Winter in Sydney is always a bleak affair, its cool breath dulling the shine of the city's sun-kissed inhabitants and leaving in its wake a disorientated mob of pale-skinned, beanie-topped, scarf-wrapped wimps, too cold to venture outdoors and too stubborn to admit the party that summer provides is over.
Luckily, we here at yourBars understand this feeling and, rather than join in the commiserations, have instead recruited the help of master booze alchemist Adam Kane (The Passage) to rectify the situation by providing some belly-warming winter cocktail recipes we can make at home.
So, turn up the heater, put on some Beach Boys and think warm thoughts.
The Beatnik
30ml Bombay Sapphire gin
20ml Canton ginger liqueur
20ml lemon juice
20ml beetroot puree
(Beetroot puree: Boil down several beetroot bulbs. Peel and blitz with 2 large chillies and 2 cloves of garlic until smooth).
Method:
Shake all ingredients hard in a cocktail shaker.
Serve:
In a rocks glass with a pink Murray River salt rim. Garnish with a whole baby carrot.
Pork Margarita
50ml speck-infused Don Julio Anejo Tequila
20ml Grand Marnier
20ml lime juice
10ml blood orange juice
(Speck infusion: Take ¼ of 1kg of good-quality smoked speck. Slice and stuff into a bottle of Don Julio and let it fester for a week or two).
Method:
Shake everything hard for as long as possible.
Serve:
Up, in a cocktail glass rimmed with pork crackling pink salt rub. Garnish with a chunk of pork crackling.
(Pork crackling pink salt rub: Buy a bag of pork crackling from your local Asian grocer. Blitz it with several dried chillies and a handful of Murray River pink salt).
Machine Gun Jubblies
30ml espresso coffee
40ml Morgan's Spiced Rum
1 tablespoon macadamia nut butter
5ml maple syrup
Method:
Shake the hell out of everything.
Serve:
In a cappuccino cup with saucer. Garnish with some crushed dark chocolate.
