Pursuant to my piece in the New York Times T Magazine on the Small Bars of Sydney we'll be running cocktails from the bars included therein. First up is Eau de Vie, the snug, elegant and damn near perfect speakeasy in Darlinghurst. Barry Chalmers, a wry Scotsman, runs the show there, and we spoke about how the crew had been cherry-picked for their respective strengths. The personalities behind the bar are quite diverese and complement one another both in style and specialties. It's a well cast gang, all with immense cocktailing skills and deep knowledge of spirits. Barry's made this cocktail for me while I was there, an audacious attempt to fashion a cocktail around of the profoundly peaty Islay single malt, the Ardberg Ten Years Old. Having partaken of the very cocktail Barry's making in the above photo I can attest to his success with this endeavor.
THE TAMING OF ARDBERG
40 ml Ardberg Ten Years Old
20 ml Martini Rosso
10 ml Averna
1 Bar spoon Muscovado sugar
1 Dash Angostura Bitters
1 Bar spoon Kirsch
Stir down, serve up with an orange twist.
