Lachlan Watt’s ‘On Every Corner’ – a fresh take on Kinglake

Luke McCarthy -
Recipes & Bars
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Lachlan Watt’s ‘On Every Corner’ – Oz Whisky Review

 

Lachlan Watt, one of Australia’s top bar managers and whisky experts, shows us how a high-quality single malt like Kinglake’s O’Grady’s Stand can be turned into a refreshing summer classic.

Over the last 30 years of Australian whisky’s revival, cocktails have rarely been a part of the story. Expensive, limited, full-flavoured whiskies have dominated – whiskies even experienced bartenders might hesitate to mix with.

Thankfully, that story is starting to change, with more affordable and widely available Australian whisky continuing to be released every year.

Bartenders now have more local whisky options to play with than ever before, and that’s something Whisky & Alement’s award-winning bar manager Lachlan Watt is revelling in.

‘The industry is changing in Australia,’ says Watt, ‘with more whisky becoming available for us to use in bars for cocktails and mixing, so the opportunity to create some fun and unique experiences is growing.

‘In previous years, the space was mostly held by Starward, and following that Archie Rose and Ned. But we now have distilleries like Kinglake providing affordable day-to-day products.’

 

Lachlan Watt – Oz Whisky Review

As Watt points out, the industry has grown to the point where there’s almost a distillery on every corner, like the humble public house of old or the rosemary bushes that line suburban streets.

‘This is the concept behind the drink. The industry has expanded and we can now enjoy our local whisky every day.’

 

On Every Corner

Ingredients

45ml Kinglake Distillery O’Grady’s Stand Single Malt Whisky

15ml 78 Degrees Distillery Dry Vermouth

20ml Caramelised pineapple*

5ml Rosemary syrup**

15ml Lemon juice

 

Method

1. Build all ingredients in a shaker tin.

2. Add ice and shake cocktail as hard as possible until tin is cold.

3. Strain over ice in a rocks glass.

4. Garnish with a sprig of rosemary.

 

*Caramelised Pineapple:

  1. Reduce pineapple juice on the stove by two thirds over a medium heat (600ml of pineapple juice down to 200ml).
  2. Add 100g of coconut sugar (or 1/8th of final volume) to the pineapple liquid.
**Rosemary Syrup: (Don’t buy rosemary!!)
  1. Take Rosemary leaves and roughly chop, put in a container with equal weight of white sugar and put in the freezer until frozen.
  2. Once frozen, remove from freezer and allow to defrost, then dissolve sugar in boiled water (2 parts sugar to 1 part water).