When it comes to cocktails, Jared Brown has an encyclopedic mind. He will tell you the history of the drink in your hand, often referencing a myriad of cocktail books interspersed with personal experiences. He is Sipsmith Gin’s Master Distiller, cocktail historian, a charming raconteur and bon vivant. Over a G&T at Bulletin Place and a Martini at The Barber Shop bars in Sydney, we discuss current trends in gin cocktails, the best cocktail for tasting gin and the next on-trend spirit.
When it comes to cocktail trends, Jared Brown is seeing a move back to simplicity. “We’re losing the 50 page cocktail menu, we’re losing 10 ingredients, losing the overly complex cocktail that you can’t explain in one sentence,” he explains. Customers don’t read a long menu, they scan it until they see something familiar – a sentiment echoed by a few Sydney bartenders I have spoken with of late.
Bartenders who have discovered a plethora of ingredients and 40 different kinds of bitters are getting it down to 3 to 4 essential ingredients. He cites Audrey Saunders of the Pegu Club who was one of first proponents of this move, asking her bartenders, what two ingredients they can lose.
“Gin is no exception,” he says, “and we’re getting down to three ingredients drinks”. He gives an example of Jörg Myer of Boilerman Bar in Hamburg whose most profitable menu of drinks has two ingredients, a spirit and a modifier served with two ice spheres. “One of his best cocktails is the Gin Basil Smash, a simple 4 ingredient drink: gin, basil leaves, lemon and simple syrup.”
“I would love to see every bar to have a juicer, and see a trend of boozing juice,” he adds.
When it comes to tasting gin, or rather marketing gin, I mention the rise in popularity of the Negroni. Yet for Brown, his barometer for tasting gin is a Martini and a gin and tonic because that’s what most people will drink. “When I’m in a bar, I will go for a Gin Rickey,” he says. “It has nothing to hide. It’s a drink that will not give you a hangover. It has gin, soda water, 2 squeezed lime wedges, no sweetener, and it’s beautifully balanced”.
There is no denying that the gin category is experiencing a worldwide boom but Jared Brown is wary of the reasons. Many start-up distilleries are only making gin for 3 years until other spirits mature. “The next trend will be the glut of small batch start up whiskies and the ones that will succeed are the ones that will hold on to the gin for a few more years”. He predicts that many of his competitors will drop out, and would be saddened to see it happen.
“We will see a drop of interest in gin because now a million small voices are shouting out about gin, they will be shouting out to whisky. It will affect bartenders and consumers. We’ll see a big atrophy on the shelf in the gin space, and those who never wanted to get into whisky will be hurt by it”.
However, success still beckons. “If your business model is to be the number one spirit in your city, you can own that easily if you make a good product and name it after your area.”
