It’s Friday, and my mind is turning to cocktails, not least because we’re off — along with a dozen or so fellow Australians — to Hong Kong this weekend as part of The World’s 50 Best Bars caravan that is pulling into town. If you’re also heading over to HK, let us know — there is a lot going on, as you can tell by this schedule. Huge.
Below, I have a look at the Fine à l’Eau from Bar Nouveau in Paris, which I visited earlier in the year — it’s a beautiful little space, and one of the best drinks I’ve had so far this year.
Bar Nouveau is a little bar in Paris, but it’s one that has made a big impression on cocktail aficionados and bartendery types alike. It’s also the current home for one of Australia’s finest bartending talents, Harrison Kenney, who left Sydney in 2022 to work at Nouveau’s sister bar, A Bar With Shapes For A Name.
The move has paid off, if the accolades of Tales of the Cocktail’s Spirited Awards are anything to go by: Kenney was named in the Top 10 for International Bartender of the Year this year.
At Bar Nouveau, the first drink on the brief list of cocktails is this one: Fine à l’Eau. It is modelled after a popular French drink of years gone by, that featured cognac and sparkling water — Kenney tells us that in the novels, Ian Fleming’s James Bond actually drank this drink more than he did Martinis (well, not the Bar Nouveau take — but you get the idea).
While the recipe here calls for 100ml of sparkling water, for service at the bar they batch the ingredients and carbonate things; it’s a small space, and a very busy bar.
The drinking desires of fictional spies aside, this drink is beautiful for its elegance — it’s a finely fashioned way of drinking cognac (or your grape brandy of choice), and reason enough to book a trip to Paris.
While I’m on the topic of very good drinks, a little reminder that entries into the Drink of the Year Awards are open now, and close on Friday 17 October. Time always runs out faster than you think, so get to your entries ASAP.
If we had an international component to the Drink of the Year, I reckon this recipe below would feature on the list. Take a look.
Fine à l’Eau
Ingredients:
- 35ml Martell VS Cognac
- 25ml verjus
- 20ml simple syrup
- 100ml sparkling water
Method:
- Stir down all ingredients except the water with ice.
- Strain into a chilled stemmed water glass.
- Top with cold sparkling water and give it a little stir before serving.
Adapted from a recipe by Remy Savage at Bar Nouveau, Paris. Lead photograph by Audrey Carpentras.
Boothby Staff
