Taste of Sydney 2012: Cocktails, Bars and Sensology

At Taste of Sydney, in between feasting at your favourite restaurants, you could sip on cocktails, learn about spirits, watch bartenders mix and shake as well as make your own under expert and sometimes celebrity instruction.

Beach Bar with Think Spirits

Beach Bar with Think Spirits added a summery theme to the festival with beach huts and cocktails that remind you of your last holiday in the sun. Rum, Tequila, Absinth, Pisco, Gin, Bitters and Liqueurs offered an extensive range of drinks from which to choose. Two cocktails for 20 crowns earnt you a Gosling’s Rum Fedora Hat as a bonus.

Brendan Keown with Gosling’s Black Seal Rum (L) Partida Blanco Chimayo (R)

Gosling’s Black Seal Rum and Ginger Beer ticked all the right boxes at 11.15 am while the Partida Blanco Chimayó, thanks to its apple ingredient, was a healthy and refreshing way to kick start the day.

John Gakuru of Think Spirits with Fernet Branca

From the Bitters menu, Fernet Branca, a bitter and aromatic Italian liqueur is an effective digestif and worked its magic after a few indulgent restaurant dishes at Taste of Sydney.

The team at Think Spirits Beach Bar

(more photos on Facebook)

St-Germain Delice de Sureau from Vanguard Luxury Brands

St-Germain elderflower liqueur

At the St-Germain stand, it was all class with bare bottomed posters that reminded you of French liaisons. St-Germain is an artisanal liqueur made from hand-selected and picked wild elderflowers during their peak season. Made with maceration techniques, the drink has a balance of citrus notes, pear and passionfruit making it ideal in cocktail or to sip neat on ice.

Nicola Wagner and Mitch Bushell of Vanguard Luxury Brand

The St-Germain Cocktail is made with 1.5 shots of St-Germain, 2 shots of Champagne/Sparkling or dry white whine and 2 shots of sparkling water. Elegant, fresh and aromatic, the cocktail proved very refreshing in the heat.

(more photos on Facebook)

San Pellegrino & Acqua Panna

The San Pellegrino & Acqua Panna stand occupied a sizeable space with share tables and a long bar serving up cocktails with Finlandia Vodka.

San Pellegrino & Acqua Panna stand

Prince Limonata

Grapefruit and lemon flavours married well in a Prince Lemonata cocktail, made with Finlandia Grapefruit Vodka, honey water, sugar syrup, mint, San Pellegrino limonata, and lemon swirl.

Leeroy Petersen with Finlandia Vodka

(more photos on Facebook)

Cocktail at Original Black Label Chilled Juice

If alcohol isn’t your drink of choice, you could wander in to the Original Black Label Chilled Juice stand under black umbrellas, watch an artist at work and sip on a fresh juice.

Haylee Morison with the Original Breeze Cocktail

Or, if you asked nicely, you could try the Original Breeze Cocktail, made with Original Black Label Apple, Lime with a hint of Mint Juice, Bacardi Rum, fresh lime and fresh mint.

Robbie Stowe flaring with Bacardi

If your timing was right, you would have seen the amazing Robbie Stowe flaring with Bacardi rum.

(more photos on Facebook)

Southtrade International

Southtrade International occupied two double stands with offerings of Patron Tequila, Green Fairy Absinth, Agwa and Alizé.

Kacy Thurlow and Tony Lau at the Patron Tequila stand

At Patron Tequila, you had a choice of an Xpresso Martini made with Patron XO Cafe, or Paloma, Caballito and Margarita made with Patron Silver.

Xpresso Martini and Caballito

Both the Xpresso Martini and Caballito, a Bloody Mary version made with tequila and cucumber foam delivered a strong kick to keep you going at Taste of Sydney into the later hours.

Green Fairy Absinth is a Czek absinth renowned for its signature Wicked Party Punch which uses liquid nitrogen. Visitors to the stand were kept entertained with siphoned cream that was nitro-frozen then eaten immediately with unexpected results.

Nitro in action at the Green Fairy Absinth stand

Toni Law at the Agwa stand

Across a patch of grass, and it was over to the Agwa stand, a Coca Leaf liqueur hand selected in Bolivia and crafted in Amsterdam. The herbal liqueur is made by macerating the coca leaves followed by pot distillation to 72-82% before it is infused with a neutral spirit and 36 herbs and botanicals.

Bolivian Kiss (L) and Agwa Bomb (R)

The Bolivian Kiss is pure Agwa where you bite the wedge of lime, consume the Agwa then “feel the buzz”. Or if you’re into a bigger buzz, the Agwa Bomb is made with red bull and Agwa floating on top.

Jackson Lanning (L) and James Johnstone (R) with the Alizé range

With its neon colours juxtaposed against a graffiti wall asking “What’s your Alizé?”, a pit stop at the Alizé stand was a must. The liqueurs are a blend of Cognac and fresh tropical juices and passionfruit. Gold Passion, Wild Passion, Red Passion are among the range with Alizé Bleu adding French vodka to Cognac and fruit juices.

If you like your drinks on the sweet side, you’ll enjoy working your way through the range of Alizé either with mixers or simply over ice.

(more photos of Southtrade International on Facebook)

Bacardi Sensology

If you spotted people sipping on red balls, your curiosity would have led you to the Sensology stand, with Grand Marnier slushies and rows of Bacardi Rum, Bombay Sapphire and the odd Grey Goose Vodka.

Grand Marnier at Sensology

Bombay Sapphire, Grand Marnier and Bacardi Rum

Know your jigger from your Boston glass shaker? At Taste of Sydney, you could take part in Sensology sessions and learn “the Art of Cocktail Making“. You get to mix and shake your own cocktail in a fun environment under expert instruction. And you get to drink it.

Sensology

Regular sessions ran throughout the event with Pina Coladas, Mojitos, Breakfast Martinis, Cosmopolitans or Daiquiris made by eager participants.

Loy Catada (Bacardi Lion) demonstrating how to shake

Getting into the spirit

Sean Forsyth, Loy Catada, Jean Munos, Martin Newell (Bacardi Lion team)

If you were in luck, you would have participated in a cocktail making session with celebrity Chef Manu Feildel and enjoyed his French antics with Jean Munos, Grand Marnier Ambassador, while you made a Cosmopolitan.

French antics with Jean Munos and Chef Manu Feildel

Celebrity Chef Manu Feildel and Jean Munos (Grand Marnier Brand Ambassador)

The Sensology team with Manu

(more photos of Sensology on Facebook)

For more photographs of the exhibitors featured in this article and others, visit Gourmantic on Facebook and remember to “Like” the page.

More in the Taste of Sydney 2012 series:

– Chefs, Restaurants and Tasting Menu
– Eau-de-Vie Bar at Taste of Sydney 2012 & Ketel One Bar Tours
– Taste of Sydney Exhibitor Highlights
– Champagne, Wine, Beer & Cider at Taste of Sydney