These locals are making is especially nice to drink locally. Pull up a bar stool in Surry Hills, follow the neon to Doom Juice Cellar Door, or stock your bar cart with one of four new liquids from one of two nearby distilleries. Drink’s up, Sydney. Whiskey, Ester Spirits x Young Henrys Marrickville’s Ester Spirits is a backyard distillery turned world-class spirit house. Couple Felix Clark and Corinna Kovner’s latest release is a golden-hued collaboration with Young Henrys: a trio of whiskeys. The project started
with the brewery, when Oscar McMahon and his team distilled a whiskey and, essentially, popped it out the back. A decade later and that liquid was entrusted to Ester, becoming a 10-year-old rye, nine-year-old single malt and a 150-bottle run of Full Proof Cask Strength Single Malt. The trio marks Ester’s whiskey debut, and is available in limited numbers online. Plum rakija, DNA Distillery DNA has been making rakija since the pandemic, but the team’s family has been making it for five generations. Their latest
release brings ripe Aussie plums to the bottle, double-distilled for the same smooth finish – with spicier, fruitier flavours. It’s similar to a sljivovica, a Balkan fruit brandy. The lightly golden drop is $89 a bottle, and joins a classic, gold and pear in the DNA line-up. Saké flights, Amuro Surry Hills Japanese cubby Amuro is strengthening its already-outstanding saké offering with curated flights. You’ll be poured a trio of rice wines, with your choice of two snacks and a fruit liqueur to finish. This
is a drinking experience that’s as suited for saké obsessives and those less familiar with the booze – if you’re curious about the liquid, this is for you. There’s a $28, $36 and $42 option, ranging from classics to premium and more creative renditions. Amuro’s saké flights are available from Monday to Thursday, 4pm till 6pm. Zzzino, Doom Juice Before the Doom Juice boys opened their Marrickville cellar door, they were busy finessing their first non-alc “wine”. Zzvino is deep-red, sparkly and less than 0.5
per cent alcohol – made with organic shiraz and chardonnay grapes, plus blackberries, blueberries and cherries. According to one Broadsheet editor, it tastes like “Ribena for grown-ups” – a funky drop to join Doom Juice’s line-up of fizz, white, orange and red. Pearsephone, Olympus The Hot Listed Greek restaurant in Redfern has new cocktails on the bar. The Pearsephone is exceptionally pretty, with a thin cross-section of the right-in-season fruit slicing through the large glass. Yarra Valley-made vodka meets elderflower and coriander, with pear soda
and sparkling wine adding the fizz.
Sydney drinks, Surry Hills, Marrickville, Redfern, Ester Spirits, Young Henrys, whiskey trio, rakija, DNA Distillery, Amuro saké flights, Doom Juice Zzvino, Pearsephone cocktail