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!

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.