If you prefer to read, the trancribed interview can be found here.

Photography & Video by Christopher Pearce @christophernpearce

Cocktails presented by Angostura Rum featuring Angus Power, Bartender at Piccolo Bar, Sydney 

This month we headed to Piccolo Bar to showcase the Rum Old Fashioned to showcase some of the amazing Angostura products with the team from Proximo Spirits. The Old Fashioned is a simple drink, with just the spirit base (in this case the delicious Angostura 1919 Rum), sugar and bitters (Piccolo uses a 50/50 blend of Angostura Orange Bitters and Angostura Aromatic Bitters), so this is a drink where the spirit really shines.

If you’re really into your cocktail history, this drink harks back to the first recorded definition of the word cocktail from 1806 by The Balance and Columbian Repository of Hudson, New York as “a stimulating liquor composed of any kind of sugar, water and bitters.” It hits all those notes and is considered by many to be the benchmark classic.

The Old Fashioned is a simple drink, with just the spirit base (in this case the delicious Angostura 1919 Rum), sugar and bitters (Piccolo uses a 50/50 blend of Angostura Orange Bitters and Angostura Aromatic Bitters), so this is a drink where the spirit really shines.

In this video, Angus demonstrates an old-school technique that takes a little bit more time but it’s worth the wait. He starts by adding a few drops of Bitters to a La Perruche pure cane sugar cube and muddling in the bottom of the glass, with a dash of soda to help break it up. He then adds the Angostura 1919 Rum and Bare Bones ice cube. Then he stirs to dissolve as much sugar as possible and to get the perfect chill and dilution. Finally, we garnish with an orange peel and a Luxardo maraschino cherry.

It’s an old technique that the team at Piccolo learnt from some well-known bartending names: Mr Dale De Groff, one of New York’s finest old-school bartenders who rose to fame at the Rainbow Room in Manhattan; and a Mr Marco Faraone, an award-winning Italian import who help to set up many local Sydney bars including the now closed Lotus in Potts Point.

THE RECIPE:
60ml Angostura 1919 Rum
3-4 dashes Bitters (50/50 blend Angostura Aromatic Bitters & 
Angostura Orange Bitters)
Dash soda
La Perruche Sugar Cube
Large Bare Bones ice cube
Garnish with orange and maraschino cherry

About Angostura 1919 Rum

Angostura 1919 has a pretty unique story. In 1932, following a catastrophic fire, hundreds of charred casks filled with rum were found at Trinidad’s Government Rum Bond. The casks which were filled in 1919 had been ageing for 13 years.

Photography & video by Christopher Pearce

While it’s known for its epic whisk(e)y selection, and even a dedicated Whisky Room (which we think is pretty great), the folks at Baxter whip up some pretty tasty cocktails too. And they have a new list. So, today we have Head Bartender Leah Dunnigan mixing up Headlights. You should pop  in for a visit: The Baxter Inn. Open from 4pm – 3am, 7 days a week at 152-156 Clarence Street, Sydney.

Headlights
40ml Beeswax washed Beefeater
10ml Cointreau
30ml Pistachio Orgeat
30ml Passionfruit Soda
10ml Egg white
Add ingredients excluding soda to shaker.
Add ice and reverse dry shake.
Add Passionfruit soda to high ball.
Top with ingredients in shaker.
Add cubed ice & cap with crushed.
Garnish with honey comb.

How to... Prep time
Step 1: Add pre-batched beeswax gin & Cointreau
Step 2: Add Pistachio orgeat
Step 3: Add egg white
Step 4: Add ice for reverse dry shake
Step 5: Shake
Step 6: Discard ice & shake again
Step 7: Add soda to hi-ball
Step 8: Add remaining cocktail to high ball
Step 9: Add cubed ice
Step 10: Cap with crushed ice
Step 11: Garnish with homemade honeycomb
Step 12: Drink & Enjoy

Photos & Video by Christopher Pearce

With Harrison Lind, Bar Manager from Piccolo Bar, Sydney

Piccolo Bar
6 Roslyn Street, Kings Cross
piccolobarkingscross.com.au
@piccolobarkingscross

The Paper Plane is delicious. It’s the perfect balance of herbs, acidity, sweet fruit and bitterness that makes a cocktail instantly quaffable. Considering the drink’s popularity, it seems like a classic out of the early 20th century. But it was only invented in 2008 by Aussie legend and NY expat Sam Ross (the co-owner of Attaboy and Diamond Reef in New York City).

The drink follows a four equal parts format (and is often likened to gin-spiked cocktail, The Last Word). For the Paper Plane, it’s equal parts with American whiskey, Amaro Nonino, Aperol and lemon juice. You don’t want to overshake this one – you want it icy cold but not watery.

At Piccolo Bar (which opened in late 2021), the Paper Plane made it on to the second incarnation of the cocktail list as it fits perfectly with the aperitivo, simply-made, classic cocktail concept. Also, customers kept asking for it! With a strong focus on amari, the inclusion of the delicious Amaro Nonino, also fit nicely into the cocktail offering.

Amaro Nonino is an Italian amaro or bitter liqueur which was invented in 1992 by a distiller named Antonio Nonino in Friuli, Italy. It’s unique because it’s made using grappa infused with herbs, fruits and botanicals. Amaro Nonino is deliciously bitter and sweet in equal parts, with notes of orange, honey, vanilla, licorice, allspice, mango, pepper, and cocoa.

20ml American Whiskey
20ml Aperol
20ml Amaro Nonino Quintessentia
20ml lemon juice, freshly squeezed
Add the lemon juice, Aperol, whiskey,
Amaro Nonino into a shaker with ice
and shake until well-chilled.
Double Strain into a Nick & Nora glass.
Garnish with origami paper plane (if you have time!)

Now more than ever it is important to be having the conversation about mental health and wellbeing in our industry. The Exchange are excited to announce the launch of The Healthy Bartender Project – where Brand Ambassadors are now able to provide workshops, tools and resources that put staff health and wellness in the spotlight.

For more information contact your CCA rep or visit the-exchange.com.au

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.

Photos & Video by Christopher Pearce

The Speakeasy Group, headed up by Sven Almenning and Greg Sanderson, includes the two Mjolners, two Eau de Vies, two Nick & Nora’s and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. They are known for their dedication to cocktail excellence and also a little bit of theatre in their drinks. When asked to present a ‘How To’, Alissa Gabriel, the bartending guru that she is, instantly knew that this delicious dessert in a cup was the one. So get your nitro on, and
give it a try.

1: Add frozen cranberries to blender
2: Add lime juice
3: Add cranberry juice
4: Add orange syrup
5: Add orange liqueur
6: Blend all
7: Strain
8: Pour strained ingredients into bowl of electric mixer
9: Slowly add nitro while churning
10: Add some more nitro, cos we can
11: Scoop sorbet into coupette
12: Top with Champagne
13: Garnish with mint
14: Voila!

Videos 21 & 22 are now live on FB in our Bartender Magazine 60 Second Cocktail Challenge. The final two videos are James Holtby with his ‘That’s Splice’ and Aiden Rodriques with his ode to The Simpsons.

A total of 22 videos have made the cut. These are the final two videos we will be loading them directly to the Australian Bartender magazine FB page. We have posted two per day on FACEBOOK only. They will be judged on the number of VIEWS they get in seven days. No boosting and the likes don’t count but feel free to SHARE, SHARE, SHARE & TAG! The winner takes home $1000. So, make sure you tune in and check them out….

Just a little caveat, we said in the rule ‘no music’ as there are some strict FB rules around music. We have had our video maestro add royalty free music to all the videos to give them some vibe but also to make sure it’s an even playing field. If you want to revisit the rules, simply click here.

So to kick things off today we have:

• James Holtby with his ‘That’s Splice’
• Aiden Rodriques from Eau de Vie Melbourne with his ode to The Simpsons.

Videos 19 & 20 are now live on FB in our Bartender Magazine 60 Second Cocktail Challenge. Today we have Conor Jones and his magical Jungle Bird and the team from Melbourne’s Katori Japanese.

A total of 22 videos have made the cut. We only have a handful left but we will keep loading them directly to the Australian Bartender magazine FB page. We will post two per day on FACEBOOK only and they will be judged on the number of VIEWS they get in seven days. No boosting and the likes don’t count but feel free to SHARE, SHARE, SHARE & TAG! The winner takes home $1000. So, make sure you tune in and check them out….

Just a little caveat, we said in the rule ‘no music’ as there are some strict FB rules around music. We have had our video maestro add royalty free music to all the videos to give them some vibe but also to make sure it’s an even playing field. If you want to revisit the rules, simply click here.

So to kick things off today we have:

• Conor Jones and his magical Jungle Bird 
• The team from Melbourne’s Katori Japanese