COCKTAILS

The spicy margarita was crowned the 2023 drink of summer. But as we enter a new season, the T Australia team are still not over the tequila-spiked cocktail. Mercifully, the Sydney hospitality institution Icebergs Dining Room and Bar are keeping long, sunny afternoons alive with a watermelon take on the spicy favourite. Developed by the bar director Matty Opai, the offering celebrates the margarita’s cult status served with Don Julio 1942 luxury tequila.

Sunrise Margarita

Ingredients

40 ml Don Julio blanco
7.5 ml Casamigos mezcal
7.5 ml green Chartreuse
20ml watermelon juice
20ml lime juice
10ml agave syrup
2 dashes of fee foam (alternative egg white or any aqua fauber)
Pinch of salt for the rim

Method

Salt the rim of a tumbler glass and set aside.

Add all ingredients into to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake vigorously for at least 20 seconds.

Double strain into the tumbler glass and serve with ice.

More summer cocktail recipes from T Australia:

• An Elevated Spicy Margarita is Primed To Be The Drink of the Summer
• Holiday Buzz: Punch Bowl Cocktails for Your New Year’s Eve Soirée
• Five Cocktails to Help Beat the Heat

When it comes to entertaining, drinks can be trickier than food. Anyone can have a surprising salad ingredient or a closely guarded low ’n ’slow barbecue procedure. Far fewer hosts think outside the wine-beer-soda box. But it can be done. Here, five leading international bartenders and mixologists share creative summer drink recipes you could easily make and that, whether for a riff on a Waldorf salad or a strawberry spritzer, will keep your guests cool, refreshed and, perhaps most importantly, impressed.

Waldorf Salad by Gn Chan, co-founder, Double Chicken Please, New York City

“In 1893, the Waldorf Astoria hotel invented what became its trademark salad. Over the years, with each new head chef in the kitchen, the salad’s recipe evolved, except for three ingredients — walnut, apple and celery. We took these three constants and blended them with two types of whiskey — a smooth scotch (Aberfeldy) and a smoky Scotch (Laphroaig) — which are complemented by freshly grated black pepper.”

• 35ml Aberfeldy 12 year
• 5ml Laphroaig 10 year
• 40ml apple juice
• 2 dashes walnut bitters
• 100ml ginger ale

Build in glass with ice, and top with ginger ale.

That Watermelon Drink by Naren Young, creative director of Sweet Liberty, Miami

“This is our take on a watermelon margarita. El Tequileño, the tequila, has a big reputation in Mexico but is fairly new to the United States, and the Montelobos mezcal is made in Oaxaca with 100 percent organically certified agave espadín. The drink has some herbal notes from the coriander, which can be omitted as not everyone loves that herb, but the result is far superior with it in there.”

• 30ml El Tequileño Blanco
• 15ml Montelobos mezcal
• 5ml Select Aperitivo
• 20ml watermelon juice
• 15ml lemon juice
• 15ml agave nectar
• 5 drops white balsamic
• 2 stalks coriander (in shaker)
• 4 cucumber wheels (in shaker)

Shake and fine-strain over ice.

Glass: Rocks.

Garnish: Half-rim of Tajín, sprig of coriander.

Spagliato by Monica Berg, bartender, co-owner of Tayēr + Elementary, London

“This is a classic recipe that we serve in carafes at Tayēr + Elementary. We use cava instead of prosecco (which is used in the more traditional Italian serve) as it is drier and less sweet. The Campari and sweet vermouth give the bittersweet taste that makes it a perfect aperitivo before dinner. Batch preparing it and building it in a carafe makes it a really simple yet effective serve when entertaining.”

• 200ml Campari
• 200ml Martini Rosso
• 200ml Pago de Tharsys cava (or any good quality cava)

Add all ingredients to a suitably sized jug and stir. Serve over ice.

Glass: Highball or rocks.

(Serves 4-6)

La Fine Fraise by Thibault Massina, creative director of Le Syndicat, Paris

“La Fine Fraise is a spritzer that is fruity and light, so perfect for summer drinking, with a relatively low A.B.V., which is great for garden parties. The candied strawberry flavour works in harmony with the freshness of the white Armagnac. The cocoa notes match the greediness of the strawberry and give a longer finish that highlights the complexity of this cocktail.”

• 10ml cocoa liqueur
• 10ml strawberry syrup (see below for recipe)
• 15ml Blanche Armagnac, not aged Armagnac (if you don’t have Blanche, you can use vodka)
• One teaspoon lemon juice
• A drop Tabasco
• Sparkling water to top

Strawberry syrup (or you can use a store-bought one):

1. Take 300g strawberries.

2. Hull and cut them into quarters.

3. Put them in an airtight jar.

4. Add 300g white sugar.

5. Mix and let the sugar melt and absorb the water from the strawberries.

6. Filter through a sieve to recover the strawberry oleo.

7. Keep in a cool place.

La Fine Fraise:

1. Put all the ingredients (except for the sparkling water) in a highball.

2. Fill the glass with ice cubes.

3. Stir once.

4. Fill with sparkling water.

5. Stir a second time.

6. Use a strawberry cut in two as garnish.

Ice Cream for Astronauts by Moe Aljaff, co-founder and owner of Two Schmucks, Barcelona

“This drink started off as a gin basil smash meets a gin and tonic, but as summer arrived in Barcelona and it got hotter, we found ourselves needing to add ice cream to everything. The coconut complements the vegetal flavour of the basil, and it works great with tonic as a highball. The result is a fresh, ice-cold fizzy drink for summer.”

• 50ml Fords Gin
• 25ml lime juice
• 20ml sugar syrup
• 1 tablespoon coconut ice cream
• 5 leaves Italian basil
• 75ml tonic
• Pinch of salt

Glass: Highball or collins.

Garnish: Basil leaf.

Ice: Fill with ice or one big ice sphere.

1. Put all ingredients together (except for the tonic) and flash-blend in a hand blender or larger blender for 5 seconds without ice.

2. Strain out the liquid and shake with ice.

3. Add the tonic into the shaker and pour it all into glass.

More cocktail coverage from T Australia:

• The Minimal-Waste Cocktails Bringing Root-to-Stem Principles to the Bar Top
• The Negroni Sbagliato: An Overnight Sensation That Began as a Mistake
• The Geometry of The Cocktail

December is fast approaching, and with it comes weekends filled with festive events. Whether you’re hosting your own soirée or have been entrusted with mixology duties at a friend’s gathering, a well-crafted cocktail can be the perfect way to entertain guests before the main event. Below, the T Australia team has curated a selection of drinks to suit every occasion.

Brulée Old Fashioned

For an after-dinner treat on Christmas eve, once you’ve successfully tucked the kids into bed.

Ingredients:

– 60ml Woodford Reserve Straight Bourbon Whisky
– 15ml créme de cacao
– 2 dashes Angostura bitters
– 1 dash chocolate bitters
– Orange slice dusted with sugar, to garnish

Method:

1. Combine ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir until chilled and diluted.
2. Strain into a rocks glass over a large ice cube.
3. Garnish with an orange slice dusted with sugar and torched until caramelised.

The Frosado

For New Years Day, when nothing else will do. 

Ingredients:

– 45ml Don Julio Rosado
– 30ml Giffard Pink Grapefruit Liqueur
– 20ml lime juice
– 15ml pink grapefruit juice
– Shaved or pebbled ice
– Pink salt rim
– Half a slice of pink grapefruit

Method:

1. Wet the rim of your glass and rotate the rim in pink salt.
2. Batch all liquid ingredients together.
3. Fill half the glass with shaved ice and pour in batched liquids.
4. Top up the glass with more shaved ice so the ice is sitting proud, above the glass if possible.
5. Garnish with pink grapefruit garnish slice.

Dale DeGroff’s Harry’s Original Martini

For when you need a kick after a heavy Christmas dinner.

Ingredients:

– 60ml Grey Goose vodka
– 15ml sweet vermouth (Cocchi Vermouth di Torino Vermouth)
– 15ml Noilly Prat dry vermouth
– 2 dashes gum syrup
– 2 dashes Ferrand Dry Curaçao
– 1 dash Bogart’s Bitters (Bitter Truth)
– 1 lemon zest coin for flavour

Method:

1. Assemble all ingredients except for the lemon zest coin in a mixing glass or martini beaker with cracked ice.
2. Stir well to chill and dilute.
3. Mist the inside of the chilled glass with the oil from the lemon zest coin.
4. Discard the spent zest and strain liquids into the glass.
5. Garnish with the coin-sized zest and serve immediately.

La Fine Fraise by Thibault Massina, creative director of Le Syndicat, Paris

For when you need a summery flavour that the whole party will love. 

Ingredients:

– 10ml cocoa liqueur
– 10ml strawberry syrup (see below for recipe)
– 15ml Blanche Armagnac, not aged Armagnac (if you don’t have Blanche, you can use vodka)
– One teaspoon lemon juice
– A drop Tabasco
– Sparkling water to top

Method for strawberry syrup (or you can use a store-bought one):

1. Take 300g strawberries.
2. Hull and cut them into quarters.
3. Put them in an airtight jar.
4. Add 300g white sugar.
5. Mix and let the sugar melt and absorb the water from the strawberries.
6. Filter through a sieve to recover the strawberry oleo.
7. Keep in a cool place.

Method for La Fine Fraise:

1. Put all the ingredients (except for the sparkling water) in a highball.
2. Fill the glass with ice cubes.
3. Stir once.
4. Fill with sparkling water.
5. Stir a second time.
6. Use a strawberry cut in two as garnish.

Seapea Fizz

For a lazy afternoon spent by the pool. 

Ingredients:

– 22 ml absinthe
– 22 ml simple syrup
– 22 ml fresh lemon juice
– 1 egg white
– Soda water, chilled, to top

Method:

1. Add all ingredients except soda water to a cocktail shaker and shake without ice for at least 20 seconds.
2. Add ice and shake for an additional 15 to 20 seconds.
3. Strain into a coupe glass and top with soda water.

More cocktail coverage from T Australia:

• The Minimal-Waste Cocktails Bringing Root-to-Stem Principles to the Bar Top
• The Negroni Sbagliato: An Overnight Sensation That Began as a Mistake
• The Geometry of The Cocktail

When it comes to cocktails, we’re living in a golden age of the garnish: At many bars, a martini is now likely to come with a veritable salad of imported olives, orange peels carved into spirals and anchovies on toothpicks. In certain corners of New York City, your drink might even feature a plastic dinosaur bobbing above its rim. But at home, a rococo approach is not the only way to surprise and delight. “You have to read the room,” says Erika Flowers, 33, who runs the bar at Compère Lapin in New Orleans, where the drinks are topped with thoughtful accoutrements like showers of grated nutmeg and pineapple fronds. In her mind, the purpose of a garnish is to turn the act of cocktail consumption into “a full sensory experience,” engaging the nose and the eyes as well as the taste buds. Here, three chefs and mixologists share their suggestions for embellishments that do just that – and are surprisingly easy to make, too.

Citrus-Peel Flowers With Sage

To dress up a margarita, tumbler of rum punch or another tropical drink, Flowers cuts one long strip of lemon rind with a metal citrus peeler and trims off any white pith with a paring knife. She then coils the peel into a roselike shape, threading a sprig of mint through the centre for a fragrant addition. To serve, she either sets the peel flower atop a mound of pebble ice or pierces the base with a skewer and balances it on the rim of a coupe glass. As a finishing touch, Flowers uses an atomiser to spray the garnish with a sage tincture that she makes by filling an airtight glass jar with the chopped herb and then steeping it in a high-proof spirit (vodka, she says, is most neutral) for two to four weeks, giving it a shake once a day. The herbaceousness of the spritz will add depth to a fruit-forward cocktail.

Charred Vanilla Pods

The next time you scrape the seedy centre out of a vanilla bean to make whipped cream or some other sweet, hold onto the pod. Fabián von Hauske, 34, a co-owner and a chef of the recently opened restaurant Matilda in Hensonville, N.Y., and of the forthcoming Bar Contra on New York’s Lower East Side, chars his emptied vanilla pods and uses them like swizzle sticks in his clarified citrus milk punch. The vanilla, he says, transmits its ultra-concentrated flavour to the cocktail, imparting a toasted-marshmallow note. To make the stirrers, place the pods directly on a sheet pan and leave them in the oven — set to the lowest possible temperature — overnight to dehydrate. They can then be stored in a dry, sealed container at room temperature for several weeks. “The whole idea of a milk punch is to bring flavours that are nostalgic to childhood,” he says. “Vanilla always helps [with] that.”

Crystallised Hibiscus Blooms

The next time you scrape the seedy centre out of a vanilla bean to make whipped Mercedes Bernal, 35, a co-owner of the restaurant Meroma in Mexico City, developed her crunchy hibiscus blossom garnish as a nod to the many spicy candied snacks of her youth. She buys whole dried hibiscus flowers and simmers them briefly in water to rehydrate them. After thoroughly patting dry each flower, she uses a pastry brush to coat them lightly with simple syrup, then distributes them on a parchment-lined sheet pan, which she places in an oven heated to 270 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes, until the sugar is crystallised. Before they’ve cooled, she sprinkles each flower with the chilli-lime seasoning blend Tajín, or another blend that complements the cocktail. Bernal suggests adding ground fennel seed or citrus zest to the syrup coating to pair with a bright, acidic cocktail. The technique also works with fresh edible flowers: Just skip the rehydrating and brush the blooms with the simple syrup before dehydrating them until crunchy. They’ll last a few days at room temperature in an airtight container, but if they begin to go limp, Bernal says, you can simply redry them in a 270-degree oven. When the glass is empty, she points out, there’ll be something left to bite into: “You’re giving someone a snack with their drink,” she says.

More expert coverage from T Australia:

• Five Sydney Salons and Spas To Unwind in This Season
• Where To Eat, Drink, Stay and What To Do in Launceston
• Trend Report: Pale Blue Is Having a Moment