You don’t need to travel across our great southern land to get a taste of each state because Luke Ashton, star bartender and owner of Sydney bar, This Must Be The Place, has made the ultimate Australian cocktail featuring ingredients from every state.
The ‘Great Southern Spritz’ cocktail is a combination of native and wild foraged ingredients fused with high-end Australian wine and locally crafted gin. Handpicked from each of the states, the Great Southern Spritz is the ultimate Aussie beverage that captures the diversity that exists across our landscape and coastline.
The ingredients include West Winds Sabre gin from Western Australia, sauvignon blanc/riesling from Victoria, semi-fermented charred pineapple from Queensland, lemon myrtle tincture from New South Wales, plus rain water and pepperberry tincture from Tasmania. He's also added a little Olsson’s salt and sea blite from South Australia for good measure.
The drink was made after Luke was announced as the first of the short-listed finalists in Luke Mangan's Search for a CEO (Culinary Experience Officer) campaign that will see the crowned 'CEO' travelling across Mangan's international restaurant group with the restaurateur himself. The short list process required Luke to create a cocktail inspired by Australia to be showcased at the Australian Tourism Exchange Gala and voilá, here we are with a continent distilled down into a single drink.