With over four years hospitality management experience, Daniel Williams joins The Forgotten Cask rum bar as head bartender. In this interview, Daniel speaks about his new role, the advantages of working in a rum bar and the future of rum as a category.
Tell us a little about yourself and how you started your bartending career.
Pretty age old story really, I came to Sydney to follow my acting career and started working in a bar to pay the bills. I ended up really enjoying it, and it’s always fun to add a bit of theatre when you’re making cocktails.
You’ve been Bar Manager at the Flinders, Restaurant Manager at Queenie’s, 2IC at The White Horse and you’ve recently been appointed as Bar Manager at The Forgotten Cask. What’s unique about this venue and what does your day to day role involve?
The Forgotten Cask is a nice upgrade on your local neighbourhood haunt – you don’t have to venture all the way into the city to get a good product, you can have that experience while having Friday after work beers. So there’s not many places offering that, which is refreshing.
A day to day usually involves the standard housekeeping- checking on bookings and setting up – prepping fruit and syrups, and then chatting with customers. The space is really great for interacting with guests, so it really is an extension of the neighbourhood bar offering.
As a rum-focussed bar, are there any cocktail ingredients that you like to work with?
Rum is a fun spirit to work with – there are so many different ways that different rums can make the same drink completely unique. But it’s hard to go wrong with fresh fruits – it’s a tropical spirit, after all.
How did you go about creating the new cocktail list at the Forgotten Cask?
We wanted to focus on honing all of our rum cocktails – a bit of Tiki, but refined and elegant. So lots of simple and fresh drinks, with lots of winter and autumn fruits – blood orange, passion fruits, pears – and lots of subtle go-to, spices – vanilla, cinnamon.
What are some of the key advantages and/or challenges of working in a rum bar?
Bundaberg definitely dominates what a lot of Australians think of when it comes to rum – which can make it harder to change people’s mind, but it’s satisfying turning customers on to new tastes and experiences when it comes to rum.
Rum has seen a bit of resurgence of late with Tiki drinks making a comeback. Where do you see rum bars and the rum category heading in the next 2-3 years?
I can definitely see rum getting bigger – not so much spiced rum, which has always been popular – but more so the aged rums and all the interesting stuff going round at the moment. Plus with the way things are going with sustainability in the bar industry I think we’re going to see a bit of change as to the way Tiki drinks are made – less pink plastic flamingos, more interesting rums, which will ultimately be a good thing.
Are there any cocktail trends or spirits that have impressed you of late?
The move towards less plastic, less wastage, and more sustainability in the bar industry has been awesome to see.
What does Sydney and/or the Australian bar industry need more of?
I love how in a lot of other places in the world, it’s not that weird to rock up to the bar alone and grab a drink, eat, chat to the bartender, and hang out, whatever. It would be awesome to see a little more of that here.
And less of?
Sydney has always been a difficult regulatory environment to work in. We need less rules! More fun. It’s a joke that laybacks are illegal.
What can we look forward to at The Forgotten Cask?
Fun times, fun drinks, and lots of rum. Including Caribbean banquet, bottomless lunches with Mojitos, Caipirinhas, Spiced Chairman’s Pimms Cocktails, Island Vibe DJ’s Reggaes & lots of tropical fun.
Photo Credit: Pippi Drew
‘Meet Daniel Williams, Head Bartender at The Forgotten Cask’ is published in partnership with The Forgotten Cask
