I fell in love last week. She was a redhead. We first met at Waterslide bar. Our matchmaker was venue manager Tim Wastell. They say Rockford‘s 2015 Alicante Bouchet from the Barossa Valley tastes of cherries, but to my (rather uneducated) palette it’s more like old-fashioned strawberries and cream lollies from the […]

What does a $4,699 bottle of whisky taste like? Collectors and devotees now have a limited chance to find out as Chivas Regal unleashes just 30 of 2015’s limited release of 1500 bottles of its new luxury blend – ‘The Icon‘ – on Australian shores. The Icon is the whisky […]

The beer-bellied vs. the cocktail crowd: never the twain shall meet. Unless you have a truly ingenious bartender! Alistair Walker created a series of cocktails heavily inspired by different beers from distributor Phoenix‘s portfolio during ‘Shaken Not Brewed’ at The Everleigh for the most recent Good Beer Week. “Our main focus is cocktails”, mused Alistair, […]

Project Botanicals has closed for another year. However, you can always relive your memories of the pop-up gin bar at home. Bombay Sapphire has revealed the recipe to their Orris Aviation: probably the prettiest tasting tipple on the menu this time around. This drink pays homage to the orris a.k.a. […]

The Mornington Peninsula’s Bass & Flinders Distillery have just released the debut vintage of what they are dubbing Australia’s first Cognac-style aged spirit (as with sparkling from Champagne, spirits from outside the French locality can’t technically be referred to as Cognac). It goes by the evocatively apt name of “Ochre“. […]

I hesitate to qualify any drink with less than three ingredients (excluding the garnish) a “cocktail” but there’s still something appealing about the simplicity of Moet-Hennessy ambassador Mick Formosa’s concoctions at Park Hyatt’s recent Melbourne Food & Wine Festival event ‘Crisp Cocktails & Fresh Cuisine’. Served up alongside a seafood-heavy menu […]

From the why did it take us so long files: the Australian Distilled Spirits Awards have held their inaugural ceremony. Over 100 entries underwent a blind judging (tough gig) by experts including those from bars such as Whisky + Alement, Bad Frankie, Gin Palace and Lui Bar alongside magazine editors, brand ambassadors and […]

When you’re sick of sav blanc, totally over cider and not in the mood for beer, your “new” alternative might come from the long, long ago. Angus Smibert is on a mission to make mead happen. His mead company Smoothbeard is barely a month old (having just launched after over […]

There’s more than just fried rice fit for an emperor (seriously, it’s that good) at modern Chinese eatery Ruyi. There’s a short but sweet offering of cocktails infused with Asian flavours of lychee, lemongrass and green tea too. After just over a year in business, I hear welcome rumours that Ruyi’s […]

Created by bartender Fred Siggins of Black Pearl from Wine Republic’s craft spirits collection, this drink is named after American writer and philosopher Henry David Thoreau but I can’t guarantee drinking it will make you any more cerebral. You may want to skip dessert for this (or have both, I […]