Steve Crozier : Baxter Inn (Sydney)

Steve is a bartender at Baxter Inn, Sydney. He shows us 2 cocktails, one is Rittenhouse Rye Whiskey based and the other one is blended whisky infused with violet and peaches based

Steve introduce yourself
Hi, I’m Steve Crozier from Baxter Inn, Sydney. I started bartending at University. Uni was full-time and bartending was part-time. Soon it became Uni was part-time and bartending was full-time and then, Uni became non-existent. I just fell in love with the industry and the people, the atmosphere it created… I was enthralled with it. I landed a great job at 18, working with a prolific team of bartenders led by Robert “Skippy” Jupp, from Mojo in Leeds. I then moved to Milk and Honey in London which was a massive spike in my career, then onto Trailer Happinness (which is all about rum). I have been bartending for 14 years and have been at Baxter Inn in Sydney for 7 months.

The classic you want to show us
Red hook
60ml of Rittenhouse Rye Whiskey
15ml of Punte Mes
15ml of Luxardo

The bar or party you dream of
Something close to Baxter Inn, but with a food attachment. Doing one thing and doing it well, my ideal would be a burger or a margarita pizza. But the bar would have huge amounts of liquor, like whiskey or rum. It would be underground, dark, dimly lit and a party bar. When I go out, I like a good beer and somewhere relaxed with good music and a good selection of beers and wine.

The spirit you like the most
Definitely whiskey, purely because it’s such a great category at the moment. Especially with all the Japanese whiskies right now, they have really interesting flavour profiles. For mixing I use combinations, a spicy and a peaty, so you are really creating your own blend.

What makes a good cocktail and which product do you want to highlight at this moment
Balanced and diluted correctly. There is nothing worse than an over-diluted cocktail. The product I really want to highlight at the moment is Vermut negre, it’s a Spanish vermouth. It’s hits all the notes.

The signature cocktail you want to show us
Morning glory murder
60ml of blended whisky infused with violet and peaches
30ml of lemon juice
15ml of honey water
1 Egg white
A spice almond milk ice ball


Where do you think we need to go to interview another bartender
The Everleigh in Melbourne and talk to Michael Madrusan. He spent a lot of time in New York at Milk and Honey and it’s a similar style to that. He makes the best classics you can get, they’re amazing.

3 Comments

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