Get Jordan Blackman's Cathedral In Bloom recipe

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH BOMBAY SAPPHIRE

Inspired by the streets nearby the historic Old Fitz, Odd Culture's group bars manager talks us through the recipe, and how they set the pub up for cocktailing success.

BOOTHBY: Talk us through the inspiration for this drink.

JORDAN BLACKMAN: Cathedral in Bloom is our drink for Hidden Jewels at The Old Fitz, our little pub in Woolloomooloo. I don’t know if you’ve been to The Old Fitz before, but Cathedral Street, one of the streets on the side of it, every summer, lovely jacaranda trees bloom. It’s a nice little indication that summer’s here. It’s obviously quite striking and beautiful in its own right. They’re not Australian trees, but it’s a very iconic Sydney thing. I was inspired by the colours, and the visually striking jacaranda trees in bloom.

Dragonfruit gives that nice pop of colour, obviously based on the almighty Bombay Sapphire. We make a little in-house strawberry gum distillate. This time we are using green jasmine liqueur. It’s a nice little pop of florals and tea.

Put that all together with a little bit of citrus and Aquafab to give it that nice, frothy, fluffy texture. And a little bit of matcha dusting on there, we’re trying to really emulate that striking image of Cathedral Street when the Jacarandas are out to play.

BOOTHBY: Tell us about the Old Fitz.

JORDAN BLACKMAN: It’s one of our lovely pubs in the Odd Culture Group. It’s been there for 185 years. We’ve had the pub for maybe four odd years now. It is pretty iconic for the area, and has a uniquely strong hold on the community. It’s a very big locals pub, the same locals and regulars who have been going for years and years and years. It’s got a great community spirit. I don’t think there’s another pub quite like it.

BOOTHBY: What’s your favourite time to go there?

JORDAN BLACKMAN: Sundays are a vibe, especially during roast season. Winter on a Sunday for a roast is big vibes, but there’s no real bad time to go. It’s a good summer venue, it’s a good winter venue, especially when the fire is going. One of the only pubs I can think of that has an operating fireplace.

BOOTHBY: What’s the kind of clientele that goes out?

JORDAN BLACKMAN: It’s a very diverse mix of people that go to Fitz, young, old. It’s probably some of the most diverse I’ve seen and it just works. Everyone gets along.

BOOTHBY: When it comes to prepping drinks, doing cocktails for a place like a pub instead of a cocktail bar, how do you think differently about the way you these drinks come together?

JORDAN BLACKMAN: I guess there a few different things to consider. Obviously operationally you want to kind of keep it as easy as possible for each venue and some venues are better, more equipped in terms of bar design for certain styles of drinks and service.

BOOTHBY: A lot of these pubs were never designed with cocktails in mind.

JORDAN BLACKMAN: Especially the Fitz. So we try to make it as easy and streamlined as possible. Whether or not it’s just keeping the drinks as simple as possible, or finding ways like batching to make it easier. It is a pub, but it is a high volume pub, and the bar is not really designed for high volume cocktails.