Well here it is folks a little photo gallery to prove to you that we have not been idle this Parched March. Below is a visual feast of some of the drinks, food and, most importantly, people that we’ve encountered along the way.

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It’s been a fun experience  experience thus far, though I think that the coming two weeks will prove that 30 days isn’t even close to being enough time to fully experience Sydney’s thriving bar culture.  Don’t get me wrong we’ll hit 30 bars in due time - it’s just the more we delve into Sydney’s liquid culture the more we see it’s charms.

We’re yet to hit Balmain’s pub scene and the Rock’s is calling too. Then there’s Newtown and Glebe. Bondi is not to be missed either. The CBD is still offering some sophisticated goodies… the list goes on. Because of this Amy and I have decided that we might not stop at thirty but rather keep trucking on to see what we can tally whilst doing our best to maintain a healthy lifestyle  and a day job!

Before I get too carried away there was a point touched upon during our barroom conversation this week that I think to be very important and perhaps timely for a Friday afternoon. The point I’m referring to is the crucial role at an after-work drink plays in our increasingly busy lifestyle.

Sure a bit of exercise is great for reliving a stress and tensions and helps many push aside the the problems they may be facing at work or in their personal life. There is no denying, however, that a social after-work drink with colleagues is one of the best and most healthy (mentally and socially) ways to debrief the ordeals of the week.

“A social after-work drink with colleagues is one of the best and most healthy (mentally and socially) ways to debrief the ordeals of the week.”

Blowing the froth off a couple of cold ones after a hard days work is a proud Aussie tradition and not just for labourers and tradies. Before we open a bottle of Pinot Noir stick up our noses and pretend we’re too good for that remember that this has become part of Australian culture for a reason. Pubs, hotels and bars are part of the community and play an important role in the entertainment and relaxation of hard working Australians. Yes I’m an advocate for more small bars and a diverse drinking culture. I can swirl a Burgundy and sip a Negroni with the best of them, but very shortly I’m off to the pub.

Oh and here’s the run down on where I’ve been thus far (Ms Cooper has a different list):

1. The Club Bar, The Rocks
2. Harbour Bar, The Rocks
3. Bacco, CBD
4. Shady Pines Saloon, Darlinghurst
5. Tokonoma, Surry Hills
6. Hemmesphere, CBD
7. The Ship Inn, Circular Quay
8. The Observer Hotel,
9. Eau-De-Vie, Darlinghurst
10. Bayswater Brasserie, Kings Cross
11. Pocket Bar, Darlinghurst
12. Low 302, Surry Hills
13. The Lincoln, Kings Cross
14. The East Sydney, Woolloomooloo
15. The Point, Pyrmont
16. Gallon, Pyrmont
17. The Local Taphouse, Darlinghurst
18. The Winery, Surry Hills
19. The Saint, Paddington
20. Kudu Lounge, Darlinhurts
21. Harelquin, Pyrmont

Photography by Rob Palmer

A Modern Day Classic Tequila Tipple

This month’s ‘How To’ is inspired by the modern classic: Tommy’s Margarita. The Tommy’s Margarita is a creation by Julio Bermejo considered by many as the world’s leading Tequila aficionado and Tequila ambassador to the US. This particular Margarita is one that he started serving in the 1980’s at his father’s restaurant the legendary Tommy’s Restaurant and World’s Best Tequila Bar in San Francisco.

Tommy’s Restaurant was opened by Tommy Bermejo and his wife Elmy back in 1965. The joint is dedicated to serving authentic Mexican and Yucatecan cuisine, but most importantly it also houses the most extensive collection of 100% agave Tequilas outside of Mexico (nearly 300!). Julio has spent many years behind the stick and apart from his gift of Tequila knowledge to the masses there’s also this fine beverage.

At Tommy’s this Margarita is made in a blender, but before you cringe read on! When this drink was invented it was still entirely normal for a Margarita to be ordered as an alcoholic slushy type beverage (and for many this is how it should still be served!), indeed Tommy’s still uses blenders to this day in preparation of a Margarita should it be requested. The preparation of the Tommy’s Margarita, however, is a little tongue-in-cheek: The ingredients are thrown into the blender jug, but it is then shaken or rolled (using two jugs) instead of being blended. The result is the refreshing Tequila masterpiece that has grown a cult following around the globe.

Mucho Gracias Julio!

Handy Hints

• Make sure that you use only the freshest lime juice when preparing this drink. If possible squeeze to order as lime juice can start to oxidise just 20-30 minutes after juicing.

• Don’t have any agave nectar? It can be found in the health food section at most local supermarkets or at specialist health food stores.

• Agave nectar has the consistency of honey. Cut it with sugar syrup to make it easier to pour.

• If you want to make it a blender like they do at Tommy’s then make sure the lid is water tight or you’ll end up wearing it!

• You can see Julio making this drink himself courtesy of www.tequilaworld.com.au created by our very own Tequila maestro Phil Bayly.

Tommy’s Margarita

Makes 2
120ml Sauza Hornitos or another
100% agave Tequila
90ml Lime juice
(approximately 2 limes)
60ml Agave mix
(50% sugar, 50% agave nectar)

Add your freshly squeezed lime juice to a blender jug. Add agave mix and Tequila. Add ice and put on lid firmly and shake. Pour into two rocks glasses.

Presented by Marko Vujanic
Ivy Pool Club
320/330 George St, Sydney
02 9240 3000
www.merivale .com

Mixxit’s Magnificent 7 Competition has announced its finalists after an intensive 12 month search. The seven finalists are set to compete on World Cocktail Day (13 May) at Sydney’s Ivy for the chance to attend the World Famous B.A.R course in New York!

The Magnificent 7 Finalists are: Anita Strother (Miss Punch), Byblos, Brisbane; Edward Murphy (Mr Milk Punch), Baden Powell, Melbourne; Erica Richards (Miss Cocktail), Crown & Sceptre, Adelaide; Richie Brenton (Mr Sour), Charlie’s Bar, Melbourne; Nick Edwards (Mr Cobbler), The Lark, Brisbane; Christian Blair (Mr Collins), Crown & Sceptre, Adelaide; Luke Reddington (Mr Highball), Hugos Bar Pizza, Sydney.

The high profile winner will fly to New York and attend the world famous five-day BAR (Beverage Alcohol Resource) course with none other than the best the industry has to offer, Professor Dave Wondrich, Dale DeGroff and F. Paul Pacult. Following this life-changing experience, the winner will go on to work in some of the Big Apple’s most famous bar and meet the stars.

Shop 5, 256 Crown Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney

www.swillhouse.com

Now once in a while something special graces bar scene becoming an instant classic. Shady Pines Saloon might just be one of those places. Is it the cocktails?  Is it the food?  Is the über-chic design? Not on your Nelly!

Shady Pines Saloon is in a dimly lit basement down a slightly grimy little laneway behind Oxford Street. The 14 metre dark wooden parquet bar, barstools and furniture already seem to have cultivated years of wear and tear. Throw in some dusty taxidermy, a couple of carved American Indian statues, country and western tunes, monkey nuts and a few shots of American whiskey and a cold beer chaser… Well you get the idea. You’re suddenly transported to the sort of bar Australia has only seen in movies. This is a classic American dive bar.

The venue is a labour of love from Anton Forte and Jason Scott - two experienced industry chaps having worked the likes of Oxford Art Factory and Lotus in Sydney and The Baden Powell in Melbourne. The road to opening the joint has been long, hard and dusty just like something out of Western, but it’s here and frankly that’s something to drink to.

Boilermakers are the house specialty and with their fine selection of Australian, New Zealand and American lagers and ales, Scotch and American Whiskies they’re pretty hard to beat.  Don’t be afraid to order a classic cocktail or two. Old Pals, Whiskey Sours and Manhattans are whipped with skill.

Shady Pines is open seven days a week from 4pm till midnight. This is a blessing in disguise; should they place be open later you might never leave.

The industrious Mixxit team have been hard at work over the summer months to pull together a cracking new website. www.mixxit.com.au is their online base of operations featuring the Marvellous Mixxit Mixer Machine - a spirit and flavour matching tool - the Three Dashes of Bitters e-newsletter containing hilarity and the latest industry news, updates on the Magnificent 7 competition, videos and all the information you need about Mixxit training sessions.

If pop along to the site you might also get to meet the jolly 19^th Century sport “Harry”. Harry will show you the marvels of the Mixxit Mixer machine and introduce you to the Magnificent 7; The Punch, The Milk Punch, The Cocktail, The Sour, The Cobbler, The Collins and The Highball. The site brings together a useful resource tool with a Monty Python-esque sense of humour.

www.purespirits.com.au

A relative newcomer in the Pure Spirits portfolio is Chairman’s Reserve St. Lucia rum. Colonised by France in 1660, St. Lucia earned the name of “Helen of the West Indies” both for its beauty and the fact that Great Britain and France went to war fourteen times for claims to the island. The island’s tropical microclimate and fertile volcanic soil create a preserved rainforest that bears the water used to conceive Chairman’s Reserve. This microclimate also influences maturation and provides the ideal conditions for transforming sugar cane into this award winning rum.

St. Lucia Distillers Limited emerged from the tradition of the on-site, home made rum that was a common feature of the West Indian sugar plantation. The award winning Chairman’s Reserve Rum begins with a combination of more than six unique rums, individually aged in seasoned bourbon barrels. The rums are distilled using three artesian distillation techniques, combining Coffey Column Still, John Dore Copper Pot and Kentucky Bourbon Vendome Pot Still rums averaging 5 years. The rums are then artfully married and reintroduced to oak for a further six to nine months. This process accounts for the long and memorable finish.

For further information please contact Pure Spirits on 02 9371 3883

Founded in 1993, The Tamborine Mountain Distillery is a boutique Queensland operation run by the amiable Ward family off their two hectare property in North Tamborine. The distillery has now collected over 100 awards for their range of over 70 products making it Australia’s most awarded and most prolific distillery.

Below is a link to a video that ran on ABC’s Landline on Saturday 14 March.

Click here to see the video.

“I’d like to think that Sydney’s (and indeed Australia’s) drinkers are reaching a new stage of enlightenment.”

Bars don’t need to be all about flashing lights, bells and whistles. Plasma screens, the TAB and gaming machines while undoubtedly part of ‘blokey’ Aussie drinking culture don’t need to be in every venue and that’s what Parched March is proving to me. Sydney’s scene is something we should increasingly be proud of. It’s a major contributing factor to why I live here in the first place.

I’ve certainly been enjoying my month of celebrating the city’s bar scene so far by visiting 18 different bars in 15 days. Some of these visits have been a fleeting and flirtatious affair - like my visit to Eau-De-Vie in Darlinghurst last Monday. (Don’t worry Eau-De-Vie I’ll be back this Wednesday night with Ms. Parched March herself - Amy Cooper - for a proper visit.

Here’s Max Greco whipping me up a Dark ‘n’ Stormy with Eau-De-Vie’s house spiced rum and their zingy house made ginger beer:

Some of my visits have been less fleeting like this one to The Lincoln later on this same evening. The Lincoln on Bayswater Road in Kings Cross was celebrating their third birthday in style showing off  their new cocktail list at the same time. The real pick of the bunch that night for me was the Blackthorn Cocktail a mix of sloe gin, sweet and dry vermouth, orange and Angostura bitters. Jean Munos (pictured below and centre) is The Lincoln’s new bar manger and has rescued this one from the cocktail doldrums.

There were industry folk abound at the bash and even the DJs - Tim and Nick from the Tim & Nick Show - are old industry hands.

From two swank cocktail lounges on Monday night - Wednesday saw visit to an old favourite Sydney Pub: The East Sydney. This is a pub folks - a real pub. No stainless steel or aluminum joinery in sight. No pokies and no plasma screens. Every surface of the place tells a tale - from faded old liquor advertising to the worn wooden bar marking the passage of patrons elbows and countless schooners that have been rested upon it.

Sat at the bar, it is a joy to be able to order Guinness or Cooper’s Sparkling on tap. As a little quirk of this venue you can also order Underberg Bitters (it’s the only bar in Sydney where I’ve seen it) - an extremely bitter ’stomach bitters’ that gives Fernet Branca a good run for its money.

Woolloomooloo has another joint not dissimilar to this place that I also hope I get to visit over the course of the month: The Old Fitzroy.  Sure this joint sells a cracking Laksa and has a wee independent theatre attached, but the similarity is not in terms of their offering, but in their philosophy: To celebrate diversity and break the mold of those kit-set hotels that still make up more than their fair share of Sydney venues.

Well that’s all from me for now. Any more talk of drink will make me thirsty and I’m having a day off. Tuesday evening for me will feature The Beresford Hotel and Emmilou Lounge and Tapas Bar.

And remember don’t be parched! After all it’s March.

Visit the Parched March Facebook page here and donate to Amy’s charity PetRescue.

A magical little number from the Savoy’s godmother of bartending

By Simon McGoram

Photography by Rob Palmer

Bars come and go: Hospitality has ever been a fickle industry. London’s iconic Savoy Hotel, however, and the American Bar along with it (as it was christened 1893) has stood the test of time.

If you are a bit of a cocktail enthusiast too you have no doubt heard of Harry Craddock’s The Savoy Cocktail Book - one of the greatest collections of drinks receipts of all time. Craddock, an American, fled Prohibition in 1920 to take up his craft in London at the Savoy Hotel. The book, first published in 1930, has inducted Craddock and indeed the American Bar into the cocktailian hall of fame, but not all the recipes in this work were created by Craddock - far from it.

Whilst many were borrowed from the great bars, hotels and clubs from around the world a small few also owe their conception to one Ada Coleman or ‘Coley’ as she was know. Coley was a female star in a world of male bartenders and was in no small part responsible for the American Bar’s rise to fame during the first quarter of the 20^th Century. Appointed as bartender in 1903, Coley eventually made head bartender and certainly was so by the time Craddock turned up in 1920. For five years Craddock was forced to remain in anonymity dispensing drinks from the back service bar whilst Ada remained the public face.

During her time at the American Bar, Coley made cocktails for the likes of Mark Twain, the Prince of Wales, Prince Wilhelm of Sweden, and Sir Charles Hawtrey. It was for Sir Hawtrey (the actor and playwright who was mentor to the great Noel Coward) that Coleman invented a beverage going by the name Hanky Panky.

Before you get too excited about the racy name, keep in mind that in Edwardian England the term ‘hanky panky’ didn’t have the same libidinous connotations as it has today, but was rather used to describe black magic or an evil trick. The term comes from the Romani (Gypsy) term ‘hakk’ni panki’ meaning “the great trick” and is similarly linked to another familiar term ‘hocus pocus’.

Luckily for us Gaz Regan has long been a fan of the Hanky Panky and some years ago Gaz and Mardee Haidin Reagan dug up this little gem from England’s The People newspaper from 1925. In this piece Coley herself explains the drinks creation and christening:

“The late Charles Hawtrey … was one of the best judges of cocktails that I knew. Some years ago, when he was overworking, he used to come into the bar and say, ‘Coley, I am tired. Give me something with a bit of punch in it.’ It was for him that I spent hours experimenting until I had invented a new cocktail. The next time he came in, I told him I had a new drink for him. He sipped it, and, draining the glass, he said, ‘By Jove! That is the real hanky-panky!’ And Hanky-Panky it has been called ever since.”

Hanky Panky

45ml Beefeater 24 Gin

45ml Punt e Mes (sweet vermouth)

2 dashes Fernet Branca

Orange Peel

Step One: Add your sweet vermouth

Step Two: Add your gin

Step Three: Add two dashes of Fernet Branca

Step Four: Add ice

Step Five: Stir until diluted

Step Six: Strain into a chilled coupette

Step Seven: Garnish with an orange twist

This cocktail featured in the February 2010 issue of Bartender Magazine. The drink was presented by Natalie Ng from Café Pacifico in Sydney

Upstairs at The Mac,
42 Wentworth Street
Surry Hills, Sydney
02 8262 8888
www.raval.com.au

Ravál located at the top of the stairs above Sydney’s historic Macquarie Hotel (or ‘The Mac’ as it is popularly known) is named after Barcelona’s infamous nightspot El Ravál; an area bordering La Rambla know for its cabaret, nightclubs, and more lascivious businesses of the night. It comes as no surprise then that Ravál is a purpose built entertainment venue and cocktail bar designed to house a variety of live entertainment including music, cabaret, burlesque, theatre and comedy.

Headed up by Nathan Farrell (band Manager for The Ray Mann Three and Thundamentals, music entrepreneur and promoter) and Mandy Wheeler (driving force behind The Mac for close to a decade), that venues tells us that Ravál  ”combines passion for the four senses; touch, taste, sight and sound (fortunately the only funk you’ll smell will be from our speakers) by combining a gorgeous art deco interior and beautifully upholstered furniture reminiscent of a 1930s speakeasy with big rig sound and sumptuous cocktails.”

DJs will be booked by Huw Ellis who comes to Ravál with over ten years experience in the industry with his own ARIA nominated Knowfool label as well as experience in distribution, festivals, publicity, journalism, DJing and radio under his belt.

To find out more about Ravál’s entertainment line up visit their website: www.raval.com.au