Welcome to the next in a series of stories showcasing one drink, one bartender, at one great bar. This series is made possible by Brown-Forman's Elevate program — to learn more, contact your Brown-Forman representative.
This year marks year two of Centro 86, the underground tequila joint from the Mucho Group (Cantina OK!, Tio’s Cerveceria, Bar Planet, Bar Herbs). Across that time, they’ve grown their tequila selection — there’s some 200-odd bottles on the back bar today — and become a must-visit destination for a growing group of regulars.
All the while, though, they’ve been making top quality Margaritas, as venue manager Zac Keam talks about in the interview below.
The trick to their take on the classic is to incorporate shaved ice from their Japanese kakigori ice shavers, he says, as well as custom additions like the fermented hot honey used in the recipe below.
Here, Zac talks about the big ideas behind Centro 86, their unique way of tasting and describing spirits (and how they applied that to Herradura Plata), and walks us through their hot honey Margarita.
BOOTHBY: Hey Zac, what do you do here at Centro 86?
ZAC KEAM: I’m the venue manager here at Centro 86.
BOOTHBY: How long have been here? Can you tell us a bit about Centro 86?
ZAC KEAM: I’ve been here since we opened, just over two years ago. Centro 86 is a Margarita bar. We’ve got over 200 different agave spirits, big tequila focus. Our menu is mostly Margaritas, it gives everyone a different flavour — a different drink for everyone.
BOOTHBY: How did you get into bartending? How long have been at it?
ZAC KEAM: About 10 years now, working with different types of bars. But I’ve always loved cocktails and finding a different way to make drinking enjoyable whether it’s a slow sipping spirit or it’s just a fun party. I think a good bar is a place where you can always find a drink you like.
BOOTHBY: When it comes to walking into Centro 86, can you describe what people are gonna be experiencing?
ZAC KEAM: Centro’s definitely a different beast, on different times when you come in. One of the things that the staff and I all laugh about is that we’ve got so many different regulars who never meet. You’ve got your Sunday, Monday, early arvo regulars sitting and sipping a nice tequila, maybe a mezcal Tommy’s. And then we’ve got our fun Friday and Saturday night regulars who will come in, cut a couple of shapes.
BOOTHBY: Can tell us what the name of this drink is? How would you describe it?
ZAC KEAM: We’ve got a nice little Herradura Margarita with fresh red grapes, thyme oil and hot honey. So it hits all the different marks. How we came up with this one, which is how we come up with all the drinks down here at Centro, is first we’ll sit with our hero spirit, have a little taste, have a chat about it, talk through not just the flavours but talk through the feel of the spirit.
And as we sat with [Mucho Group creative director] Jeremy Blackmore and the rest of the team, sipping Herradura Plata, we all came up with this summery vibe, some textured fresh red grapes, summer picnic, and we leant into that with this fresh thyme oil, fresh red grapes muddled in there and a little daggy faux Martini garnish.
And a nice fermented chili honey that’s been out the back for a while now that I’m really excited to finally showcase.
BOOTHBY: Can you walk us through the steps of how you build the drink?
ZAC KEAM: All our Margaritas down here are the shaved ice. So we’ve got these lovely kakigori ice machines from Japan, which are used to make shaved ice matcha desserts and that sort of thing. We shave a bit of ice in there to add that nice texture, and it means that when we shake the drink we can shake it super hard. It really aerates that lime juice and we don’t have to go too crazy to dilute the thing.
Lovely Herradura Plata, nice and fresh. Fresh red grapes muddled in there, a healthy pour of our fermented hot honey and lovely thyme oil on top.
BOOTHBY: Can you talk about this emotional tasting way you approach spirits here?
ZAC KEAM: The emotional tasting that we run was definitely a different affair to get used to. Most tastings you go to have a little sip and everyone starts chirping with all the flavours [they detect]. Down here we have a sip, sit and mull on it for five or 10 seconds, just so you don’t dilute each other’s opinions with your own ideas. We’ll have our own ideas and then then we’ll work together and bounce all these different notes, feelings, stories, settings together. And then we’ll go in for that second sip, that third sip, and it sort of informs a larger scene. So with Herradura Plata, when we tasted it, everyone got that freshness. Everyone got those really great different citruses. We really leant into the grapes — grape energy kept getting thrown around as we were bouncing ideas. Everyone said summer, we started thinking picnic vibes, really honey-like texture, then we were really leaning into the honey.
Herradura Hot Honey Margarita
Ingredients
- 3 fresh red grapes
- 3 parts Herradura Plata
- 1 part hot honey
- 1 part fresh lime
Method
- Muddle the red grapes.
- Combine ingredients and shake hard with ice.
- Pour over shaved ice.
- Serve with a skewer of grapes.
For the hot honey:
- 200g long red chillis
- 500g honey
- Chop chillis into 2mm thick slices.
- Add chilli slices to the honey tub.
- Allow the honey to ferment for 1 week.
- You'll know it is ready when it is a little spicy and quite runny.
Recipe by Zac Keam at Centro 86, Sydney.
Founded in 1870, in the small town of Amatitán in Jalisco, Casa Herradura is the last tequila-producing Hacienda in the world. Tequila Herradura tells an over 150-year story of exceptional Tequila and vivid innovation. Tequila Herradura is an extraordinary fusion of the terroir and the process, expert skill and ancient tradition.
Sam Bygrave
Sam Bygrave
