Spritz or sour: As Perth bars launch their summertime cocktail lists, what is worth drinking?

Aperol Spritz is going to be bigger than ever this summer and tequila-based drinks are not far behind. That’s according to WA’s top bar keeps, who are now launching their new cocktail lists for summertime drinking. So, what have the city’s best cocktail makers got in store for us this year?

“Aperol spritz will be hotter than ever,” Mechanics Institute venue manager and seasoned drink-maker Murray Walsh said. “It’s lost its stigma too.”

Mechanic’s Institute has upped the ante in recent years to become more inventive.Credit: Jessica Wyld

What he means is that the fizzy orangey-pink mixture of Aperol, prosecco and soda has long been looked down upon by ‘serious’ (read hipster) bar tenders as a party pop drink not worthy of their talent. But, as ever, the customer is boss and it remains a hot favourite for Sunday afternoon lounge lizards and booze hounds. With the onset of warmer weather Walsh says: “we’re already getting lots of orders for Spritzes.”

Mechanics is one of Perth’s OG bars. They make a few classics but have upped the ante in recent years to become more inventive with their drinks.

“The trends are shifting, and we are selling less and less of the classic three ingredient old timers now,” Walsh says.

“We’re making the East Eight Holdup at the moment, a modern classic stir down of Aperol, vodka, lime juice and vanilla syrup.”

Another punchy summery drink on the Mechanic’s menu is the peaches and cream negroni, a blend of Westwinds gin, house-made peach syrup, buttermilk, Campari and Bianco vermouth. The ingredients are added to the buttermilk, which curdles and, once strained, leaves a crystal clear boozy buttermilk whey.

Punchy flavours at Mechanic’s Institute.Credit: Jessica Wyld

Walsh says the big leap forward this year has been customers “turning on to tequila. It’s very popular now and even Mezcal (tequila’s butch, smoky bigger brother) is gaining in popularity.”

Mechanics’ biggest selling drink is the Tommy’s Margarita, a take on the classic without triple sec and sugar and with the addition of agave as the sweetener.

“Mezcal has already overtaken tequila in terms of sales as customers try it and love it,” Walsh said. Other trends on their way to WA this year include fresh juice-based cocktails.

“Barmen are juicing everything they can lay their hands on at the moment and producing fresh, vibrant cocktails,” Walsh says.

“I don’t really know why, but post-COVID, customers have become more interested and adventurous in the cocktails they order. It’s a great time to be making drinks.”

Lachlan Howarth, the general manager (and a damn fine cocktail maker) of the Sneakers and Jeans hospitality group agrees.

“Our guests are more experimental now. They’re trying spirits they may have previously shied away from,” Howarth said.

Lachlan Howarth knows how to mix a magnificent drink.Credit: Rob Broadfield

“And yes, spritzes are big this year.”

Howarth, who looks after some of the city’s top bars including the Flour Factory, Varnish On King, Pirate Life, Crush bar, Honey and Hadiqa, says people want more fun with their drinks, but they’re very attuned to quality ingredients.

“They’re engaging more with sour, salty savoury flavours and fresh fruit juices. We’re using syrups now which are not the sugar bombs they used to be. They’re lean and fruity and aromatic with good botanicals.”

A case in point is one of the finest cocktails being made in Perth, the Daisy’s Delight at Honey bar. It’s bittersweet and sour, fairly jumping out of its skin with fresh lemon, pisco, Aperol and apricot cinnamon liquor shaken with egg whites.

Howarth says the classics are still in vogue this year, despite punters searching out new flavours and spirits they may not have approached before.

At his Varnish Bar “the whisky sour is still our number one seller.”

Howarth, who made arguably the finest Sazerac in town back when he was shaking the tins for a living, says there’s a big demand for the classics at the King Street whisky bar, the first of its kind in Perth. He says Perth drinkers have never been more willing to go out on a limb and try new drinks.

The classics with a twist are increasingly popular.Credit: Rob Broadfield

“This summer, thanks largely to a more adventurous customer base keen to try new things, sours, spritzes, fresh fruit, bold aromatics, acidic and very savoury cocktails will be in huge demand.”

Our Top Five cocktails in Perth

Sazerac. Varnish On King, Perth. When you order ask for the half-and-half version which uses half a measure each of rye whisky and cognac rather than the more common, all rye version most bar tenders will make.

East Eight Holdup. Mechanic’s Institute, Northbridge. A boldly flavoured, well-balanced blend of Aperol, lime juice, vanilla and vodka. A proper modern classic.

The Night Bazaar, Long Chim, Perth. Something so simple has no right to be this delicious. A blend of pineapple, lemongrass, coconut and agave, the Night Bazaar is puckeringly sour, but with good sweetness and subtle flavour. Long Chim has one of the most inventive bars in Perth.

Daisy’s Delight. Honey Bar, Perth. This is a classic shaken sour. It uses pisco, the South American rocket fuel, instead of whisky. Perfection.

Espresso Martini, Nieuw Ruin, Fremantle. No, it’s not the hen’s night drink you may be used to. It’s the real deal with a slight undercurrent of amaro to make it righteous and very adult.

How to get your cocktail on: Rob Broadfield explains

Australia is punching above its weight in terms of cocktail consumption and first-rate cocktail makers. And that’s not hyperbole. Americans have been drinking cocktails in even the most divey of dive bars for well over a century, while just 20 years ago in Australia, anyone who drank a cocktail was seen as effete, a bit suss or someone who loved show tunes and wallpaper catalogues.

Our enthusiastic embrace of cocktail culture in the past two decades has been nothing short of remarkable. We’ve gone from watery pub gin and tonics to the modern classic Penicillin in less than a generation.

Here’s your basic guide to cocktail drinking.

Rule number one: any bar that can produce a classic three ingredient cocktail and do it well, is a place to start your drinking adventures. The classics may be scant on ingredients, but they are notoriously difficult to get right. So, any bar that can crank out a respectable classic, is going to be good at just about any drink they shake or stir.

In Perth that means Varnish on King, Mechanics Institute, Bobeche, Foxtrot Unicorn, Songbird, Sneaky Tony’s, Nieuw Ruin and 399 Small Bar. Then there are restaurant bars like Wildflower, Long Chim, Santini and Rockpool which also hit it out of the park.

For serious drinkers, the go-to three ingredient old timers include Manhattan, Negroni, Sazerac, Gimlet, Martini, Whisky Sour and the Old Fashioned. Most of these were designed in the mid-1800s and early 1900s by bitters manufacturers like Peychaud, Angostura and Bokers as a marketing tool to sell their health enhancing tinctures.

And then there’s the spinoffs: drinks like our favourite martini, the Gibson, any number of bourbon and rye-based variants of the Old Fashioned and, late to the cocktail party, 1800s British and European drinks like the Pimms Cup, Vesper, Collins and Pink Gin. In more recent times sours (any cocktail with egg white) and spritzes, have taken off in Perth.

The Spritz to look out for this year is the Select Spritz which replaces Aperol with Select, a fruit and herb-based liquor from Venice with a flavour somewhere between the lolly-pop scent of Aperol and the bitter, herbal Campari. Venetians will tell you it pre-dates Aperol Spritz by several decades. It is, in our estimation, the best Spritz you can drink.

Fixing drinks at Merchanic’s Institute.Credit: Jessica Wyld

Then there are the modern classics, the serious drinks for serious drinkers which utilise house-made syrups and bitters, teamed with fruit and spice syrups and shrubs (a reduced fruit, sugar and vinegar syrup). Tequila and gin are leading the charge in this new space, but dark spirits drinkers are not left out with rum cocktails like the Jolly Roger and the coffee-scented Nightcap.

Speaking of coffee, one final thought. Is the espresso martini, a martini? Or a coffee flavoured vodka drink? Whatever your view, it’s a fast track to pants-down table dancing and lascivious behaviour. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but you have been warned.

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