"The thing about hotel bars is this: famous people often frequent them. “Once I served the rapper Lil Jon Don Julio 1942 shots all night – then went out with him afterwards,” admits Jared Thibault, who manages Lucky’s at the QT Canberra. “What happened next is a secret!” Thibault ran cocktail bars in the US for 11 years, where he acquired his fondness for tequila and mezcal. “My favourite modern classics are the Oaxaca Old Fashioned from Death & Company in New York, and the Rosita made popular by Dead Rabbit [NY] legend Gary Regan. The QTique Old Fashioned is inspired by those cocktails. We have added our own QT flair to it with our house-grown edible nasturtium and Montenegro smoked almonds.”
Ingredients
•45ml Herradura Reposado tequila, smoked with palo santo wood chips
•15ml Amaro Montenegro
•2 dashes Bittermens Burlesque bitters
•10ml housemade grenadine
•Distilled ice blocks
•Orange blossom foam
•Housegrown nasturtium
•Amaro Montenegro-dusted smoked almonds
•Half a fig
•Smoked cheddar
Method
Add tequila, Montenegro, bitters, and grenadine to a mixing glass. Stir with ice. Put a small amount of foam in an Old Fashioned glass. Strain the cocktail into the glass with distilled ice blocks. Top with foam and a nasturtium flower. Place on a presentation plate with fig, cheddar and smoked almonds.
