SHAKEN & STIRRING

Tash Mcgill reports that Kiwis lead the way in the cocktail world

IT WAS BASTILLE DAY in 1997 that one of New Zealand’s first and iconic cafés, the Matterhorn, turned from café to cocktail lounge. The time was ripe; global trends were turning back to refined and well-mixed cocktails after a splurge of alcopops littering the market. For a brief moment you could pour almost anything into a traditional cocktail glass and call it a Martini. A popular establishment might have a whole menu page devoted to concoctions with names like the Appletini. Thankfully, it was a moment that didn’t last too long, as attention quickly turned to craft cocktails and revitalised classics in what has become known as ‘the cocktail renaissance’. A serious cocktail bar might now have classic dry Martinis, the dirty or Gibson variation and a range of vermouth and gin or vodka combinations to tempt discerning palates.

In our third decade of this renaissance, a certain maturity and culture has emerged in the cocktail industry, one that feeds and thrives on a unique international diaspora of talent. Here at the bottom of the South Pacific, we have become both launch pad and landing zone for some of the world’s top bartenders, producers and business owners. Some of the world’s best are attracted here while some of our best are making a global impact in cities such as London, New York and Melbourne.

Even as the venues that helped form our cocktail culture close, new cornerstone venues are establishing and continuing to build on the progress that was made. Underground bars like Suite and Cartel in Auckland – once the late-night haunts of both customers and bartenders when their regular shifts were finished – closed in the last