Cheese, pear and smoke — the hip new way to make an Old Fashioned

Our favourite whiskey cocktail has had a Melbourne makeover. You’ve probably never tried it with these ingredients — here’s how one bartender turned the classic drink on its head.

You’ll find an Old Fashioned on most cocktail lists across Melbourne.

On paper, it’s a fairly simple cocktail — spirit, water, bitters and sugar.

But bartender Tim Pope believes it’s the hardest drink to master.

“Everything is stripped bare. You have to choose a good base spirit,” he says.

“It’s simplistic, but there’s nothing to hide behind (if you use a bad spirit).”

It’s an understatement to say Tim masters the complex drink while working at Melbourne’s New Gold Mountain bar.

This year he’s picked up two awards for creating his spin on the classic cocktail — he was the winner of Perfect Blend Australia’s Best Apprentice category for 2018 and was the Woodford Reserve Cocktail Challenge Victoria State Winner.

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Tim’s talent for cocktail making shone during the Woodford challenge, where he created ‘The Burbs’ — a spin on the classic Old Fashioned.

Tim used Woodford Reserve Select as his base and built flavour profiles around that.

To begin he used the subtle sweetness of nashi pear (sugar element) and smoke.

“I took nashi pears, as they’re sharper and not overly sweet and used a mandoline to slice them off and kept them to the side. The other half I turned into a pear syrup,” he says.

“Then I added that char, so I used a micro-dash of liquid smoke.”

Then he added a house-made cardamom bitters.

“The whole point of bitters is to carry the flavour. It helps your palate taste the flavour for longer,” he says.

Lastly Tim wanted to highlight a creamy, velvety texture.

Tim Pope from Melbourne's New Gold Mountain bar

“I then coated the underside in black pepper and dehydrated them, to add a different textural component.”

Still missing a flavour note, Tim used a left-of-field ingredient that would complement the creaminess of the bourbon — mascarpone cheese.

“I decided to use it as a garnish to my drink. I added some fennel oil (to the mascarpone) which bridged that link between the garnish and the drink,” he says.

The drink not only earned Tim the Victorian State Final title, but a close second in the national heat.

The win also led Tim to change his five year plan.

“I wanted to start entering competitions and getting through to the finals in five years,” he says.

“Now I’ve entered two, gone to the finals in both and won two awards.”

Tim will move from Melbourne to Geelong in the next fortnight to work at Geelong’s new venue Manhattan Bar.

He’ll also occasionally be behind the bar at sister-venue The 18th Amendment, also in Geelong.

You can sample Tim’s winning cocktails at New Gold Mountain, level 1 and 2, 21 Liverpool St, Melbourne.

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