FREE SPIRIT

Summer’s time may have run out, but there’s no reason your supply of holiday spirits has to

Summer may be over, but there’s no need to ditch your favourite warm-weather drinks.

The days when injuries from burning-hot sand are a legitimate concern and spritzinduced naps are par for the course are drawing to a close, but how do you sate your penchant for summer spirits – gin, Aperol, Campari – in the cooler months? Rosario Agosta, master bartender at Melbourne’s Longsong, has an inventive use for your surplus gin supply when the temperature drops below the “G&T appropriate” threshold. His twist on a classic hot toddy sees gin take the place of traditional whiskey or rum – stirred in with hot water, lemon juice, honey, cinnamon and cloves. “It’s got the same flavour profile as a gin sour but the honey gives it a winter touch,” he says.

While Aperol and Campari might typically be associated with long days spent on a sun-soaked rooftop, Agosta says they can easily be taken into autumn with seasonal fruit (think apples, figs, pears, plums and persimmons) and herbs (such as rosemary and thyme).

But the ultimate trans-seasonal tipple? A negroni, according to chef Ricky Firth from Black Bottle, a wine bar in Sydney’s Darlinghurst. “It’s perfect all year long,” says Firth, who has channelled that affinity into a Negroni cake – an orange, polenta and Greek yoghurt base soaked in a gin, vermouth rosso and Campari syrup. The next aperitifdessert hybrid in the pipeline? One using Rinquinquin, a peach-flavoured liqueur that Firth says is basically the French equivalent of Aperol. We’ll drink to that anytime.