Elly Baxter

One of Time Out Sydney's most anticipated shows at Sydney Festival combines several of our favourite things: booze, cabaret, comedy and music – from Nina Simone to Billy Joel to Amy Winehouse. It’s called Mother’s Ruin, and it’s the brainchild of gin blogger Elly Baxter (aka the Ginstress) and Maeve Marsden and Libby Wood of comedy cabaret troupe Lady Sings it Better. To whet your appetite, here are four songs featured in Mother’s Ruin, matched by Elly with gin cocktails. Warning: gin is not called "mother’s ruin" for nothing. The song: ‘Gin House Blues’ by Nina SimoneThe drink: Bee’s Knees During the 1920s alcohol was prohibited in the US; you don’t have to use your imagination to know how well that went – Boardwalk Empire, if nothing else, re-popularised the legendary period of black-market profiteering that ensued. The gin in this era was not the tasty, craft distilled, sippable gin of today, it was rough and ready, concocted in bathtubs and basements. The main objective of the cocktails of the era was to mask the terrible taste of the poor quality booze. Bee’s Knees disguises the taste of this nasty gin with honey and lemon juice, so when the joint is raided you could throw down your gin and leg it. The song: 'Two Ladies' (music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb) from the musical/film Cabaret.The drink: Hanky Panky My favourite two ladies of cocktails were Ada ‘Coley’ Coleman and Ruth ‘Kitty’ Burgess who tended the American Bar in The Savoy Hotel until 1925. Althoug