Shaken and stirred or naked and famous? Put these 10 modern cocktails on your radar

Illusion shakers. Toblerones. Shooters with lewd names. Jacks and Cokes … “easy on the Coke, eh?” Once upon a time, these were the epitome of cocktail culture in Perth.

Then, somewhere around the start of the millennium, worldly bartenders and forward-thinking venues such as Luxe Bar, Must Winebar and Universal Bar laid the foundation for the city’s cocktail renaissance, introducing us to the London “stick drinks” (mojitos, caipirinhas) that had stormed the English capital in the 1990s; gutsy American Prohibition cocktails such as old-fashioneds and Sazeracs; plus Kir royales, pastis and other interwar signatures and aperitifs made famous by The American Bar at The Savoy London, Harry’s Bar in Venice, and a thousand Parisian cafes and bistros.

Max Giudice, assistant head of hospitality at the Republic of Fremantle, recommends the East 8 hold up.

Circa 2024, mixed drinks are an ingrained part of the city (and state’s) food and drink DNA. Bottomless margaritas are the stuff of brunchtime lore. Bartenders are selling fancy hand-cut ice as well as bottled cocktails for use at home and in bars. And once-obscure drinks such as negronis, southsides and Moscow mules are now, pleasingly, commonplace. Best of all, this surge in cocktail culture has produced a new wave of cocktail bars and bartenders pushing drinks-craft forward.

In that spirit, WAtoday asked some of these shakers and stirrers to share their picks for the new modern classics – that is, drinks created during the recent golden age of cocktails that has shaped global drinking for the past three decades, plus one Mexican creation from (potentially) the 1950s – that drinkers need to have on their radar. Perhaps this hit-list will help you navigate the cocktail menu next time you’re out on the town. Or give you inspiration for your own home bartending experiments. Or even make you rethink once-maligned spirits such as absinthe and chartreuse (incidentally now one of the most in-demand alcohols on the planet and subject to frequent shortages). Most importantly, I hope this feature steers you towards a new favourite drink, a new bar to visit, or a new bartender to follow. Any of these would be a good result. And good results are keys to keeping cocktail culture vibrant and moving.

Revolver

The revolver is a caffeinated twist on a Manhattan created by Jon Santer from San Francisco’s Bourbon & Branch. The three-ingredient drink is locked and loaded with spicy rye whiskey (but you can also use bourbon); a kick of coffee liqueur (which replaces the Manhattan’s traditional sweet vermouth component) plus a few dashes of orange bitters and a flamed orange zest to garnish. I love experimenting with coffee in cocktails as it gives drinks depth and complexity. Because Aussies are obsessed with coffee, these drinks are also an easy sell for those who want to try something different.

- Elise Godwin: cocktail director and distiller, The Parker Group

Old Cuban

The daiquiri is one of my favourite cocktails and with just three ingredients, you have a formula for success. Improving on perfection feels like a difficult assignment, but not for legendary New York bartender Audrey Saunders who created the old Cuban at the start of the 2000s. It’s a royal daiquiri with hints of mint and splashed with champagne that tastes boozy, tropical, refreshing and classy. Everyone should try one at least once in their lives. It’s now a modern classic that can be found on menus around the world.

-Hugo Borralho: food and beverage manager, Lawson Flats, CBD

Xander Stucken, bar manager at Terrarium, recommends the French pearl.

Green beast

I’m a big fan of [French bartender] Charles Vexenat’s Green Beast which uniquely uses absinthe as the lone spirit along with cucumber, lime, sugar, and a little still water. Absinthe often shows up as just a rinse or is hidden among other strong flavours. Most folks I serve tend to be thrown by absinthe’s reputation for psychedelic high proof. But this drink is simple and fresh, making it a great stepping stone to encourage guests toward spirits and flavours they’re yet to try. The cucumber is irresistible.

-Ava Grandison: bar manager, Si Paradiso, Highgate

Nuclear daiquiri

A nuclear daiquiri is a daiquiri supercharged with overproof rum, the spiced tropical syrup falernum, and green chartreuse which has to be the hottest liqueur in the world right now with America constantly experiencing shortages of it. This modern classic is built to excite and liven you up, but you have to be careful: the overproof rum and boozy chartreuse can sneak up on you quickly. The chartreuse drops out the daiquiri’s usual fruitiness and brings just a touch of savouriness to things. You can buy falernum but I make my own which makes Rhum Burgundy’s ‘nuke’ a touch drier and spicier. As to my choice of spirit, I’ve played with a few overproof rums but I keep going back to the Jamaican classic, Wray & Nephew.

-Billy Phillips: bar manager, Rhum Burgundy, Margaret River

Naked and famous

[Ecuadorian bartender] Joaquin Simo, the creator of this modern classic, refers to the Naked and famous as the “bastard child born out of an illicit Oaxacan love affair between the classic Last Word and the Paper Plane.” Sweet, smoky mezcal mingles with bitter aperitifs to ground and balance the zing of fresh lime. It’s more than a little funky, diabolically moreish and intoxicatingly smoky and something everyone needs to try. The classic recipe calls for equal parts of mezcal, yellow chartreuse, Aperol and lime juice, but the version I serve at the bar goes a little heavier on the mezcal, swaps the yellow chartreuse for green chartreuse and gets sprayed with some peaty Ardbeg Scotch whisky.

James Connolly, bar manager at Bertie, Bassendean, recommends the jasmine.Credit: Tori Lill

-Lorin Phillips: assistant bar manager, Modu, CBD

Jasmine

I have been in love with this gin cocktail invented by Paul Harrington of the Townhouse Bar and Grill (Emeryville, California) for a number of years. Simplicity is the key to this cocktail as well as the fact that it doesn’t need any house-made ingredients and can be made in almost any cocktail bar. The great mystery is: how do you make a drink that tastes like ruby red grapefruit that has no ruby red grapefruit in it? This cocktail is how. I have tried playing around with a few riffs on this but have always gone back to the original recipe.

-James Connolly: bar manager, Bertie, Bassendean

French pearl

The French pearl is one of the few modern classics that I’d put on a menu. Created by Audrey Saunders in 2006 while she was at New York’s Pegu Club, this riff on the [classic gin cocktail] southside really gave gin and anise-flavoured spirits and liqueurs a solid push: both to other bartenders as well as to their guests. The drink features a heavy pour of gin plus fresh mint and lime balanced with sugar, finished with pastis, although I prefer to use absinthe. It all gets shaken and served up [bartender talk for without ice] in a coupe. It’s super refreshing and simple with an awesome herbaceous backbone.

-Xander Stucken: bar manager, Terrarium, CBD

East 8 hold up

One of many celebrated signature drinks from London’s illustrious Milk and Honey, this cocktail was created by Kevin Armstrong in 2010. The name comes from the postcode district (East 8) for the East London area that Kevin lived in and was notoriously a little rough. The story goes that Kevin was mugged on his way home and the episode became the East 8 hold up. A ridiculously crushable thirst quencher, the East 8 is a fruit-forward cocktail that celebrates the marriage of tropical and bitter. Made with super fresh seasonal ingredients, this really sings during the warmer months and is the perfect refresher for sunny afternoons in Boorloo/Perth and Walyalup/Fremantle. It’s super tasty, loads of fun and really shines with a great textural vodka.

-Max Giudice: assistant head of hospitality, Republic of Fremantle, Fremantle

White negroni

Although it carries the name of Italy’s most popular cocktail, the white negroni isn’t just a paler version of the original. Instead, the combination of gin, gentian-based Suze liqueur and floral Lillet Blanc vermouth has its own identity and went from an interesting negroni variant to become a modern classic in its own right. Invented by London bartender Wayne Collins who wanted to make a negroni using local ingredients on a warm French summer night, the white negroni flips the script on the original. It’s not a sweet, a little softer, and has more of a floral and herbal flavour that lets the gin shine in a way that it just can’t in the OG. The result is refreshing and bitter, summery and floral. Lemon peel adds the perfect zing to this refreshing boozy drink that’s ideal for scorching Perth summer days.

-Katia Taschetti: bar manager, Testun, Mount Lawley

Paloma

The origin story of the paloma is a little hard to pin down. Some say it was named after the popular folk song La Paloma. Others say it was created by the legendary Don Javier Delgado Corona, owner and bartender of La Capilla (Tequila, Mexico) and also the man that invented the batanga cocktail. A combination of tequila, grapefruit soda and lime, the paloma is one of the most the famous cocktails to come out of Mexico. It’s a little sweet, a little sour, some bitter and salty. Its uncomplicated design and refreshing nature make it a great fit for the laidback WA lifestyle. Long Chim’s Thai re-interpretation switches the paloma’s bright salted grapefruit vibe for an avocado-washed tequila with coconut and rhubarb that is carbonated before serving to create a crisp and refreshing drink.

Matt Bodycote; bar manager, Long Chim, CBD

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