Tassie Living: Five of the best summer cocktails

What better way to celebrate summer than with a refreshing and flavoursome cocktail at one (or all) of Hobart’s great drinking and dining venues? Here are five of the best.

The Lounge by Frogmore Creek bar manager Alex Chaplin with the Mandi’s Paloma cocktail. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

WHAT better way to celebrate summer than with a refreshing and flavoursome cocktail at one (or all) of Hobart’s great drinking and dining venues? Here are five of the best.

The Lounge by Frogmore Creek, 18 Hunter St, Hobart

The cocktail list in the bar at Frogmore Creek’s waterfront lounge has been freshly reinvented for summer. One standout is Mandi’s Paloma – a Milagro tequila-based cocktail packed with fruity flavours from fresh-pressed mandarin juice, lime juice, apricot, agave nectar and grapefruit soda ($21). A simpler but no less refreshing option is the Double B and T ($10 in happy hour, Monday to Friday). It contains a double shot of Charles Oates Apple Blanco from Willie Smith’s Apple Shed in the Huon Valley and tonic water.

INDULGE: REFINED DINING AT THE LOUNGE

Boodle Beasley, 315 Elizabeth St, North Hobart

There’s barely enough vino in production to keep up with the rate spritzers have been selling at Boodle Beasley this summer. The bubbly cocktails are made to the taste of the customer and range in price depending on the wine used ($16-$20). The North Hobart newbie is about to release its summer cocktails list with gin cocktail Experience the Neon a feature. It is made with freshly muddled cucumber, dry style London gin ‘Boodles’, a slightly sweet ginger liqueur, St Germain and salt and pepper. The drink has a savoury orientation with a dash of sweetness ($23).

Grinners Dive Bar, 132-134 Elizabeth St, Hobart

Grinners Dive Bar is one of the new kids on the Elizabeth St strip. With Mexican-inspired food and drinks, Grinners specialises in margaritas. Tequila is experiencing the most growth of any spirit in Australia right now, which makes Grinners the place to be for a summer cocktail session. One of the favourites is the Spicy Watermelon margarita with jalepeno-infused tequila, watermelon, lime, agave and Cointreau ($19). It packs a kick and makes a good replacement for a Bloody Mary as a morning cure.

The margarita is a classic cocktail and a speciality at Grinners Dive Bar. Picture: Jenifer Jagielski

Lucinda, 123 Collins St, Hobart

From the owners of hatted restaurant Dier Makr comes the new Collins St wine bar, Lucinda. The bar opened about a month ago and fronts the street at the same address as the acclaimed restaurant. Some of the seasonal cocktails featuring this summer include the Earl Grey Iced Tea with rum and burnt citrus ($16), the Kunzea Blossom Spritz with a bitter gin topped with soda ($14) and a Strawberry and Sweet Cicely Spritz ($18). There are plenty of old favourites on the menu to work through too.

INDULGE: DIER MAKR A HIDDEN TREASURE

Fico Bistro and Vino, 151 Macquarie St, Hobart

The folks at Fico specialise in classic European cocktails such as the Negroni or the classic White Spritz (both $16). But one cocktail on the menu catches the eye above all others on a steaming summer’s evening – the Fig Gin and Tonic ($16). For this cooling cocktail, a dry gin is infused with fig leaves, giving it a green colour and a fresh, fruity taste. Follow up your Saturday sessions through summer with a Bloody Mary made with freshly squeezed tomatoes ($14 – only available on Sundays).

INDULGE: DELICIOUSLY DEFT AT FICO BISTRO AND VINO