“Florals for Spring? Groundbreaking.” The iconic line delivered by Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada is hard to forget, and it’s one that’s tempting to replicate when it comes to summer cocktail lists: “Aperol spritz and Mojitos? Groundbreaking.”
While the classics are classics for good reason — for one, they sell themselves — it can be easy to fall back on go-to formats and forgo the innovation that leads to unique drinks and keeps customers coming back.
Hospitality chats with some of the country’s top bartenders about the summer drinks that are keeping their seasonal cocktail lists fresh, exciting, and inviting.
At Bar Love in Perth, Co-Owners Pippa Canavan and Murray Walsh may have found the formula for a perfect summer drink: “Very refreshing and a bit silly,” says Canavan, “but complex enough to keep people coming back,” adds Walsh. The sentiment describes the duo’s Melon Baller cocktail, and it’s also not a bad description for the bar itself.
The ’70s inspired, retro-style venue opened on the intersection of Brisbane and William streets in October. As promised by the gold-emblazoned window signage, the bar is serving up cold drinks, warm service, and hot bartenders. The quirky fit out features a brightly coloured, vintage aesthetic, complete with a pink and white checkerboard bar, a smattering of bric-abrac, and velvet love seats.
The duo has accumulated a raft of accolades between them. Canavan won Host of the Year 2023 at the Bartender Magazine Bar Awards, was named Bartender of the Year 2023 at the WA Bar Awards, and featured in The Top 100 Most Influential and Australia’s Top 25 Bartenders lists. Meanwhile, Diageo’s World Class has listed Walsh as one of the Top 100 Australian Bartenders three times.
Seasoned Negroni drinkers still like it, but people see the colour and go, ‘Oh what’s that? I’ll have one of those’.
Pippa Canavan
Canavan concocted the Melon Baller as part of Perfect Blend, a competition run by The Blend. While Canavan didn’t walk away with the top prize, winner Jac Landmark is part of the Bar Love team. The drink is the “summeriest” on the menu and is a take on the Sgroppino — a refreshing Italian cocktail that combines prosecco, vodka, and lemon sorbet. The Melon Baller has a base of Midori and a hint of dry vermouth. The bartender blends honeydew melon and then freezes it overnight. The frozen melon cubes are then “zhooshed” in a blender with lemon juice, fresh eucalyptus syrup, and the spirits before being topped up with a little bit of soda water for fizz.
“I tried to add other melon elements and green, bright refreshing flavours to push those aspects of the drink,” says Canavan. “We add a melon ball garnish which has been pickled in a sweet, light, and fresh brine. I wanted to lean into the fun, silly disco aspect of Midori.” Fittingly, it is served in a highball glass. “This one’s been going well recently. It’s bright green.”
“And super fun,” adds Walsh.
The drink’s success has turned out to be “a bit annoying because it’s a blended drink which is more annoying to make during service,” laughs Canavan. “But we knew what we were getting ourselves into.”
Another drink gaining traction at Bar Love is the Peaches and Cream Negroni, which Canavan describes as “a lighter, easier, and slightly sweeter gateway Negroni”. The playful peachcoloured take on the classic is served in a pinktinted Old Fashioned glass. It’s garnished with a white chocolate disk that has frozen polka dots of puréed tinned peaches on top.
“It’s basically a milk punch Negroni, but we add in a little bit of peach syrup as well,” says the bartender. “We use equal parts gin, Rosso Antico vermouth, Select Aperitivo, and peach syrup. We add a little bit of lactic acid to bump up the acid and then we punch it using buttermilk.”
The milk punching process is what allows the cocktail to achieve its “gateway Negroni” status. It involves adding lactic acid to the spirits, before pouring the acidified cocktail into buttermilk to curdle it. The curds are then removed using chef’s oil filters, which helps eliminate the bitter flavours and tannins. The final product has a creamy, buttery texture without the dairy solids, making for a lighter, easy-going cocktail.
“Seasoned Negroni drinkers still like it, but people see the colour and go, ‘Oh what’s that? I’ll have one of those’,” says Canavan.
Bar Love has achieved a difficult feat that can be likened to the balance found in the Peaches and Cream Negroni: creating a menu that intrigues cocktail and spirits enthusiasts while still being fun and approachable enough for the general public.
Walsh says the split between cocktail connoisseurs and general patrons seems to be equal. “We have people who come here for the drinks, and I think we have people who come here for the atmosphere or the service,” he says.
“It’s always been part of what we have done; we created a space that should be inclusive for everyone. And that comes from all angles, whether you’re there to drink beer or cocktails or whether you’re coming in because this feels like safe space for you. We like making cocktails and we think we do it well, but we’re not necessarily forcing them down people’s throats.”
On the other side of the country, and on a much larger scale, is Prefecture 48. The sixvenue Japanese precinct recently opened in Sydney’s CBD, proffering an all-star team from Garaku Head Chef Derek Kim (former Tetsuya’s executive head chef) to Five Head Chef Hiroshi Manaka, who refined his skills at Michelinstarred restaurants across Europe.
Down the venue’s historic cobblestone alley and across the main courtyard, you’ll find Whiskey Thief. The bar has been decked out with fabric wall panels by Japanese tattoo artist Chris Horigo — it also has a menu designed by the acclaimed Maybe Sammy team.
Each of the art panels in Whiskey Thief represent a season, so we want the cocktails to be seasonal, too.
Stefano Catino
Founded in 2019, Azabu Group has established itself as a curator of memorable gastronomic experiences driven by a combination of art, exceptional service, and a few unique surprises along the way. Maybe Sammy Co-Founder Stefano Catino says The Maybe Group’s goals aligned with Azabu’s vision for Prefecture 48. “We liked the concept right away because they had a story to tell,” he says. “There is a lot of art and a lot of ideas in the venue, and we found ourselves fitting in.”
The parallels extended between Prefecture 48’s design and Maybe Sammy’s tenets, according to Catino. “We always think it should be seasonal. Each of the art panels in Whiskey Thief represent a season, so we want the cocktails to be seasonal, too.”
Whiskey Thief’s cocktails provide something for everyone — options that appeal to the daring and adventurous (like the Golden Origami, a gin fizz infused with earl grey and garnished with a golden origami biscuit), to the more well-known classics such as the Margarita.
But even the classics have a unique Maybe spin on them; the Mandarin Kosho Margarita isn’t your typical lime juice/tequila/Cointreau affair. “We do a mix of tequila and a little plum distillate which is a bit weird — it gives the drink a smoky flavour,” says Catino. “We also use a bit of kosho and top it up with white sesame ice cream.” Kosho is a Japanese condiment made from fermented yuzu, chilli, and salt. It has a distinctly spicy and tangy flavour profile, which gives the cocktail a unique kick akin to a spicy Margarita. The cocktail is served in a ceramic glass with ice cream on the side. “It’s been one of the most popular drinks because Margaritas have been popular lately — especially in summer,” says Catino.
Another summer sip “named after an area in Japan with blue water and tropical beaches — it almost looks like it could be in Australia,” is the Okinawa Sling. “It has rum and pisco, a little bit of grape, and lemongrass,” says Catino. “We top it up with lychee and calamansi juice. The Minister of Okinawa was in the venue on the opening night, and he was very excited to see it on the menu.”
The drink is garnished with bubble tea pearls.
While there’s a strong case to keep classics on summer cocktail menus, the takeaway for creating experimental summer sips is simple: keep it fresh, keep it seasonal, and most importantly, keep it fun.
Photography by Anson Smart and Prefecture 48 for Prefecture 48, and Ryan Ng for Bar Love
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