At the newly-opened Stockade Brew Co in Marrickville, rows of ex bourbon barrels from Woodford Reserve and Old Forester greet visitors near the door. Inside the art-déco inspired space, an imposing bar has its front made from repurposed staves. On the back bar, three 5L barrels occupy prominent positions. Two contain El Dorado hops-infused gin, the third is quietly ageing moonshine.
Make no mistake, this is a brewery bar complete with beer taps, paddles and a Randall put to use infusing flavour into beer.
“The concept behind the cocktail list is to incorporate the ingredients we use in our beers into the cocktails,” Jonni Cocks Venue & Bar Manager explains. With classic style cocktails as a base, they apply hops and beer influence as well as use raw spirits which are infused, aged and finished on-site. All liqueurs, tonic water, ginger ale, lemonade, soda and bitters are also made on the premises. “We’ve made many of the ingredients in-house so the cocktails will never taste the same as anywhere else.”
The three cocktails on the opening list (pictured) are pre-batched, kegged and delivered on tap.
The Galaxy & Tonic is a spin on the G&T using gin infused with galaxy hops, and tonic water made by infusing syrup with cinchona bark, angelica root and a variety of slow toasted spices. It’s a G&T but not as you know it.
The Mosaic Sour is the standout, a combination of mosaic hops-infused vodka, lemon juice and grapefruit juice, lemon, aquafaba and pepper salt. “It’s a vegan sour as no eggs are used”, Jonni explains. The cocktail is poured from the tap, shaken with ice and strained into a glass rimmed with a house-made strawberry and raspberry sherbet. Complex and delicious, it balances all the elements of a sour cocktail with the influence of the hops’ fruity and citrus notes.
Unlike the first two hops infused cocktails, their take on the Espresso Martini has a star ingredient. The Old Money Imperial Stout is one of Stockade’s special brews, aged for six months in ex Woodford Reserve bourbon barrels. The dark beer delivers rich flavours of coffee, dark chocolate, malt and sweet toffee – ideal for a coffee cocktail.
The stout is reduced to a syrup with demerara sugar added. But it doesn’t stop here. The Coffee Liqueur used in the cocktail is made in-house using a vodka base and coffee from Voodoo, a local roaster. The coffee beans were ground to the proper coarseness before they were infused with the spirit, sugar, vanilla and secret ingredients. The result is another fine example of creativity with hops in cocktails. The Old Money Espresso Martini delivers a rich, velvety, smooth coffee cocktail with a distinctive stout and bourbon influence.
At the time of opening, Sydney distillery Manly Spirits is supplying the raw spirits but Stockade will soon acquire its own still for making vodka, gin and moonshine. “Having our own base spirit means we can go in any direction and any flavour we want. Instead of infusing once it’s finished, we can put it into the fermentation and see what it does.”
For the team, using hops in cocktails has been an exercise in trial and error. The next few months will see six beer-influenced cocktails on rotation but the team is not losing sight that they are not a cocktail bar. As Jonni Cocks puts it, the cocktails are a “value add”. The aim is to keep the cocktails classic, accessible and sessionable. “We want it to be recognisable, familiar but we also want to challenge people’s palates.”
Stockade Brew Co
Address: 25 Cadogan Street, Marrickville NSW 2204
Website: www.stockadebrewco.com.au
Hours: Thursday 5pm to 10pm; Friday & Saturday 12pm to 12am; Sunday 12pm to 10pm
Photo by Cocktails & Bars – © Copyright: All rights reserved.
