The past week has seen 45 bartenders put through their paces at the annual Smirnoff Black Copper Cup Semi Finals. Held across Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, this year’s educational component was hosted by Agusti Vidal; a freelance perfume consultant from Spain. Vidal taught the lucky semi finalists the theory behind aroma, psychology vs. the physiology of smell, how to break down a spirit into its aroma elements and the basis of building a complex aroma to complement a product.

The Copper Cup is well known for its innovative and testing challenges and this year was no different. The Semi Finalists  had a two hour period to create a new cocktail enhancing the unique taste and aroma of Smirnoff Black vodka using skills they had just been taught.

Those who made the grade are - Nick Edwards (QLD), Martin Lange (QLD), Ryan Noreiks (QLD), Paul Hammond (VIC), Chris Hysted (VIC), Evan Stanley (VIC), Julian Serna (NSW), Mitch Bushell (NSW) and Francessco Turro (NSW). There is still one  wild card position to be announced next week to co0mplete the Top 10

The Top 10  will now go on to the Smirnoff Black Copper Cup Final where they will face another new and original challenge. The destination remains Top Secret. Be watching 4bars.com.au for further updates.

On Thursday 11 March, London’s Sosho and The East Room were destroyed by an inferno in the early hours of the morning. The bars both belong to Jonathan Downey’s Match Bar Group.

More than 100 firefighters attempted to combat the blaze,  which left parts of London’s financial centre covered in smoke.

Downey said the venue, into which he ploughed £3m, had been left structurally unsafe and may collapse.

“Sosho and The East Room are no more after they were destroyed by fire on Thursday morning,” Downey commented. “Assuming our insurance claim is honoured, we should be back with something new soon. Rebuilding Sosho and The East Room may take a little longer…”

The two award wining Shoreditch venues will remain closed for the foreseeable future.

By Amy Cooper

I’m over halfway through the Parched March odyssey now, and people often ask me how I feel. Answer: wonderful!

While it’s certainly an amazing journey, 30 Bars in 30 Days is a goal easily achieved within a healthy, balanced lifestyle. We’ve been averaging two bars on our nights out, eating well on the way and during the day I’ve found my energy for exercise - yoga, running, dog walking and swimming - has remained undiminished.

Balance and variety is the way to go and speaking of which, we’ve found plenty to keep us fascinated as we travel around Sydney’s bars.

I really like Simon’s point in his last blog entry here about Sydney drinkers becoming increasingly enlightened. It’s true. We’ve met some interesting and informed characters in front of - as well as behind - the bars. A city’s bar landscape is shaped by its drinkers as well as its venues and the typical Sydney bar customer is an engaging, increasingly educated creature - a far cry from the sozzled minority who make such sensational fodder for the anti-alcohol scaremongers.

“The typical Sydney bar customer is an engaging, increasingly educated creature - a far cry from the sozzled minority who make such sensational fodder for the anti-alcohol scaremongers.”

MANLY

I love to combine the harbour with great bars, especially on a fine, sunny afternoon, and luckily Parched March sponsor Stuart Gregor and his team at Liquid Ideas agree.

To transport us to Manly, Stu enlists his best-kept secret: a water taxi helmed by a man known only as Don, who keeps an esky filled with cold beers and bubbles for his favourite customers.  Don whisks Stu, me, Stu’s right-hand woman Jeanine and our guests Kate and Sally from Events NSW from the Commissioner’s Steps at Circular Quay to Manly Wharf in suitable Parched March style - with a tipple to put us in the mood.

Manly Wine is the latest from Keystone’s Gazebo family and has all the traits - a little taxidermy here, a lot of whimsical art there and the same extensive range of wines by the glass. All with ocean views and a beach vibe complete with colourful regular in a flowery sunhat. Our posse toasts our arrival on the north side with a delicious bottle of Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs.  The combination of bubbles and blue, blue sea is heady. Manly is Sydney in holiday mood and it makes us very happy.

Just a short stroll and we’ve moved from beach to Bavaria. Warm weather calls for a long, cold bier and they don’t get much longer than those on the menu at Bavarian Bier Cafe at Manly wharf.  Mine’s a Paulaner Premium Pils, a pale gold, crisp, dry drop made for sunny afternoons and sausage snacks.

Bier meister Reid Green talks us into a game of Schnapps Roulette and out comes a metre of Schnapps with traditional cowbell accompaniment. All but one of the drinks are butterscotch Schnapps. The drinker who doesn’t get the butterscotch is considered the loser. We decide that the only point of this game is that it’s fun.

Next door is Hugos Manly the sandy-footed sister of Hugos Kings Cross. With its timber lounges and cushions this place always feels like a beach house and I’ll never forget the launch, when co-owner Dave Evans loaded his Kings Cross regulars on a ferry equipped with DJ and Hugos bar staff (to ease the transition) and shuttled them across the harbour and back. I’m convinced some eastern diehards never actually realised they’d been away.

Dave joins us for jugs of Hugos Punch (Beefeater 24 gin & Massenez Crème de Peche combined with passionfruit, grapefruit, fresh lime & topped with sparkling wine) and a margarita pizza to help soak up the spirits.

Don and his boat arrive but we haven’t finished catching up with Dave so we kidnap him, pirate style, and bundle him and a bottle of his Hugos 2009 Pinot Grigio on board. Having plundered Manly and its inhabitants, we set sail for Woolloomooloo, where a surprise awaits.

Pop-up bars tend to live down laneways and in containers and other such grungy places, but here’s one right on ritzy Woolloomooloo Wharf, beside the gin palaces and penthouses, at Otto Ristorante.  Otto’s The Country Trader pop-up bar is here for a month. Furnished with cool eclectica from TCT’s collection, the bar is another expression of TCT owner Geoff Clarke’s passion for food, wine and entertaining. He’s already known for his hearty dinners and parties at his Waterloo showroom and it seems natural for him to take the show on the road. It also seems natural for our posse to encourage his endeavours, and this chapter of Parched March ends with a beautiful sunset on the wharf, washed down with Campari and sodas.

As pop-up bars aren’t permanent, I’m considering them ‘bonus bars.’ I still need to visit 30 permanent bars in 30 days. With latest additions Low302 and Emmilou (updates on those soon!) I’m at 16. Keep following our daily progress on Facebook here and remember: don’t be Parched - it’s March!

That’s my idea of living, and as I’ve travelled through 11 bars in 11 days as Parched March hits its second week, I’ve been lucky enough to keep finding a rainbow of variations on the theme. This week has been a mix of old favourites and new, bars belonging to big companies and small, independent joints, cocktail-focused bars and wine loving venues. What do they all have in common? They’re fun, quality, crucial pieces of Sydney’s great big drinking jigsaw.

Pocket, Crown Street, Darlinghurst

I like to sit at Pocket’s glass-topped bar and marvel at the bric-a-brac beneath. It looks like the spewed contents of a nutter’s handbag. The little space is packed with good-humoured locals and the vibe is relaxed, undone, easy. This is Sydney’s small bar scene in action and it’s a picture of laid-back conviviality. It makes me want to take the anti-alcohol fun-dodgers by the hand and show them why such bars need support, not hindrance. They’re the best possible example of grown-up, intelligent and innovative bar culture.

With me is Dave Spanton, publisher of Australian Bartender magazine. He’s a sponsor, so he’s keeping an eye on my progress but at the same time he’s quietly casting an eye over contenders for Bartender Magazine’s 2010 Australian Bar Awards. This year will be a busy one for Dave and the judges. There’s talent around every corner in this town.

We talk about the rise and rise of nightlife in this little slice of Darlinghurst/Surry Hills and toast it with negronis.

The Winery by Gazebo, Surry Hills

Time for a visit to the new Surry Hills sibling of Gazebo Wine Garden and home to the Elvis Room, with its grass-topped bar and memorabilia wall.

Dave and I take stools at the bar and soak up the lively atmosphere.

I like the bustle of Winery; the table-hopping, the extrovert staff and the banter. I also like the Spanish sparkling, the oysters, the WA crab, spinach & chilli tossed in angel hair pasta, tomato and chardy; the Dr Loosen Riesling Kabinett, the tray of stinky cheeses and the muscat. A satisfyingly decadent, robust bar experience best enjoyed when you’ve time to linger, chat and become philosophical under the stars. Thanks chief sponsor Dave - hope to see you back on the odyssey soon!

Aperitif, 7 Kellett Street, Kings Cross.

Kellett Street has become a home to quiet, consistent achievers (Libertine, Prague and of course the iconic Cafe Roma) and at Aperitif, Charles Leong, Elie Griplas and crew have been showing how a good wine bar looks, without fuss, for five years. It’s one of my locals and some Mondays, like this one, I wander in here alone, nestle in a booth and quietly enjoy small platters of French-ish food and Euro wines served in the Riedel O tumblers which seemed so daring when the bar first opened. Aperitif is one of those rare bars which suits every occasion: a solo escape, romantic interlude or gathering of friends long after midnight when the kitchen is still - thank goodness - resolutely open. Tonight Elie presents a sweetcorn and basil veloute with steamed prawns that makes my taste buds purr, matched with a chilled, Chateau Rio Tor rose full of perfume and fruit. There’s always something exciting happening with cheese at Aperitif and tonight it’s Sainte-Maure de Touraine, a goat’s cheese that thinks it’s a brie and somehow manages to be deliciously both.

Gin Garden, Establishment, George Street, Sydney

One of the hidden gems in the Merivale empire, Gin Garden is a colonial-inspired shrine to fine gins tucked away at the rear of the main Establishment ground floor bar. Over 24 are served and Mikey Enright knows exactly what to do with them: classics, twists, and tonight a gin masterclass as part of the annual March into Merivale programme of events throughout the company’s venues.

It seems only right that Parched March marches into Merivale as our focus is the same: good times, good drinks and food, and good living. In Gin Garden we find Mikey and fellow gin guru Ben Davidson finishing up the class. We’re joined by a group of cocktail enthusiasts and Ben dons his apron and whips up classic Beefeater Wet Martinis for everyone. We settle down around one of Gin Garden’s round, timber tables. Antipasto plates add to the epicurean mood and in the candlelight’s gentle glow, we kick back and lose track of time.

Lotus, Challis Avenue, Potts Point

If you live close to Lotus as I do, the little bar in the back feels like a secret. It isn’t of course, because nowhere with a cocktail list so good could be, but when you’re perched at the bar and Petr Dvoracek is mixing you a Mellow Nail or the enduring favourite Lotus Martini, you can pretend that this bar is built into your Potts Point mansion and you never need to go home.

It’s a soothing, low-lit haven and with Dan Hong’s excellent fare in Lotus bistro, Fratelli Paradiso next door and the new Fei Jai restaurant set to open across the road, there are more than enough reasons to order an aperitif on Challis Avenue.

Since Barry Chalmers move from Brisbane to Sydney, Jay Lambert has joined the Behind Bars team and taken over the role of RESERVE Brand Ambassador for Queensland. Jay Lambert is a multi award winning bartender, who has been in the hospitality industry for over 10 years.

Jay’s experience exceeds our shores; his expertise as an alcohol consultant was hightened with stints in India and the UK. Working as a brand ambassador for Tulleeho and United Spirits India, Jay was responsible for implementing mixology and working flair bartender trainings, as well as the development of signature cocktails to promote the product portfolio. In 2008/09, Jay worked as a Wine Buyer and Duty Manager for Quo Vadis in London (Best New Bar 2008, Class magazine, Best New Restaurant 2008, Tatler magazine, Nominated for Best New Bar 2009, Tales of the Cocktail).

Currently residing in Brisbane, Jay has served in some of its finest establishments. Previously at Chalk Hotel, Bravo Wine Bar & Bistro and Cru Bar Wine & Cellar. Upon return to Australia, Jay has rejoined the team at the Lark, where he works alongside his commitments as an Alchemy trainer.

Jay joined the Behind Bars team in January and is Queensland’s RESERVE Brand Ambassador.

Diageo Australia today announced it will secure the marketing and distribution rights to tequila brand Jose Cuervo in Australia, officially effective 1 April 2010.

Under the new agreement, Diageo Australia will manage the full marketing and distribution of the Jose Cuervo portfolio brands including: Jose Cuervo spirits, Jose Cuervo Margarita Mix, Gran Centenario, and 1800 Tequilas. The agreement will not include Jose Cuervo’s current RTD brand Vivezo.

In the lead-up to the official start date of 1 April, Diageo Australia has also reached an interim agreement to sell the core product Especial (700ml and 1L) from March 22 to help meet immediate customer supply requirements.
“We are incredibly excited about the addition of Jose Cuervo to our portfolio of brands,” said Diageo Australia Managing Director Tim Salt.

“Jose Cuervo has a rich history dating back to the 18th century, and is the world’s number one selling tequila. It offers great synergy to our collection of iconic alcohol brands. As the leader in the tequila category, we are looking forward to the opportunities Cuervo will present in helping deliver category growth for the retailer.”

“The strength of our white spirits portfolio will be further bolstered by Jose Cuervo, and we will be investing behind the brand to drive growth,” said Diageo Australia Marketing Director, John Green.

The distribution agreement of the Cuervo spirit portfolio in Australia will complement Diageo’s existing global joint venture with Don Julio tequila, which will also continue in Australia with no changes.

For more details contact your Diageo representative.

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. 

Behind Bars Trivia gives bar-nerds the opportunity to show off their knowledge and passion of all things booze related. 

There will be three heats in each participating state (Queensland, Victoria, and New South Wales). 

Kicking off in March, the heats will be hosted by some of Behind Bars’ finest and resident Alchemists. Nick van Tiel will be behind the microphone in NSW, with Sean Baxter in VIC and Jay Lambert in QLD.

Details are as follows:

NSW: Monday 22 March at Eau-de-Vie @ 7pm - 229 Darlinghurst Road, Darlinghurst

VIC: Monday 15 March at Galley Room @ 7pm - 510 Flinders Street, Melbourne

QLD: Monday 15 March at The Lark @ 7pm - 1/267 Given Terrace, Paddington

To register your team, email trivia@behindbars.com.au or call 02 9011 7182.

Le Shack must have the luck of the Irish after managing to pick up three fine Irish whiskeys from The Cooley Distillery in Ireland - the last independent distillery in the country. From 1 March, Le Shack have become the proud distributors of Kilbeggan blended Irish whiskey, The Tyrconnell single malt Irish whiskey and the unique Connemara peated single malt Irish whiskey - Ireland’s only peated whiskey. All three products are distilled, bottled and matured at the Cooley Distillery located on the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth on Ireland’s east coast.

By 1970, the number of Irish distilleries had fallen to two from over 100 in 1886. In 1974 the industry then became a monopoly after Seagrams sold Bushmills to the United Distillers of Ireland. The monopoly remained until the Cooley Distillery was set up in 1987 converted from an older industrial potato ethanol plant by John Teeling.

Teeling fitted the distillery out with distinctive small copper pot stills with very large necks. These elongated necks produce a more refined spirit as the heavier fusel alcohols are left in the still and out of the final distillate. The distillery uses only Irish barley and has its own spring water source coming from the Sliabh na Gloch river high up in the Cooley Mountains.

For further information please call Le Shack on 0282027699

In great bars, you imbibe more than alcohol. You soak up the distilled essence of life. That’s why there’s a bar in Sydney called Eau de Vie (we’ll be going there).

A city’s bars connect you with its heart. From the Opera House grandstand of the harbour to the grungy, eccentric backstreets of Surry hills, our Parched March locations express Sydney’s many moods. They’re the path every tourist should follow to truly understand this city.

THE BARS:

Club Bar, Park Hyatt, The Rocks. 

Confession: we’re due to start at harbourbar next door but it’s raining and I find Simon perched at the bar in this clubby little nook. He’d succumbed to the allure of whiskies, an open fire and armchairs and so we begin our odyssey here, with a Bobby Burns, mixed by Shane Gardner. If you’re wary of malt whisky in a cocktail, the Burns could convert you. The characteristics of the Glenfiddich prevail, but softened, sweetened and lengthened into a honey smooth sipper I’d take as an aperitif any time.

Sharing the bar with us are hotel guests and we strike up conversation. Skip, an orthodontist from Texas, is a witty drinking companion and leaves us with a recommendation for a great restaurant in New Orleans.

Harbourbar, Park Hyatt, The Rocks

I like to gaze at the Opera House while nursing a drink. Mine was wine; the 08 Giant Steps Harry’s Monster cabernets merlot. We’re eating responsibly, too: duck fat fries and crab cakes, from the kitchen of chef Andrew McKee.

Bacco Wine Bar and Pasticceria, Chifley Plaza

I once described this friendly grotto in Chifley Plaza as a big hug from mamma for all the nearby stressed out city workers. It’s also a little corner of old world Italy and on Monday a big table groans under the weight of proscuitto, pasta, cheeses, arancini and other comforting delicacies dished up by Marco Faraone and his team for their La Famiglia night. We sip $10 negronis and eat far too much nduja, soft, spicy salami.

Tokonoma Shochu Lounge and Bar, 490 Crown Street, Surry Hills

Wednesday March, 3, and we’re in Surry Hills, cocooned in the long, low, sexy confines of Tokonoma. The bar is a catwalk for a line of elegant bottles of shochu, ready for tasting.

Our cocktails: Sashimitini, Kimchi Mary, Hana Mi Punch and Negroni Swizzle.

We snack on spicy edamame, pork belly so soft and flavoursome it silences me for a whole minute, and soft-shell crab.

Everything’s perfectly balancedand exquisitely presented.

Shady Pines Saloon, just off Crown Street.

This bar odyssey comes with extreme contrasts and here’s the first: delicate, feminine Tokonoma and rugged, wild west, saloon bar Shady Pines. There, it’s all delicacy and refinement. Here, it’s plaid shirts, stuffed bulls and Johnny Cash. They’re just a block or two apart, but worlds away from each other. Welcome to the mad diversity of Sydney’s bar scene.

Shady Pines has been open just two days but feels like it’s been there for a couple of centuries thanks to the fossicking efforts of co-owners Anton Forte and Jason Scott. The lads have collected a horde of curiosities: stuffed stag heads, foxes and a vast bull’s head; an ancient dispensary cabinet, two life-sized Red Indian mannequins and parts of an old basketball court for the parquetry-topped bar.

We prop ourselves at it and order Boilermakers - beer and a whisky chaser. Or whisky and a beer chaser if you prefer to think of it that way. The boilermaker menu has some marriages made in Heaven: try Ardbeg 10 Year Old with a James Squire Porter. Chewy, peaty, smoky. Or sip on a pure rye such as High West, a blend of six and 16-year-old ryes bottled in Utah. It keeps talking to your tongue long after you’ve swallowed it.

You can follow all Amy’s up-to-the-minute progress on Facebook.

Hawthorn Brewing Company is the dream of three friends from Melbourne: Peter Willis, Hamish Reed and Darren Milo. The trio acknowledge that: “We’ve come a long way since we began home brewing for ourselves and our mates at BBQ’s more than 10 years ago.”

The company was established in 2008 with the aim of bringing great tasting recipes to the thirsty masses. This particular formulation took 11 trials (and apparently just as much taste testing) to finalise. Produced at the Mildura Brewery the group have tried to avoid their beer being yet another bottle conditioned American pale ale, so their recipe is an unusual mix of New and Old World hops. The result is a pale ale that presents a rich and complex malt character, derived from a bold blend of five different types of lightly kilned grain balanced by the by the inclusion of five complementary varieties of hops sourced from New Zealand, Southern England and the US Pacific Northwest.

Plans are afoot for a second and third brew to be released this year.

For further information please contact Flinders Portfolio on 1800 886 060