Friday Happy Hour: Tequila Cocktails with Simon ONLINE

What’s it all about?

Have you had a breakup with tequila? Perhaps you were one of the lucky ones that skipped the messy teenage and university years of poor quality tequila in Taco Bill fishbowls. Internationally, craft cocktail bar menus now feature more and more tequila cocktails. Meanwhile, agave spirits are gaining traction as a new focus area for high quality spirit production to compete with boutique gins and rums. Come join us on a tasty but classy trip to try some refreshing tequila drinks.

What will we cover?

Enjoy a curated selection of cocktails with recipes to make at home
Give you the building blocks necessary to set up a good home bar
Introduce categories of tools and equipment useful for making cocktails
Show examples of different glassware and flexible options for serving drinks
Understand what’s essential and what you can live without (or substitute) to start making drinks on a budget
Demonstrations of key cocktail techniques to confidently approach most recipes from the galaxy of classic cocktail drinks
De-mystify cocktail jargon
List of places to pick up tools and supplies
Recommendations for further self guided learning (books, websites, youtube channels)

What will you need?

You need:

If you don’t want to hate tequila (again), it’s best to select a quality 100% agave brand. You probably don’t need to be told that any bottle with a sombrero hat is best avoided. Currently I’m mixing with Herradura Plata and Jose Cuervo Tradicional (*not to be confused with Especial… let’s also put J.C Especial on the list of tequilas to avoid) but there are plenty of other good brands – just ask your friendly bottle shop.

You need:
Drink 1: Blanco/silver tequila + triple sec (or Cointreau) + limes + salt
Drink 2: Blanco/silver tequila + limes + salt + agave nectar
Drink 3: Blanco/silver tequila + limes + fresh pineapple juice

Drink 4: Blanco/silver or reposado tequila + limes + spicy ginger beer* + creme de cassis*

* Ginger beer: Use a very spicy one. eg. Fever-Tree, CAPI flamin’ ginger beer, StrangeLove hot ginger beer or StrangeLove double ginger beer.

* Creme de cassis: Best to source either a quality imported French brand (eg. Mathilde, Massenez, Vedrenne, Gabriel Boudier) or a great local Australian Marionette Dry Cassis. I use Mathilde creme de cassis but my local IGA Boccaccio Cellars has a 50ml creme de cassis miniature from another French brand. Failing that, Ribena will be a rather sweet alternative (or Chambord but only if you already have it).

Who will be teaching?

Simon began adult life disliking alcohol in all forms after repeated unsuccessful attempts to be friends with beer, rum/coke and tequila sunrises. But a chance encounter with a vodka, lime and soda was his gateway drink into a classic daiquiri at the famed cocktail bar Der Raum. Since then Simon become an avid barfly visiting cocktail bars around the world in Europe, America, Asia, NZ and Australia as well as being good friends with gin, rum, whiskey and wheat beers. More recently Simon has been creating at-home cocktail experiences and teaching friends to make tasty drinks all around the world whether it’s a Melbourne balcony, a villa in Tuscany, an apartment in Paris or on a sailing boat in San Francisco Bay.