With the recent cool change we've had in South Australia, our uniquely nutty and savoury style Limited Edition Macadamia gin has become a fast favourite for our team's Friday knock-off gin; the inclusion of roasted macadamias in post-maceration when crafting this gin inspires visions of eating roasted macadamias by a campfire - which is exactly what we feel like doing when the weather gets cooler.
And with winter looming, we've got to thinking about different ways in which we can continue to enjoy our Macadamia gin throughout the season. Thankfully we have some incredible cocktail minds at our disposal!
So, following the flavour success of our gauntlet throw down to come up with a few outstanding cocktails using our Limited Edition Muntrie gin, we upped the difficulty a little - this time a solo challenge for our Applewood Bar Manager, Mitch Gauvin, to come up with an array of cocktails for our Limited Edition Macadamia gin. It's safe to say he did not disappoint.
smoke & mirrors.
When we asked Mitch to come up with a few Macadamia cocktails, his first question was: "how complicated can it be?" - so with that as a bit of a heads up, this first cocktail requires a few ingredients you might not have at hand, however they are well worth the extra prep.
The nuttiness of our Macadamia gin is complimented by the nutty, chocolatey and sweet spices of coffee concentrate, cola and brown sugar reduction and wattleseed tincture, while the dash of Økar Island Bitter lifts the native Australian botanicals to the front. It's like a Negroni's cooler, older sibling. Catch us drinking these late into the evening, in front of a nice cosy fire.
45ml Macadamia gin20ml Coffee concentrate12ml Cola & brown sugar reduction*2ml Wattleseed Tincture**5 drops of Økar Island BitterSmall pinch of salt
Build all ingredients in mixing glass. Smoke tumbler glass with coffee beans. Stir ingredients with ice. Strain into smoked glass over ice.
*make using ratio of 4:3
**you can make this yourself or purchase a pre-made extract if you prefer
troppo.
If our
signature cocktail for our Macadamia gin didn't make it clear enough,
this gin is built for tropical flavours. This one is a bit of an homage to the tropical north of Australia, their endless summer, and one of our favourite tropical fruits - mangoes. With lime, pineapple, vanilla and mango, this fruit-bowl-in-a-glass is guaranteed to make you forget that it's winter, or - if you're lucky enough to be in the tropical north - perfect for sipping on while soaking up the sun.
45ml Macadamia gin10ml Økar Gold25ml Lime juice25ml Pineapple juice15ml Sugar syrup2 Dashes Peychaud’s Bitters3 drops of Vanilla Essence
Half a mango cheek
Muddle Mango in tin before adding remainder of ingredients and shake. Strain into highball glass. Add ice & top with soda. Garnish with mango chunk and mint leaves.
maca flip.
In a bit of a contrast to our first cocktail, this super simple number is a riff on a
New York Flip.
We've said it before and we'll say it again, but Macadamia goes exceptionally well with cream so this was a fairly intuitive choice to riff on. We've subbed out whiskey for our
Macadamia gin and port for
Vermouth and
Sherry,
to amplify the nuttiness, but the key elements of the flip - the
cream and the
egg - are there.
But that wasn't all, to bring this New York Flip to Australia, we've also swapped out the grated nutmeg garnish for chopped native cardamom. A simple, yet super tasty flip.
40ml Macadamia gin20ml Maidenii Classic Vermouth7.5ml Amontillado Sherry20ml Thickened Cream15ml Sugar syrup
1 Egg (whites and yolk)
Add all ingredients to cocktail shaker with ice and shake. Strain and dry shake. Double strain into stemless wine glass, garnish with chopped cardamom.
