Welcome to Sidecar No Sugar, a weekly Boothby newsletter about Brisbane bars and the people, work and creativity that grounds it. (You can sign up to get it in your inbox each week, right here.) This week, I visited some bars to crunch the numbers on the most popular cocktails among the People of Brisbane. Is it the ever-reigning Margarita? The unmistakable Espresso Martini? Or something more unpredictable?
If you have info the Brisbane bar community should know, please email me contact@beccawang.com.au or send me a message via Instagram (@supper.partying).
Cocktails in Brisbane are thriving. (My theory is that after Covid, people realised their home-DIY cocktails don’t quite taste as good as what you get in bars.) In the last couple of years, we saw the opening and success of numerous conceptual cocktail bars and cocktail-focused drinks lists such as Aizome Bar, Before + After, Bar Miette, The Nixon Room, and Marlowe.
Last weekend, I asked bartenders and operators in central Brisbane to share the cocktail trends they’ve observed and how the numbers are faring. House cocktails are becoming more technique-based while embracing simplicity and seasonality of our diverse Queensland produce. Classic cocktails still dominate the conversation — and only a few predictable ones at that. At some venues, basics have become virtually extinct, like at Savile Row, where 80 percent of all drinks sold are cocktails (and there is a fifty-fifty split between house cocktails and classics). The Gresham has sold less wine overall while at Before + After, they’ve sold 17 Hanky Pankys in the last year — “Twelve more than there should be,” if you ask Corby Small.
Margarita
It is always a bad day to be a Margarita. As expected, our agave-lime friend reigns like a totalitarian dictator in all its iterations. At Savile Row, the Margarita has ruled the classics leaderboard by a whopping 150 serves in the last three months, followed by the Espresso Martini, Old Fashioned and Negroni (in that order). At Frog’s Hollow Saloon, classic Margaritas have been favoured over variations: notably, people are drinking fewer Tommy’s Margaritas. Similarly, at Death & Taxes, there’s been a decline in the Spicy Margarita.
Old Fashioned
The Old Fashioned is still as popular as ever but this is expected, since in many of these bars, whisky — American and otherwise — occupies the most shelf space. Frog’s, Savile and The Gresham reported that bourbon Old Fashioneds are preferred over scotch. “We only really get bourbon Old Fashioneds, even though we are a scotch bar,” says Corby Small, general manager of The Gresham. And this isn’t just happening in whisky bars. Old Fashioneds make up 20 percent of classic cocktails at Before + After, an amaro and cocktail bar. There are also three times as many bourbon Old Fashioneds than scotch.
Martinis
The Dirty Martini train isn’t pulling its brakes any time soon. After its social media boom at the start of the year, Dirty Martinis have seen a 500 percent increase in all countries The 50 Best visit*. Ben McCallum, general manager of Death & Taxes, reports that most Martinis ordered are dirty (and getting “ridiculously dirtier”). The Dry Martini consumer group remains small, consistent and as loyal as ever.
*not actually true, but it sure feels that way!
Negronis
Negronis are controversial among non-bartending folk – especially in sunshine-weis-bar-Brisbane. Most bartenders love and appreciate the iconic aperitivo and there are plenty of bars that have Negroni riffs on their menus in hopes of converting more of the wider public. And it may be working. Negronis are consistently third or fourth on the leaderboards (except at Bar Brutus, it comes first — go figure).
Wildcards
To conclude, a few unexpected, rambunctious observations that deserve a sidebar:
- A subtle resurgence of the White Russian and French Martinis (very 2000s).
- Who drinks Southsides anymore???
- The Hugo Spritz might be THE Spritz of the summer.
- More Last Words than usual — Chartreuse monks look out.
- A few Spaghetts (Aperol and beer) here and there.
The Last Word
- Have you entered your drink into the Drink of the Year Awards yet? It’s got to be a drink that has been on the list at your bar, or regularly available, for some time during the past 12 months. You’ll need a good photo of the drink, one of yourself, the recipe and some more info which you can find at boothby.com.au/drinkoftheyear — entries close 11:59PM AEDT Friday 17 October.
