Food & Drink Inspiration

FRIDAY ‘HAPPY HOUR’ : john daly

This week’s ‘Happy Hour’ cocktail takes on a golfing theme and, like its namesake, there is some controversy surrounding its origins – thought to have first been made at Whiskey Creek Golf Course, it was named after Daly who was competing in the Dirty Gator Open at the time.

The refreshing ‘John Daly’ uses the non-alcoholic ‘Arnold Palmer’ as a base.

Combine the following ingredients into a high ball filled with ice and stir:

🍸 45ml of your vodka of choice

🍹 60ml lemonade

🍹 60ml iced tea

Garnish with a slice of lemon or lime and salute.

FRIDAY ‘HAPPY HOUR’ : sangria

With spring in the air, Sangria is the perfect drink – it’s refreshing and, whilst traditionally made with a red wine such as Spanish Rioja, it can also be made with white wine, a rose or even a sparkling wine.

If you cannot find a Spanish Rioja, try a Tempranillo, Grenache or Graciano.

Combine the following in a large pitcher and muddle for 30 seconds:

🥄2 tablespoons white sugar

🍊1 orange, cut into wedges

🍏1 apple, cored and sliced

🍋1 lemon, cut into wedges

Add the following and muddle again for 30 seconds:

🥃1/2 cup Brandy

🍊1/2 cup orange juice – freshly squeezed is best

🍷 Add a bottle of dry red wine and stir.

Pour into a glass filled with ice, garnish with a slice of orange and salute!

FRIDAY ‘HAPPY HOUR’ : espresso martini

It is ‘International Coffee Day’ today and for ‘Happy Hour’ we’re enjoying the most famous coffee cocktail known – the Espresso Martini.

The legendary Espresso Martini was created by cocktail legend, Dick Bradsell, in 1980’s Soho, London. It’s rich, indulgent and sophisticated – it works as both a party cocktail and a wonderful addition to your dinner party – following on from the main meal or simply as a substitute for dessert.

Pour the following into a cocktail shaker filled with ice:

🍸50ml Vodka (your brand of choice – there are some wonderful Australian vodkas out there if you’re interested)

🍸35ml Coffee Liqueur

☕️1 shot (25ml) of coffee (the trick is to use a freshly made, quality coffee and combine whilst still warm)

Whilst you’re shaking your cocktail shaker like there’s no tomorrow, fill your martini glass with ice to chill – or pop it the freezer 30 minutes before cocktail hour.

Once shaken, place a strainer over the top and pour from your shaker directly into your very chilled martini glass (ice removed) – this will help create that lovely, smooth froth that we all love to see.

Garnish with three coffee beans & enjoy!

FRIDAY ‘HAPPY HOUR’ : maiden’s prayer

It’s officially a long weekend and we think ‘Happy Hour’ can start a bit earlier. With the AFL Grand Final on tomorrow night, we think this week’s cocktail is perfect with many praying for either a Melbourne or Western Bulldogs win.

There are several variations to this recipe, but our preference is the one made with our cocktail cabinet classic liqueur – Cointreau.

Combine the following in a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake well until well chilled:

🍸 30ml Gin (local Four Pillars Gin is our distillery of choice)

🍸 15ml Cointreau

🍊 15ml orange juice (freshly squeezed is always best)

🍈 5ml fresh lemon juice

Strain into a chilled cocktail or coupe glass – place your glass in the freezer 30 minutes before cocktail time.

Garnish with a twist of orange peel & salute!

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!

Mohito

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