4 of Australia’s most expert and imaginative bartenders – Jake Down (Apollonia), Lachlan Bentley (Gimlet at Cavendish Home), Martin McConnell (Frog’s Hole Saloon) and Pauric Kennedy (Barangaroo Home) – introduced their most formidable concepts to life in Sydney lately, competing within the closing of the inaugural Bombay Sapphire Stir Creativity Cocktail Competitors –– nonetheless it was Jake Down who wowed judges along with his multisensory Sydney Opera Home-inspired ‘Symphony of Sapphire’ creation to take out the highest prize.
Open to aspiring bartenders from throughout the nation, the competitors drew over 200 entries, appearing as a broad survey of a few of Australia’s most fun cocktail-making expertise earlier than being whittled right down to 21 who have been judged across the nation in venue. Bombay Sapphire’s immediate: ‘Noticed This, Made This,’ invited entrants to hunt inspiration from their environment to develop an idea that might act as a launch pad for modern new concepts and storytelling.
Tasked with inventing their very personal gin-based cocktail, entrants got carte blanche to provide you with a novel drink that might transport audiences whereas showcasing the flexibility of gins from the Bombay Sapphire household, which incorporates Bombay Sapphire, Bombay Sapphire Premier Cru, Bombay Citron Pressé, Bombay Bramble and Bombay Sapphire Sundown.
Impressed by the Sydney Opera Home, Down explored the idea of synaesthesia, a cognitive phenomenon that blends one’s notion of sight, sound, contact, and style in uncommon methods, incorporating sound and vibration into his cocktail-making course of.
For his award-winning flip, Down paid homage to the enduring Sydney Opera Home, a landmark he passes on his commute to work on the acclaimed subterranean cocktail bar, Apollonia, in Sydney’s bayside The Rocks.
“My idea began from seeing the Sydney Opera Home every day as I get off the prepare at Round Quay for work,” Down explains. “Regardless that I’m usually not acutely aware of it, I bear in mind observing my environment and interested by the enduring nature of this unmistakably Australian landmark; its visible affect fitted completely with Bombay Sapphire’s concept of ‘Noticed This, Made This,’” he explains, persevering with: “I believed: ‘The place can I am going with this?’ and explored from there.”
Down chosen to function Bombay Sapphire London Dry Gin for his recipe, a superbly balanced mix that comes with recent younger coconut water, mint syrup, fake citrus, saline and his very personal house-made “rain aroma” ––ingeniously capturing components of Sydney’s vibrant vitality, nautical identification, and subtropical local weather.
So, what’s the key to nailing a inventive idea? “Easy flavours, advanced considering,” Down says. “Much less is extra. You possibly can all the time layer complexity into simplicity, however you should do it via approach, not including extra components,” he explains. “The less components, the extra influence; in any other case, you threat issues tasting diluted or crowded. Somewhat than including extra, step again and ask whether or not what you’re doing is one of the simplest ways to get complexity from the components.”
Impressed by the Sydney Opera Home, Down explored the idea of synaesthesia, a cognitive phenomenon that blends one’s notion of sight, sound, contact, and style in uncommon methods, incorporating sound and vibration into his cocktail-making course of.
“I used to be reflecting on the which means of the Sydney Opera Home and the way it’s a spot to see performs, hearken to music, or aural performances,” Down explains. “Sound is so highly effective in evoking feelings and recollections, and I used to be interested by how I’d incorporate this sense within the making of a cocktail. From there, I began trying into synaesthesia and understanding the ways in which flavours, sounds and colors can mix via our senses. It made sense to me to proceed my exploration into the realm of sound.”
He continues: “The recipe began off with three key components: coconut, mint, and citrus. I found that every flavour might be paired with sure sounds from the spectrum of musical notes. I then used a quartz sound bowl to ‘combine’ the drink, permitting the vibrations to stir the liquid. The ensuing cocktail captures the distinctive spirit of Sydney––with brilliant citrus notes, salty hints and an evocative tropical rain aroma that nodded to town’s unmistakable summer time showers.
Because the winner of this yr’s competitors, Down walked away with a trophy, $3,000 in prize cash, and a lapel pin modelled on his profitable cocktail. He’ll even be heading to London in October alongside competitors decide and Bombay Sapphire Australian Model Ambassador Corina Retter, for an all-expenses-paid journey that may absorb visits to London Cocktail Week and the Bombay Sapphire distillery, Laverstoke Mill, in south-west England.
Corina explains that in such a pushed, gifted, and broad area of entrants, Down stood out for his honed expertise, on-stage charisma, and the assured readability of his idea.
“One of many largest challenges of a contest like that is to have the ability to develop a inventive idea that’s compelling, convincing and capable of take the judges and viewers on a journey,” Retter says. “However that’s simply step one; you even have to determine easy methods to make it scrumptious,” she laughs. “What stood out with Jake is that he was very assured along with his idea and his execution—and his strategy was actually heat, enjoyable and interesting, which is such an integral talent for a bartender.”
“There may be a lot expertise on this nation, it’s unbelievable the creativity that you just see,” Retter continues. “I feel there’s an appreciation for high quality components creating an actual sense of place within the drinks to mirror our distinctive local weather and life-style, and our bars and eating places are all the higher for it.”
Retter provides that within the wake of such a powerful opening yr, the long run for the Bombay Sapphire Stir Creativity Cocktail Competitors is brilliant. “Not like different competitions which may cater to extremely skilled bartenders, our imaginative and prescient was to open up this chance to a broad viewers of bar professionals who had recent concepts to share and a starvation to study extra concerning the inventive prospects of Bombay Sapphire.”
Purposes for the following Stir Creativity Cocktail Competitors open in mid-2024.
This story featured within the July 2023 version of Australian Bartender Journal which is in bars now.
