Rainforest Gin Tonica is an Australian twist on the Spanish Gin Tonic recipe where botanicals are added as a garnish to a Gin Tonic to complement and contrast with the botanicals featured in the gin. In the Rainforest Gin Tonica, an Australian gin Brookie’s Byron Dry, featuring rainforest botanicals has been used, paired with an Australian Capi tonic and indigenous Australian botanical garnishes including finger lime, river mint and tyrant ants and lemon myrtle. 

Lychee reviver is a lychee pick me up cocktail using fresh in season lychees with vanilla, pink pepper and ginger preserved with coconut vinegar in a shrub syrup paired with Lillet Rose, Lychee Liqueur, Dry Gin, and a dash of Ginger Liqueur for a bright, refreshing and beautifully perfumed summer cocktail. The lychee reviver cocktail recipe is based on the Corpse Reviver No. 2 formula, where the original formula features equal parts of lemon juice, Kina Lillet, Cointreau, Dry Gin with an accent of Absinthe. I have tailored the ingredients in the lychee reviver to show off the delicate perfume and delicious flavour of lychee.

Fermented watermelon radish martini is a pickle twist on a vintage Dry Martini using fermented in season watermelon radishes brined with lemon myrtle, star anise and fennel seeds paired with Manly Spirits Dry Gin, a splash of dry Australian Maidenii Vermouth and a dash of grapefruit bitters. The fermented radishes add a salty and umami flavour that complements the delicate and complex sea gin without overpowering it. Dialling down the vermouth in this recipe allows the sea botanicals of the gin including local sea lettuce and the salty spiciness of the pickled radishes to take centre stage with a delicate note of grapefruit from the bitters. Fermented watermelon radish martini is a celebration of in season watermelon radishes using the pink-purple brine in the cocktail as a flavouring and a whole watermelon radish pickle sliced thinly in profile with gorgeous pink colour as a garnish. 

Lemon myrtle honey syrup is an intense lemon flavoured honey syrup containing honey and water infused with lemon myrtle leaves that can be used in cocktails and desserts wherever honey syrup or sugar syrup are usually used. Lemon myrtle is an indigenous Australian ingredient with a long history of use as medicine and food. Lemon myrtle has a distinctive and intense almost herbal lemon flavour and aroma and is known as Queen of Herbs. 

Fennel flower silver sour is a refreshing miniature fancy Silver Sour using a fennel shrub syrup and fennel flower honey syrup, spicy coastal gin with salt bush, foraged fennel and fennel flowers and real free range organic egg white, garnished with fennel pollen and a fennel flower. Fennel flower silver sour is a celebration of the anise flavour of fennel flowers that is a fresh, crisp, bright, spicy, vegetal version of the anise flavour. 

Daalgaal & Ooray silver sour is a delicious super sour cocktail using gin infused with Australian indigenous Daalgaal or Illawarra plum for a fresh plum and pine flavour, ginger liqueur, strawberry and blood orange shrub syrup, Tasmanian Leatherwood honey syrup, eggwhite, garnished with meringue incorporating super sour Australian indigenous Ooray or Davidson’s plum and dusted with freeze dried Australian Ooray or Davidson’s plum powder and a blood orange twist. Daalgaal & Ooray silver sour is a fancy sour in the spirit of the 1880’s fancy Silver Sours that used eggwhite to create additional texture and smooth silky mouthfeel – here eggwhite is taken to another level with the addition of caramelised Ooray or Davidson’s plum meringue dusted with super sour bright pink Ooray or Davidson’s plum powder for a delicious sour sensation and crunchy texture. Daalgaal & Ooray silver sour is a delicious fancy sour dessert cocktail that celebrates Australian indigenous plums: Daalgaal & Ooray.

Finger lime silver sour is a seasonal Australian twist on vintage silver sour recipes using Australian finger limes, lime juice, Tasmanian oaked gin with pepper berries, macadamia and wattleseed liqueur, Tasmanian Leatherwood honey, bitters and real free range organic egg white garnished with finger lime caviar on a nasturtium leaf and drops of bitters. This is a refreshing and luxurious creamy sour dessert cocktail that is visually beautiful – evoking whimsical underwater worlds and green gardens with shining green and red finger lime caviar nestled in a nasturtium leaf and floating on the surface of the egg white foam. 

Umami hot whiskey toddy features a winter infusion of shiitake mushrooms and saffron in Scotch whiskey for a warming cocktail. Shiitake mushrooms lend an earthy chocolate flavour to this infusion while the saffron adds a honey note. The umami hot whiskey toddy is made with rich demerara sugar, hot water and the shiitake and saffron infused Scotch whiskey, the whiskey infused mushrooms are added back into the toddy for additional flavour. The garnish for the umami hot whiskey toddy is a dried shiitake mushroom which lends a savoury aroma and a visually beautiful textured mushroom form, being a slice through the centre including the cap and the stem, with a rich golden colour. The shiitake mushrooms used in the umami hot whiskey toddy are easily grown at home and can be preserved by dehydrating which intensifies their unique umami flavour. 

Pineapple fiz is a seasonal pineapple variation on the fiz or fizz cocktail with fresh and warming pick me up flavours from a homemade pineapple soda with ginger and turmeric fermented from scratch with a ginger bug starter, paired with honey, fresh lemon juice and blended aged Jamaican rum. 

Improved macadamia orgeat limeade is a seasonal Australian lime and macadamia twist on Jerry Thomas’ Orgeat Lemonade featuring macadamia orgeat syrup, fresh lime juice and macadamia and wattleseed liqueur. Orgeat Lemonade appears in the Temperance Drinks section of Thomas’ 1862 ­Bar-tender’s Guide and calls for orgeat syrup – an old fashioned type of almond cordial, in which almond milk is preserved with sugar, often flavoured with orange flower or rose water – here mixed with lemon juice, water and ice, garnished with berries in season. Improved macadamia orgeat limeade uses readily available in season limes rather than lemons and swaps out almond orgeat for a from scratch macadamia orgeat syrup and is improved with macadamia and wattleseed liqueur which adds rich nutty and chocolate notes. 

Autumn grape silver sour features an Autumn grape shrub syrup, paired with oaked gin and spicy honey liqueur, honey syrup and a real free range organic egg white, garnished with a sprinkle of cinnamon, a single red grape and an edible nasturtium flower. Autumn grape silver sour is a warming and spicy Autumn cocktail marking the change of season, colder weather and celebrating the most delicious red sweet Autumn grapes. 

Lime lightening dark ‘n stormy is a seasonal pickle lime twist on a classic dark and stormy Bermudan rum highball cocktail where the ginger beer is given a bespoke lime kick by infusion with kaffir lime leaves and lime zest and cold fermentation of raw lime juice. Kaffir lime and lime fermented ginger beer is paired with fresh lime juice and black Bermudan rum for a refreshing rum, ginger, lime highball cocktail served over ice in a tall glass garnished with a lime wheel and a flamed kaffir lime leaf representing the fire resulting from a strike of lime lightening. 

Honey Rhubarb Silver Sour: Drought Relief Dream is a Gin Sour using McDonough’s 1883 Silver Sour recipe, with a Tasmanian honey and seasonal pickle rhubarb twist, using leatherwood honey syrup and leatherwood mead combined with a jammy rhubarb shrub syrup, real free range organic egg white and pepper berry infused oaked gin, garnished with Angostura bitters and a rain drop on a nasturtium leaf. 

Cherry shrub brandy daisy is a pickle twist on a vintage brandy daisy recipe appearing in the revised 1887 edition of Jerry Thomas’ Bar-tender’s Guide where the lemon and sugar are swapped out for a raw cacao and vanilla cherry shrub syrup and honey syrup enriched with bee pollen and nutmeg geranium. 

Rhubarb shrub gin fix cocktail is a pickle twist on Jerry Thomas’ 1862 Gin Fix where sugar, lemon and water are swapped out for agave syrup and rhubarb shrub syrup spiced with lemon and cinnamon myrtle and strawberry gum for flavours of zesty lemon, sweet cinnamon and delicate strawberry. 

Blueberry shrub pisco sour cocktail is a pickle twist on the classic Peruvian pisco brandy sour cocktail using a blueberry shrub syrup drinking vinegar infused with fresh lemon, thyme, coriander and cinnamon, flavoured with low GI cane sugar and preserved with coconut vinegar. This is a gorgeous mauve coloured dessert cocktail that uses a real free range organic egg to add a rich smooth creamy texture and mouthfeel and a Blue Mountains Ironbark honey syrup. The blueberry shrub pisco sour cocktail is garnished with a sprig of fresh thyme in flower with light purple flowers and Amargo Chuncho Peruvian bitters. 

Blueberry shrub syrup preserves fresh in season blueberries in coconut vinegar, flavoured with low GI cane sugar, thyme, lemon, coriander and cinnamon for a refreshing and healthy drink with soda water. Blueberry shrub syrup with soda water can be improved with a port float for a flavoursome low alcohol cocktail and used in desserts and cocktails such as a blueberry pickle pisco sour cocktail. 

Rose lavender dry martini uses a cold infused homemade gin featuring a blend of botanicals including juniper, coriander, rose, lavender and orange peel for a fresh and floral dry gin that works wonderfully with Dry Vermouth, orange bitters and a blood orange twist. 

Pickle blood orange Americano cocktail is a pickle twist on the Americano highball cocktail. The pickle blood orange Americano swaps out the usual soda water for a fermented blood orange soda, flavoured with cinnamon, made with a ginger bug starter, paired with equal parts of Campari and Sweet Vermouth served over ice and garnished with fresh blood orange, for a flavourful low alcohol cocktail. 

Pickle Gin Buck Cocktail is a pickle twist on Buck cocktail recipes, such as that of Harry Craddock (1930), using a homemade fermented ginger beer paired with gin, fresh lemon juice and a dash of limoncello.

Pickle La Paloma Cocktail is a pickle grapefruit twist on a classic Mexican La Paloma – meaning ‘the dove’ in Spanish – using a from scratch fermented grapefruit soda paired with ginger, strawberry, hibiscus, cinnamon, fresh lime and grapefruit juice, blanco tequila and a grapefruit, cinnamon, salt rim garnished with a pink grapefruit segment. The Pickle La Paloma Cocktail combines sweet sour pink grapefruit and lime with sweet spice cinnamon and sea salt along with the vegetal notes of tequila for a sweet, sour, salty and spicy very refreshing spring highball cocktail. 

Lemon myrtle ginger beer spiders with macadamia aquafaba ice cream are a delicious Australian Christmas drink using a homemade fermented ginger beer flavoured with lemon myrtle and cinnamon made from scratch with a ginger bug starter and macadamia aquafaba ice cream with lemon myrtle, cinnamon and vanilla. 

Strawberry ginger beer Chilcano de pisco is a seasonal pickle variation on the Chilcano de pisco cocktail usually made with Peruvian grape brandy Pisco, lime juice, bitters and ginger ale, in this pickle twist the ginger ale is swapped out for a home brewed fermented strawberry ginger beer with cinnamon, rose petals and hibiscus and the lime juice is changed up to pink grapefruit juice. The Strawberry ginger beer Chilcano de pisco cocktail is a refreshing and zingy ginger, strawberry and grapefruit cocktail with depth and complexity of flavour from the addition of delicate rose petals, tart hibiscus and sweet cinnamon, dashed with grapefruit bitters. 

Improved strawberry shrub is a seasonal twist on Jerry Thomas’ 1862 recipe for ‘222. Lemonade.’ which is made by the glass calling for lemon juice, sugar, strawberry or raspberry syrup, orange slices, water in a large bar glass of crushed ice dashed with port, using a strawberry blood orange and cinnamon shrub syrup. 

Quince Wattleseed Alexander Cocktail is a seasonal quince twist on Harry Craddock’s 1930 Alexander Cocktail. (No. 2.) recipe appearing in The Savoy Cocktail Book using a homemade vintage style quince cordial with a brandy base infused with fresh quinces and spices including wattleseed, crème de cocoa, coconut cream, garnished with crushed wattleseed. 

Improved blood orangeade is a seasonal blood orange twist on Jerry Thomas’ 1862 recipe for fine lemonade or orangeade for parties using blood oranges infused with cinnamon, sherry and egg white for a refreshing and complex citrus spice flavoured drink.

Pineapple shrub gin fix cocktail is a pickle pineapple twist on gin Fix recipes using pineapple syrup, such as that found in the Official Hand-book and Guide of the Bartender’s Association of New York City (1895: 24). This pineapple style Fix is a fancy variation on the Fix, which sweetens the drink with a pineapple syrup and sours it with lemon juice, adding a fancy fruit garnish and straws. I have swapped out the pineapple syrup and lemon juice for a pineapple shrub spiced with cinnamon, coriander and ginger and preserved with coconut vinegar for a seasonal pickle twist on this classic pineapple Fix variation. 

Carrot shrub daisy cocktail uses a carrot shrub syrup drinking vinegar made from sweet winter baby carrots spiced with cinnamon, pepper berries and rosemary and sweetened with low GI cane sugar, preserved in apple cider vinegar, to flavour and sour a Jerry Thomas (1876: 88) Daisy style cocktail with a difference. The carrot shrub daisy cocktail is made with spiced carrot shrub and a base of coconut palm arrack, a dash of orange bitters, agave syrup and soda water, served over crushed ice, garnished with a whole carrot, orange slices and a rosemary sprig. 

Apple shrub gin fizz cocktail is a crisp refreshing gin apple cocktail using a pink lady apple shrub syrup drinking vinegar, gin and agave syrup shaken with ice and topped with soda water. The pink lady apple shrub syrup drinking vinegar is made with in season pink lady apples, apple cider vinegar, low GI cane sugar, star anise and Australian indigenous spices strawberry gum and cinnamon myrtle. 

Cumquat brandy: cardamom, star anise preserves whole in season cumquats in brandy flavoured with cardamom, star anise and demerara sugar and creates a flavourful spiced cumquat liqueur. The preserved cumquats and the spiced cumquat liqueur can be used in desserts and cocktails and make wonderful gifts.