. We have never hired product focus people. The Liquid & Larder culture is built on empowering our people to be themselves and let their personality shine. In return, they enhance the guest experience.

Next we argued, and argued, and argued, over what the redo would cost. We took so long arguing that Covid happened and the cost of the fit-out doubled. So, my advice here is just fuckin pull your finger out and act. Don’t be rash, do your due diligence and implement well thought out planning. Consider how you spend your money and what will bring value to your business… then act as soon as possible because shit will only get more expensive!

Finally, surround yourself with the best possible personnel. It’s no secret hiring staff has been difficult the past couple years but we have been incredibly fortunate to keep so many who have been with us for years. Coupled with some amazing new additions, we feel very lucky. We have also grown and evolved and have come to understand we can no longer do it all ourselves. We have a better understanding of our strengths and more importantly, our weaknesses. That’s why for any new or redo job, getting a team of designers, branding and PR, builders and craftsmen early in the process is key.

Therefore, thank you to our guys on the ground from Kim and Dean, Luis and Lukey, Pip, Gonz, new kids on the team Kyle and Oxy to TMH Designs (@tommarkhenry_), Squad Ink (@squadinkstudio), Example (@weareexample) and Green Anvil (@greenanvilco). If it was left to Waz and I, the new Rover would never have happened.

All that’s left now is for you to come in… and let me know if we got it right!

The Rover
75 Campbell Street, Surry Hills
liquidandlarder.com.au/the-rover

Photography & Video by Christopher Pearce

Cocktails presented by Pablo Moore Rubio from Grain, Sydney in association with Tried & True Vodka

This month we headed to Grain bar, on the ground floor of the Four Seasons Hotel to check out three of their banger cocktails that use Tried & True Straight Wheat Vodka. Big thanks to Adam Lau, Pablo Moore Rubio and the team from Grain for pulling this awesome shoot together.

Patchwork Mule
45ml Tried & True Vodka
20ml nine spice ginger apple syrup
20ml lemon juice
10ml Yellow Chartreuse
Top up with PS Soda Blackstrap Ginger Beer
Garnish with dehydrated apple and candied lemon peels

How to... Prep time

Step 1: Add the Tried & True Vodka
Step 2: Add the house-made nine spice ginger apple syrup
Step 3: Add the lemon juice
Step 4: Add the Chartreuse
Step 5: Shake
Step 6: Strain into a julep mug
Step 7: Top with PS Soda Blackstrap Ginger Beer
Step 8: Garnish with dehydrated apple and candied lemon
Step 9: Voila!

Tried & True Straight Wheat Vodka is a finely made, authentic neutral vodka that craft barfolk can rely on. Distilled in a stainless five-column process, exclusively from soft winter wheat grown and milled in Picardie, France. A neutral spirit, distilled from soft winter wheat grown and milled in Picardie, France. Proofed down to a cocktail appropriate 44% ABV. The result is a clean profile with no adulterants – no sugar, citric acid or glycerine – to create a liquid with intrinsic quality. Contact your Proof & Company rep to stock it in your bar.

A couple of other recipes…

Grain’s Bloody Mary
30ml Tried & True Vodka
120ml Grain Bloody Mary Mix*
Throw and strain into a hi-ball glass. 
Garnish with rosemary sprig and a flamed lemon
*A proprietary combination of tomato juice, 
celery juice, carrot juice, lemon juice, port wine, 
horseradish, olive brine, Worcestershire Sauce, 
habanero, Angostura Bitters, salt & pepper



Vesper
45ml Widges Gin
15ml Tried & True Vodka
15ml Mancino Bianco Vermouth
2 dashes of orange bitters
Stirred and strained into a Nick & Nora. 
Garnish with a lemon peel

For more information about Tried & True Vodka, contact your Proof & Company rep.

One of the simplest ways to create new drinks is to take a classic formulation, and give it a little tweak.

It might involve a slight change to the way the drink is served — say, let’s put that drink up rather than on the rocks? Or it might be as simple as switching in one ingredient for another — the Mr Potato Head theory of mixing drinks.

Take the Daiquiri, for instance. It is one of the great drinks, one of those three-ingredient wonders and a great test of a bartender’s skills (there’s a reason why it returns to speed round of the Bartender of the Year competition each year).

But add a little something different to the Daiquiri — in this case, the elderflower goodness of St~Germain for a floral variation on the classic — and you have yourself an entirely new take on the drink.

 
It’s not like this is a new idea; bartenders have been switching in a little something-something since the profession’s earliest days. A great example of that? The Manhattan, which is pretty much a Martini with the gin subbed out for whiskey (and you can add a little dash of St~Germain to the Martini for their Olivette).

The same goes for the Negroni. Sub out the gin for bourbon, and you have Harry MacElhone’s Boulevardier from 1927. MacElhone knew a thing or two about Mr Potato Head, too — he’d apply that theory again when devising the Old Pal, in which he replaced the bourbon with rye and the sweet vermouth with dry. 

World Gin Day approaches, people, so put out your juniper, prepare a liquid lunch and raise a glass (or three, or four should you wish). The date is Saturday the 8th of June, though, and most of you will be tending bar that night. So perhaps you’d best limit your celebratory drinks to one (okay, two).

And when it comes to choosing that particular drink, if you want one gin drink that fills the brief, well — is there anything finer than a Martini? Which other drink can – to quote the New York Times’ Frank Bruni – “blunt the day and polish the night,” so well?

Sure, a Gin & Tonic in the afternoon or a Southside can be refreshing and if you’re feeling like a Daiquiri and there’s only gin at hand, well, that’s a good time too. But a dry Martini, served cold — bracingly so — it does tick the boxes.

People will disagree with its place in the armoury of ardent cocktails, some will say that the only Martini that ought to be drunk will made on sweet vermouth. But for this job, to celebrate and to get in a certain mood? Writer Sir Kingsley Amis once described the Martini as “the most famous and the best cocktail in the world.” Being the prodigious boozer — and lover of whisky — that he was, he should know.

But should you be on shift on World Gin Day, you shan’t wish to overdo it — as Amis knew well. “I personally find that after half a dozen large Dry Martinis and a proper lunch my customary skill with the commas and semicolons becomes a little eroded,” he wrote.

Nor we would we want your customary skill with the tins and jiggers to desert you.

What’s in the drink?

Hendrick’s Orbium
Unsurprisingly, this release from Hendrick’s is a little unusual. It’s a gin, yes, but one that is ‘quininated’, and includes extracts of quinine, wormwood, and blue lotus blossom.
William Grant & Sons

Notes on ingredients

• Orbium is a reimagining of Hendrick’s Gin by Master Distiller, Lesley Gracie.
• Instilled with additional extracts of quinine, wormwood and blue lotus blossom, the result is an oddly exquisite gin that is round on the palate.
• Orbium derives from the word ‘orb’, the plural of Orbis and the Latin for circle. It is inspired by Gracie’s description of the spherical round taste that she sees as the Hendrick’s house style.

If you have even a passing interest in health and eating well, you would know that there’s a vogue right now for all things microbes and gut flora and microbiome.

We don’t pretend to know what that is all about with any level of expertise — they’re not really traditional bartending words after all — but we can say that it has something to do with bacteria.

Bacteria get a bad rap. So does yeast (no-one wants to hear the words yeast and infection sitting alongside one another, and less so in a bar). And sure, bad bacteria can kill you. (Okay so perhaps the rap is deserved). But there’s a whole host of bacteria which doesn’t kill you. Some of them are very good for you. According to Sandor Ellix Katz’s book, The Art Of Fermentation, there’s something in the order of 100 trillion bacteria in our human bodies, outnumbering our own cells by 10 to 1. Bacteria are such an essential part of who we are as humans that some geneticists, according to Katz, argue that humans are a composite of many species.

Thankfully some bacteria make things that are delicious— they’re a large part of a couple recipes we have here. And yeast, well, without yeast they’re ain’t alcohol, so you can thank yeast for your employment.

For this month’s How To, we spoke to Evan Stroeve, the bar manager at the much-lauded Bulletin Place in Sydney. Stroeve has been playing around with different fermented drinks for a while now, since his days at Shady Pines Saloon.

“I started doing it for commercial consumption about 18 months ago, and it started as kind of educating yourself and wanting to learn — that’s what it was born from,” says Stroeve. “And now it’s got to the point I feel pretty comfortable teaching other people about it.”

The basic stuff

First up, when you’re dealing with microbial organisms you’ll need to be clean — very clean. You are, after all, creating an environment where yeasts and bacteria, both good and bad, want to live, and it’s only the good stuff that you’re after. What you need is a sterile environment, some knowledge, and a willingness to learn and be patient. Says Stroeve: “The best example of that window of opportunity and that potential for infection is an analogy that you are the bouncer to a club, right? And you’ve got all these customers trying to get in — some of them are going to be lovely, they’re going to have a great time, they’re not going to overdo it. And you’ve got a bunch of people who are going to overdo it, they’re going to get pissed and cause problems. It’s those bad people who are the bad bacteria, and those good people who are the beneficial bacteria. So your role as the person who ferments things is to allow those people in and reject those other people.”

Buy yourself The Noma Guide To Fermentaton book — which Kurtis Bosley has written about before here — and Katz’s The Art Of Fermentation, as a handy reference to get started — this story is just to get you acquainted with the ideas.

Whatever you do, don’t foist your experiments on your guests until you know they’re up to scratch.

Kombucha

Kombucha — it’s very popular in Bondi and Byron Bay, right? But just what is kombucha?

We’ll ask Stroeve to explain. “It’s a combination of tea, and something called a SCOBY — symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast,” he says. “So rather than just straight yeast consuming sugar and creating alcohol, you’ve got the yeast doing that and vingear bacteria, acetic acid bacteria, consuming the alcohol and turning it into vinegar.”

For kombucha, the mother (or SCOBY) grows on top of the liquid where it interacts with oxygen, so a wide-mouthed vessel is best to use. To get the mother happening, you can buy commerically made kombucha with a live mother in it (get one that is unflavoured), pour it into a wide jar and cover with a cloth. Your mother should begin to grow a skin on the surface of the liquid and hey presto, your SCOBY is here.

Once you’ve got that, take Stroeve’s recipe for his Bad & Boochy for a spin.

Lacto ferments

This is the stuff you’re going to hear more about, says Stroeve, thanks in large part to the the Noma book. And it’s with the lacto ferment at Bulletin Place where the smart stuff happens. 

“It’s probably the most accessible [fermentation] both for bartenders and for consumers,” says Stroeve. “Essentially what it is, it’s yoghurt whey, macadamia milk, coconut water, some almond, and raw sugar. And basically all the lactic acid in the whey converts the sugar into lactic acid — it’s a lacto ferment. You combine it all in an anaerobic environment — which is an oxygen-free environment — like a vacuum pack, and you give it a couple of days and watch it slowly expand. That’s the CO2 that’s the byproduct of that enzymatic conversion.”

And what is smart about this is how they use it.

“What we do with it, was take a raw honey which you’d normally dilute with water, and what we did was dilute it with [the lacto ferment] so that you have a lacto macadamia honey syrup. Pop a bit of gin and lemon in that and you’ve got a Bees Knees with a bit of funk to it,” Stroeve says.

Essentially they’ve hacked that one ingredient which you’ll see behind many bars, honey, and added extra complexity to it by getting this work done behind the scenes. 

You can take a look at their Bee Sting here, and adapt their Lacto Fermented Macadamia Honey recipe for your own purposes.

Next steps

So you want to take a crack at fermentation? You’re going to need some equipment. At Bulletin Place they’ve got the kit, things like a refractometer for measuring the brix or sugar levels in their liquids.

You’ll want the aforementioned books, and then the time to experiment. But most of all, if you’ve only just begun bartending, know that this probably isn’t for you just yet. “Like all things that are a little bit out there and different and new, you have to master your craft before you expand on it,” says Stroeve.  

Presented by Setfano Catino, Maybe Frank
Photographs by Declan Roache

2019 marks the 100 year anniversary of Aperol. Created back in 1919 in Padova, Italy, it’s also the key ingredient in the perfect aperitivo drink: the Aperol Spritz. The thing is, there is a right way and a wrong way to make this drink, as Stefano Catino of Maybe Frank says.

“It’s a very easy drink to make, you might think,” he says. “But a lot of people are screwing this drink up.”

That’s right. There’s but three ingredients in this drink — four if you count the ice — but a simple recipe, if not done right, can end in some pretty terrible drinking.

So what have you got to get right?

First: choose the right glass. Both Catino and Campari Group portfolio ambassador, Daniele Pirotta, are tired of too many that are too small, or seeing enormous jugs of somewhat orange-coloured liquid going over the bar and being passed off as an Aperol Spritz writ large.

All you need, says Catino, is a large wine glass, around 380-420ml in size, and preferably one with a stencilled plimsol line measuring out 150ml. Why? For one, the Aperol Spritz is a drink best served in a single serve — if you’re pouring from a jug there’ll be ice going everywhere and this is not what you want.

And the plimsol line will also assist in getting your proportions bang on.

“This drink is so simple,” says Catino. “It’s three parts prosecco, two parts of Aperol, and one part of soda.”

But whatever you do, do not go for less than 60ml of Aperol. That means no 45ml pour, no single shot.

“If you don’t put 60ml of Aperol, in Italy you go to jail,” Catino says.

Prosecco, too — the Italians obviously call for Italian prosecco (we’ve used Ricadonna here). And this is where the plimsol line comes in handy.

“You don’t use your jigger to measure prosecco, come on,” Catino says. “You have a stencil line at 150ml [on your glass]. You’ve put 60ml of Aperol, now you need 90ml of prosecco.”

Filling it up to the plimsol line on the glass gives you your 90ml. 

Now, it’s soda time.

“You need just a touch of soda water. It’s not a shower,” says Catino. Just a little dash’ll do, though, before we get the ice happening.

The ice is a crucial element according to Catino.

“This is where I get upset,” he says. “People put their ice in first, and what ice does, it starts to dilute already. [And] when you put prosecco onto cold ice, the gas is going to go out. It’s hard to control and it’s time-wasting.” 

If you add the ice first, you’ll end up with layers in the drink — which then requires a spoon to stir — and an overly diluted drink.

“It’s not a soup — it’s not a minestrone,” Catino says.

And there’s one last crime you want to avoid — you want to avoid floaties, the miserly two or three pieces of crappy ice floating atop the glass. If you’ve iced the glass properly, there’ll be ice cubes touching the bottom of the glass and going all the way to the top.

It’s the perfect aperitivo to share with friends, all year round. But you’ve got to make it right. Make it cold, and don’t skimp on the ice.

And whatever you do, don’t do this

• THE LAYERED. No layers! If you add ice first and then add the ingredients, you’ll get layers — this just ain’t right.
• THE JUG. The wrong glass! No, you don’t want the jug. You don’t want the fishbowl. A large wine glass is all you need.
• THE FLOATIES. Not enough ice? What kind of two-bit, run-down, insolvent operation are you running here? Fill the glass with ice!

 
Story by Sam Bygrave
Photography by Christopher Pearce
Presented by David Nguyen-Luu, The Duke of Clarence, Sydney
In association with Tullamore D.E.W.

Long before there was the Espresso Martini, one coffee and alcohol drink ruled them all: the Irish Coffee.

There’s a long history of pairing booze with coffee; the Italians have their Caffe Corretto (which is coffee ‘corrected’ with grappa or some other hooch); the Spanish have their Carajillo; and just about anywhere someone has access to coffee and access to booze, at some point those two are coming into contact.

The Irish Coffee is a simple drink: it’s black coffee, Irish whiskey, and a hit of cream on top. But there are good recipes and there are bad recipes, and there are best practice ways to make it.

The version you’ll find at New York’s Dead Rabbit is about as good as you’ll find anywhere, though, and back in July Sydney’s The Duke of Clarence adopted their recipe for use, too.

“We had Jillian Vose, the Dead Rabbit beverage director, come through last month and guide us through the famed Irish coffee,” says general manager David Nguyen-Luu.

“It is a simple drink, but you can stuff it up as such. This is purely demerara syrup, Tullamore D.E.W. whiskey, filter coffee and whipped cream,” he says.

But with simple drinks, it’s how you prepare them that matters most, and Nguyen-Luu picked up some great tips from Vose.

“The whipped cream is a very vital factor of it — [Vose] has specified a certain fat percentage whipped cream, the coffee blend has to be a nice mild blend, and the demerara syrup must be at 2:1,” he says.

You’ve also got to get the amount of whiskey just right, he says.

“Tullamore D.E.W. goes fantastically in it. A lot of people have different specs, whether it’s a 30ml or 45ml — this is actually a 35ml pour and that extra five millilitres does make a massive difference, and the flavours of Tullamore really come through and shine,” says Nguyen-Luu.

The secret trick to the Dead Rabbit version, however, is temperature.

“The temperature of the coffee is very important,” says Nguyen-Luu. “We follow Dead Rabbit’s [recipe], and they specifically go for 78.5 degrees Celsius for the coffee. Irish Coffee has a great balance between the different textures of it — the mix of the hot and cold elements work really well. It’s why this is such a smooth drink. The cream has to be absolutely ice cold, and then the coffee at 78.5 degrees. We’ve got a little water bath circulator that we set at that temperature, so it’s the same temperature every day.”

Notes on ingredients

• Tullamore D.E.W. Irish Whiskey is triple distilled and aged in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks.
• The whiskey is a blend of grain whiskey (which lends a floral and biscuity character), pot still whiskey (which adds a spicy note) and malt whiskey (which complements the whiskey’s citrus characters).
• You’ll find light, sweet citrus and green apple aromas on the nose underlined by notes of vanilla, with fresh fruit and toasted wood on the palate, leading to a buttery, mellow finish.
• Tullamore D.E.W. is distributed by William Grant & Sons.

Barrel-Aged Negroni

• 1 x 700ml bottle of Star of Bombay
• 1 x 700ml bottle of Campari
• 700ml Martini Riserva Speciale Rubino Vermouth

Pour all ingredients into a clean barrel. Put in a corner of your bar and wait, testing each week until it’s ready.

Story by Sam Bygrave
Photographs by Christopher Pearce
Presented by Sebastian Cosmo Soto, Ramblin’ Rascal Tavern

BARREL-AGEING cocktails is more commonplace than ever, and the mysterious results you get from the interplay between cocktail and barrel have found favour with customers who want something from your bar that they simply cannot find elsewhere. Places like Manhattan at the Regent Singapore, for instance, have taken barrel-ageing to the extreme in their in-house rickhouse. The places holds a hundred-odd barrels in which various spirits are ageing, and for their cocktails, they’ve implemented a solera system.

But it’s pretty simple to get started with your own barrel-ageing cocktail program. All you need is a clean barrel, a great cocktail made with high-proof spirits (we’ve used the 47.5% ABV Star of Bombay), and time.

Ramblin’ Rascal Tavern has played around with this before, and Dardan Shervashidze suggests one key piece of equipment is necessary whether you’re barrel ageing or batching cocktails for high-volume service in large quantities.

“The one thing that’s important to have?” he says. “A calculator. You don’t trust bartender math, you get the millage right and you nail it.”

The next consideration is whether or not you need to add water to your batch. If you’re barrel-ageing, forget about it, but if you’re batching for a keg to run the cocktail through on tap, you need to account for the dilution you’d otherwise have had making it to order.

“When we run our Sazerac through the tap, we have to account for the dilution because we pour it straight into the glass, it’s chilled on the way through,” Shervashidze says.

And lastly, for barrel-ageing, you want to use higher proof spirits because you’re going to lose some punch in flavour to the wood of the barrel, and then you’re going to want keep an eye on it, says Ramblin’ Rascal’s Michael Thurbin.

“You don’t want to leave it in there too long,” he says. “Using a small barrel takes on the wood much, much quicker. If you leave it there for a few months, it can get a little too intense.” 

Notes on ingredients*

• Star of Bombay was the w inner of 2016 Best London Dry Gin at the International Wine & Spirits Competition.
• Star of Bombay is slow-distilled with 12 sustainably sourced botanicals, producing a richer, more intense flavour as there is more time to extract the perfect flavour from botanicals.
• The Bombay Spirits Company was the winner of the Sustainable Spirit Award at Tales of the Cocktail 2017. Bombay gins are produced at Laverstoke Mill in Hampshire, England, one of the most sustainable distilleries in the world.

Tasting notes
Star of Bombay
Smooth, bright and complex. Bergamot Orange and Ambrette Seed add a layer of spicy citrus and a floral muskiness. This smooth spirit makes a captivating martini that is alive and bright.
Distributed by Bacardi-Martini Australia

Notes provided by Star of Bombay.

The Sidecar
• 40ml Martell VSOP Cognac
• 20ml triple sec
• 30ml lemon juice
• 5ml Monin Pure Cane Sugar Syrup

Shake and strain into a chilled coupe. Sugar rim optional.

Presented by Michael Thurbin, Ramblin’ Rascal Tavern
In association with Martell Cognac
Story by Sam Bygrave
Photographs by Christopher Pearce

THE SIDECAR: to some, a brilliant, rich, and perfect cognac delivery system; to others, well, they prefer to smash a Daiquiri.

As an out and out fanboy of the Daiquiri, I don’t mind admitting  my affection for the Sidecar. It’s a rare opportunity to give cognac a good run, it’s refreshing, and it’s difficult to perfect, so it can tell you a lot about the bartender making it.

Indeed, it’s been hard to pin down a canonical spec over the decades. The original recipe is a simple, three-ingredient equal parts drink: brandy, lemon, and Cointreau, as called for in Harry MacElhone’s 1927 Barflies & Cocktails. Sadly, in those proportions, the triple sec and lemon is way out of check, drowning the poor equal measure of brandy.

 
Harry Craddock’s version, published in The Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930, bumped up the ratio of cognac — he specified brandy, in particular — to Cointreau and lemon juice.

Note that there’s been no mention of a sugar rim; that came later on in the piece.

Then David A. Embury comes along in 1948, and makes everything really boozy. Embury’s spec further dials back the sweetness, employing an 8:2:1 ratio (the same as in his preferred Daiquiri recipe). Embury writes of the drink’s origin story, too: “It was invented by a friend of mine at a bar in Paris during World War I and was named after the motorcycle sidecar in which the good captain customarily was driven to and from the little bistro where the drink was born and christened.”

Yeah, maybe that’s true, but then again, Embury was drinking some rather boozy drinks.

We like the Sidecar we get when we hit Rambin’ Rascal Tavern. They’ve dialled back the triple sec quotient, added a little bump of sugar, and allow the richness of the Martell VSOP to shine through (without overdoing it, Embury-style).

1. Moisten the rim of the glass with a twist.
2. Rim the glass with sugar.
3. Add the lemon juice.
4. Add the dry curacao.
5. Add your Martell VSOP.
6. Add a pinch of sugar syrup.
7. Shake hard with ice.
8. Strain and serve.

Notes on ingredients*
Martell is the oldest Maison de Cognac, created in 1715 by Jean Martell. He was one of the first to distil the ugni blanc of the region establishing strong collaborations with local winegrowers.

Martell Cognacs are marked by balance and elegance which comes from the fact that they specialise in eaux de vie from the Borderies region.

Martell is the only house who only distils clear wine without sediments. As a consequence of this choice of quality over quantity, the Martell eaux de vie are characterised by their outstanding purity and delicacy.

Martell uses only fine grained wood barrels for ageing.This wood variety grows very slowly, resulting in a finer grain and soft, subtle tannins.
*Notes provided by Martell.

Tasting notes
Martell VSOP Cognac
Pouring a gold amber colour, there are notes of lime, liquorice, and quince, raisins and plums, and oak. On the palate, it’s mellow and complex, with a round body and long finish.
Distributed by Pernod-Ricard