On this ***bonus*** episode we're taking a tour of new Sydney bar, Tucano's Lounge, to find out what we should expect when the bar — from the team behind last year's About Time popup — opens.

I'm talking to Steve Davis, co-owner of Tucano's Lounge and Sydney bar industry veteran about how they basically built the bar themselves, how they're steering their modern tropical tiki drinks away from an over-reliance on rum towards other spirits, and a lot more.

Something a little different to the usual on this episode: we're talking to award-winning bartender Anneliese Grazioli and breaking a bit of news — she’s got a new bar on the way, called Bar Kokomo, so we’re going to find out what to expect when it opens in mid-to-late September. Anneliese has built quite the career for herself up in Darwin, she worked for a long time for David and Kelly Robinson, at their longstanding tequila bar and restaurant, Hot Tamale, she’s won a bunch of bartending comps and prizes during that time. Anneliese then went on to become a business partner of the Robinsons, opening her first bar — Hanky Panky Lounge — at the start of 2022. It must be doing well, because bar number two is on the way.

It’s one thing for a bartender to think about opening a bar of their own one day — after all, you’ve worked in bars, hopefully have run one or two and have an idea of the business side of things, you’ve got a sense of costings and hiring and know what makes a bar work. 

But it’s an all-together different thing to launch a drinks brand — even one that is informed by your bartending experience, like Idle Hands Drinks Co. owners Andy McIntyre and Mitch Keane have done. 

In this episode, Sam Ng talks about his journey from chef to bartender to ambassador, to criss-crossing the Asia Pacific region. And he talks about why he gave up the ambassador life and came back to open his own bar, how a series of pop-ups gave him proof of concept, and loads more.

This episode, I'm talking to Nick Winter and Pete Hollands from Frog's Hollow Saloon in Brisbane, which took out two awards last month at the Boothby Best Bars QLD awards: Best New Bar QLD presented by Patron Tequila, and the big one, the Best Bar in Queensland presented by Giffard. They've got great advice on how they built their bar, the systems they've out in place, and what it might cost to open a bar of your own.

Get a look at photos from the Boothby Best Bars QLD awards here.

See the list of the 30 best bars in Queensland here.

This is a show about building creative and rewarding careers in and around the world of drinks. 

This episode, I'm talking to RockY Hair — she's the group ops manager for the Mucho Group, whose venues include Tio's Cerveceria, Cliff Dive, Cantina OK!, and Bar Planet.  

This is a show about building creative and rewarding careers in and around the world of drinks. This episode I’m talking to Mitch Townsend, the Flor de Caña brand ambassador for Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

The Flor de Caña Sustainable Cocktail Challenge is the sponsor of this show, too, so in this episode Mitch shares some advice on what will make a winning drink in that competition, as well as his insights into the world of ambassadoring, and tips for building a big career in the bar world.

Registrations are open until June 15 for the Australian selection, and bartenders must register their cocktail creation online at www.flordecanachallenge.com. More information about the challenge can be found on the website. 

This episode I’m talking to James Christopher, who is one third of the ownership trio behind Sydney city rum distillery, Brix. Brix began in 2017, and opened a distillery and bar on Bourke street in Surry Hills. They’ve been laying down rum ever since, and this year they’ve had a couple of breakthroughs on their journey — they’ve reached the point now that they don’t need to import older aged spirit from Barbados, and instead are bottling rum that has been made from molasses through to spirit at the Bourke Street site. They’ve also just picked up nationwide distribution through SouthTrade International, which effectively expands their small Sydney sales team into a national outfit with sales reps everywhere. So I talk to James about how Brix got started, the hurdles they faced along the way, whether or not rum is really the next big thing in spirits, and he also shares some advice on how you too might get started building a brand or a distillery. It’s a good chat.

This episode first aired in December 2022, but we're giving it another because Simone Caporale is in Sydney next week for the Maybe Cocktail Festival (maybecocktailfestival.com).

Simone Caporale is something of a renaissance bartender — he’s a busy guy. He’s in the process of expanding his Barcelona bar Sips — which opened in 2021 and landed at number three on The World’s 50 Best Bars list this year — and has more than a few strands to what he does, and a recent roundup includes the following: along with Alex Kratena and Monica Berg, he created the innovative Muyu liqueurs brand; launched another brand, Amaro Santoni; worked on another brand Canaïma Gin, which sustainable sources botanicals from the Amazon (and raises money for conservation efforts); took over ownership of the historic Boadas bar in Barcelona; and most recently launched the Art of Shaking, a subscription training program for bartenders that teaches you the things you don’t get to learn in every other cocktail course.

Kate McGraw is the Australian World Class ambassador and the guest on this episode. The World Class ambassador role is a big job, and I talk to Kate about that and how she got to this point in her career, why preparation is so important, what she had to improve upon to do the job well (and why), and lots more. It’s a good chat and I think you’ll find plenty of advice in there whether you’re interested in working for brands, or just want to improve your own approach to your work.

There’s also some great advice to anyone wanting to enter the World Class Bartender of the Year 2023 — and some very good reasons why you should. 

http://diageobaracademy.com