Food Inspiration

FRIDAY ‘HAPPY HOUR’ : moJito

It’s 5 o’clock somewhere and, as many incredible parents and awesome teachers wind up home schooling for the term, we’re declaring that it’s Mojito Time!

Cuba’s most famous drink and, with rumoured origins dating back to the 1500’s and Sir Francis Drake, it’s simple to make and can be elevated with your choice of seasonal fruits.

You will need:

🍸 45ml white rum

🍸 15ml sugar syrup

🍈 4 limes – cut into wedges (don’t forget to give them a roll first to extract maximum juice)

🍹 8 mint leaves

🍹 1 splash of soda water

To make:

* It begins with a muddle (refer back to our Whiskey Smash) – add the lime wedges & sugar syrup to a glass and muddle away

* Add the rum & mint leaves with heaps of crushed ice

* Stir until the liquid doubles in volume, add more ice, top with a spash of soda water & slice of lime

Salute & have a fab weekend.

FRIDAY ‘HAPPY HOUR’ : dark ‘n stormy

As we head into the weekend, Friday ‘Happy Hour’ is back and this week we’re behind the bar making a Dark ‘n Stormy.

Like many cocktails, the Dark ‘n Stormy has an interesting tale with some believing the combination of rum & ginger beer was first used by sailors for the stomach-settling qualities of the ginger; but for cocktail traditiona

lists, Gosling’s Black Seal rum, made in Bermuda and dating back to 1806, is the foundation with Goslings laying claim to the drink.

To make your Dark ‘n Stormy, combine the following in a tall glass filled with ice:

🍹 60ml rum (your choice of brand)

🍈 15ml lime juice (this will give a kick of citrus but is optional)

🍹 Top with ginger beer (not ginger ale which is carbonated water flavoured with ginger)

🍈 Garnish with a slice of lime

Salute & enjoy your weekend.

For the vodka lovers, switch the rum for vodka and you’ve got a Moscow Mule.

FRIDAY ‘HAPPY HOUR’ : whiskey smash

For Friday ‘Happy Hour’ we’re also planning ahead for Father’s Day with a Whiskey Smash – perfect for an apperitif tonight; and as a pre-lunch cocktail on Sunday. The citrus and mint combination is perfect for whiskey lovers as well as those that say they’ll never drink whiskey.

To make the perfect smash, you need a good mudler – the act of compressing the lemon wedges to get the maximum juice, but also the oils that are found in the peel.

To make:

🍈 Muddle your lemon wedges in shaker – give it everything you’ve got – before adding:

🍸 60ml whiskey, 22ml simple syrup, 3 mint leaves and ice

🍸 Shake until well-chilled and double-strain into a rocks glass filled with fresh ice

🍸 Garnish with a mint sprig

Salute & happy Father’s Day.

To make a simple syrup, combine 1 part water and 1 part superfine sugar.

FRIDAY ‘HAPPY HOUR’ : negroni

Whilst the days might be merging into one, we promise, it’s Friday ‘Happy Hour’ time and this week, we’re pouring Negronis.

It’s simple, has become a modern-day classic & comes with a fascinating backstory. Created in 1919, by an Italian bartender, for Count Camillo Negroni who had picked a up a taste for strong liquor whilst working as a rodeo clown in the American Wild West – a true tale!

Combine the following in a mixing glass of ice and remember to always use the best availabe in your bar.

🍸25ml Gin

🍸25ml Sweet Vermouth

🍸25ml Campari

🍊Garnish with a slice of orange, we prefer blood orange when in season

Stir well until the glass feels cold and strain into a rocks glass with a large ice spere.

Garnish & salute!

🍸The negroni also works well when made in a jug, just remember to combine equal parts of all three spirits with a side dish of sliced oranges to garnish as you pour.

FRIDAY ‘HAPPY HOUR’ : martini

This week, for Friday ‘Happy Hour’ we’re enjoying the ultimate in urban cool. Whether you prefer gin or vodka; shaken or stirred; wet or dry; olive or twist of lemon peel – the martini is shorthand for ‘elegance served in a frost

ed glass’.

🍸10ml of dry vermouth (there are some great Australian vermouths available but make sure it’s not been sitting on the bar for years)

🍸 60ml of good quality gin (or vodka if that’s your preference)

🍸 A dash of orange bitters (optional)

Pour the vermouth into a mixing glass half-filled with ice and stir a few times to coat.

Pour in the gin and orange bitters, stir for 30 seconds before straining into your chilled martini glass – 30 minutes in the freezer will do the trick.

Garnish as desired – we prefer a couple of olives but a twist of lemon is also good.

Salute!

(PS- if your preference is for a wet maritini, 15ml vermouth / 50 ml gin or vodka & no orange bitters)

FRIDAY ‘HAPPY HOUR’ : rusty nail

For Friday ‘Happy Hour’ today, we rediscover an ‘old school’ cocktail that is kitsch again.

Created in 1942 but made popular at Club 21 in NYC in the 1950’s, the Rusty Nail is the chameleon of cocktails – depending on the style of whiskey you use.

🍸 45mls of your favourite scotch or whiskey – we like to showcase local Bakery Hill Distillery

🍸 25mls Drambuie

🍈 Twist of lemon peel – it’s how we drink it but is totally optional

Combine both spirits in a mixing glass filled with ice and stir until well-chilled.

Strain into a rocks glass over one large ice cube – or try ‘cool rocks’ which won’t dilute your Rusty Nail. Garnish with your twist of lemon peel.

Salute!

FRIDAY ‘HAPPY HOUR’ : japanese slipper

For Friday ‘Happy Hour this week we’ve gone a bit retro as all eyes focus on Tokyo. The Japanese Slipper is an ‘80’s classic that originated in Melbourne at the renowned Mietta’s Restaurant.

It showcases Midori – a classic liqueur in its day & our favourite cocktail liqueur partner – Cointreau.

30ml Midori

30 ml Cointreau

30ml Lemon Juice

Add the three stars of this drink in a ice-filled cocktail shaker (don’t forget that a jam jar does the trick) – as you give it a good shake, we’ll leave any Bryan Brown ‘Cocktail’ bartender dance moves to your imagination.

Finely strain into a chilled martini glass. To give it a contemporary look Karen likes to garnish with a twist of lemon peel but if you want to keep to the retro theme, a maraschino cherry is your go to.

Salute & good luck to all of our Aussie Olympians who are ‘going for gold’ in Tokyo.

FRIDAY ‘HAPPY HOUR’ : ‘G & T’

For ‘Happy Hour’ this week, following a wonderful fortnight of tennis from Wimbledon and now The Open, we are taking inspiration from Britain and their ‘national drink’ the G & T.

With our own backyard home to the world’s best gin producer (IWSC 2019 & 2020), Four Pillars, here is our preferred way to drink this classic.

🍸50mls of Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin

🍸150ml of Schweppes Signature Series Bright Tonic

❄️Plenty of ice

🍈Add a twist of lime peel and Salute!

FRIDAY ‘HAPPY HOUR’ : cosmopolitan

For ‘Happy Hour’ this week, we reach for the Cointreau – a liqueur that is often found at the back of the drinks cabinet but is a key component of some very well known cocktails including the Cosmopolitan.

To prepare Karen’s Cosmopolitan, combine the following ingredients in a cocktail shaker, filled with ice.

45mls of Vodka (to freeze or not?)

15mls of Cointreau

30ml Cranberry juice

Freshly squeezed juice of half a lime

Shake before straining into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a slice of lime peel and Salute

FRIDAY ‘HAPPY HOUR’ : ESPRESSO MARTINI

For Friday ‘Happy Hour’ this week, we’re taking inspiration from Melbourne’s mantle as the ‘coffee capital of Australia’ & many would say the world – we’re proudly biased!

To replicate Karen’s Espresso Martini, combine the following ingredients in a cocktail shaker, half filled with ice – a glass jar will also do the trick.

30mls of Kahlua

15mls of Vodka

1 teaspoon of white sugar

Double shot of fresh espresso coffee

Shake vigorously for one minute which will create the froth. Pour into a chilled martini glass & top with three coffee beans. Salute!

Date: Friday, June 4, 2021

FRIDAY ‘HAPPY HOUR’ : french 75

What a week it’s been & we’re calling’Happy Hour’ a bit earlier because we think it might be welcomed by many. Our Front of House Manager, Karen, has recommended a French 75, or for those who prefer, a ‘Soixante Quinze’. Dating back to 1915, to prepare combine the following in a champagne flute