Tom, is bartender at Eau de Vie, Sydney. He makes two cocktails for us, one with gin and curaçao and the second one with rum and apricot brandy.
Tom introduce yourself
I’m Tom Egerton and I’ve been a bartender at Eau de Vie, Sydney for more than a year now. Before I was a bartender in Dubai, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland and Paris. I’ve also visited bars and distilleries in Cuba, America and Japan. Bartending is kind of a family tradition… my older brother was a bartender as well as my older sister. Cocktails really appealed me, because of all the recipes you have to remember, the precision needed for execution and the methods to apply, that’s obsessional for me, I’m like a nerd.
The classic you want to show us
Pegu club
40ml of Bombay Amber gin
20ml of lime juice
20ml of Orange Curaçao
2 dashes of angostura bitters
The bar or party you dream of
My bar would be a laid back neighbourhood bar with a lounge and kitchen to really become part of a local community. As you know I love travelling so every 6 months I would create a menu with destination vintage cocktails to take adavntage of seasonal produce.
When I party with friends, I go to dive bars. Yes!
The spirit you like the most
Right now it would be American rye whiskys. They are very dry and spicy and mix well with other ingredients. It’s difficult… it’s like you asked me to choose the favourite child, I love them all.
What makes a good cocktail and which product do you want to highlight at this moment
A good cocktail it something that makes me say “wow”. It’s easy now to find someone who can make you a drink behind a bar. But something you’ve never tried before, a new taste or sensation. It could be just an ingredient, but you are living an experience when you drink it.
I use a lot of citrus in my cocktails, but the price for citrus in Sydney at this moment is outrageous. Lime has become more expensive than rum. So to balance the cocktails instead of using citrus to dry it, I use something called lactart, it’s a milk acid, it gives you the sensation of sour but without any of the flavour of citrus in it.
The signature cocktail you want to show us
New money
40ml of expérimental spirit coconut rum
1 barspoon of lactart
20ml of slow gin
20ml of abricot brandy
2 drops of sailin solution
1 dash of angostura bitters
1 eggwhite
Where do you think we need to go to interview another bartender?
You should definitely go to Lobo Plantation, Baxter Inn, Hello Sailor, Henrietta supper club for food and drinks and Shady Pines for a dive bar experience here in Sydney.