Toast a roast at butchery
EDGE Hill Butchery owners Rod and Julie Leaver celebrate their liquor licence which creates a first in Far North Queensland. The couple can now match and sell alcohol, such as wines, ports and liqueurs, with their meat offerings to discerning customers.
IT SOUNDS like a sure-fire recipe for finger amputation but mixing booze with butchery is paying off for a Cairns meat merchant duo.
Edge Hill Butchery owners Rod and Julie Leaver have secured a liquor licence to sell alcohol on the premises after months of careful negotiation with authorities.
In the lead-up to Christmas, it means the butchers-turned- sommeliers are able to pair tropical wines, ports and liqueurs with smoked hams and other festive meats right there at the counter. It was a hard slog. “We’ve always wanted to do it,” Mrs Leavers explained.
“Years and years ago we went down to Melbourne and met up with a butcher that was doing it down there.
“Licensing isn’t nearly as difficult down there as in Queensland – it’s been a bit of a nightmare.”
The butchers were forced to jump through all sorts of hoops before they finally secured their licence, ensuring every minute check and balance was met.
“It took months to go through the process,” Mrs Leavers said.
“I think there’s only one other butcher in Queensland that has done it and definitely no one else from our region.”
The meat market has partnered with Murdering Point Winery from Silkwood, which specialises in red and white tropical wines.
Rather than grapes, the vintners use crops like mango, lychee, passionfruit, jaboticaba and even black sapote to make drops laden with the flavours of the equator.
Coming up to Christmas, Mrs Leavers said the majority of customers were interested in how best to match a succulent ham with something pleasantly complementary to quaff.
“Because it’s so hot up here, I’d be looking at our pineapple, passionfruit, mango or lychee whites,” she said.
“To me, they’re a lot more refreshing and they go well with pork.
“But I would probably go with the mango or lychee at this time of year because they are both in season.”
Mrs Leavers said all of her fingers remained intact.