Michael Madrusan raised the bar when he opened his multiple award-winning cocktail venue The Everleigh in Melbourne's Fitzroy in 2011.
Not only did he serve some of the country's best cocktails in vintage glassware, he reintroduced drinkers to the concept of the speakeasy with cocktail table service.
But it's been a long journey from growing up in Newcastle to releasing A Spot At The Bar, the first in a series of new books dedicated to the craft of bartending.
Perhaps most crucially, 36-year-old Madrusan took a detour to New York in the early 2000s where he whet his appetite for fine drinks at the legendary Lower East Side venue Milk & Honey.
"It was the perfect training ground for this style of bartending," he says. "Milk & Honey was by far one of the most important bars of our time," he says.
...a dash of prohibition, two shakes of vintage styling and an encyclopedic knowledge of spirits...
Scroll to the bottom of the page to see Madrusan's recipe for the perfect martini.
Land of Milk & Honey
Milk & Honey was one of the first modern speakeasies serving prohibition inspired drinks and planting them in the cocktail sphere. The discreet location didn't come with a printed address either – it was word of mouth that kick started a cult following back in 1999 and not even name-dropping could get you.
It was there he met the bar's founder and mentor, the late Sasha Petraske, who inspired him to be the best in the business. The '90s belonged to flavoured vodka and novelty drinks, but the crew behind Milk & Honey didn't care for that. At a time when Manhattan was obsessed with the Cosmopolitan drink thanks to Sex and The City, Petraske refused to pour one.
Landmark opening
When Petraske wanted to open their new bar on the Upper West Side, Madrusan convinced him to choose Melbourne instead. The brief? To deliver the highest quality, from the drinks to the staff. It was also about creating that old school vibe – a dash of prohibition, two shakes of vintage styling and an encyclopedic knowledge of spirits. The Everleigh was born.
Now, in a fitting tribute to his friend, Madrusan has penned A Spot At The Bar and dedicated it to Petraske. This is the first in a series of cocktail books written with colleague and partner Zara Young.
Inside you'll be guided through the seven steps to making cocktails, the tools of the trade and how dressing well is all part of the elegance that comes with cocktail service.
Manning up
Just as Petraske brought his own cool sartorial style to his cocktail attire, so too does the wave of bars looping in on the speakeasy spirit he formulated.
"I learned to be a man and act like one," says Madrusan of his time in the NYC cocktail scene. "I learned how to treat people and own my place in this world."
Just don't go calling him an entrepreneur. "I couldn't even spell that word without spell check," he laughs.
"I listen to my gut and a little too much to the voices in my head. I get an idea and I go at it like a bull at a gate. I love building the bars and fine-tuning them to get the theme just right," he says.
Heartbreaking success
Sounding more Bob Dylan than Richard Branson on how to make it in the biz, Madrusan has a point. Working in the bar scene is more than just character building – it's about doing time and earning your keep.
His latest venture Heartbreaker, which took out the Good Food Guide's Best Bar for 2016 Award this year, leans on The Everleigh's bottled cocktails [think Negroni and Manhattan] for cool and rides the coattail's of rock'n'roll's party side with a fun jukebox.
Staff need to train for half a year before standing behind the bar to serve its customers – it's just as much about quality of drinks as it is about staff precision here – they just come with more attitude as if just coming off a Rolling Stone tour bus having shagged their way across the States.
The future of nightlife
"Heartbreaker is a bar I've always wanted to open," says Madrusan.
"It's all emotion and captures everything for me from the music, décor, vibe and high-fives. I wanted a place where everyone felt at home without having to be anyone but themselves," he adds.
"I wanted a bar where every song you'd say 'f--k, I love this song'. I did it just yesterday going from Black Sabbath to Ted Nugent."
While many describe Heartbreaker as a dive bar, Madrusan begs to differ. "Technically she's not one. Is she a cool bar? F--k yeah," he beams.
"Opening a bar is all about paying attention to the details and what's going on around you," he says of his winning streak.
"Heartbreaker is the future."
The perfect martini
"The origins of the martini are shrouded in mystery; everyone wants a piece of her," says Madrusan. Described by author H.L. Mencken as 'the only American invention as perfect as the sonnet', the martini is so strong and sexy, simply ordering one is enough to make us weak at the knees.
Ingredients
60 ml gin
30 ml Dolin dry vermouth
2 dashes orange bitters
Olive, pickled onion or lemon twist, to garnish
Add your ingredients to a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a frozen cocktail glass.
Garnish with a lemon twist, an olive or a pickled onion.
Big fan of Scotch whisky?
Before straining your Martini into the glass, rinse it with a little Scotch whisky and you have the Smoky Martini. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Got some sherry in the fridge? Take our house Martini and swap out the dry vermouth for dry sherry to get the Tuxedo #1. Again, this one needs a lemon twist to garnish.
Like to keep it pretty clean but keen for a little something extra? The Blenton is a classic Martini with three dashes of Angostura bitters, garnished with a lemon twist.
What about something sweeter?
Take our classic 2:1 ratio and simply switch out the dry vermouth for Cocchi Americano to get the Richmond, a golden oldie from 1934. Garnish this one with a lemon twist.
Never tried a Martini with sweet vermouth? You don't know what you're missing! Go equal parts sweet vermouth and gin with a dash of maraschino liqueur and a few dashes of orange bitters and you have the Martinez.
This 2:1 ratio is our house Martini (2 parts gin to 1 part dry vermouth). We love it quite 'wet', which is to say we like it with more dry vermouth. If you like it even more wet, try the Fifty Fifty, which is equal parts gin and vermouth. If dry is more your style, the 5:1 ratio should do the trick – 5 parts gin to 1 part dry vermouth. That's 75 ml (2½ fl oz) gin to 15 ml (½ fl oz) dry vermouth.
Like it dirty? How dirty?
We use the terms dusty, dirty and filthy to describe the varying levels of olive brine desired. For a Dusty Martini add 7 ml (¼ fl oz), for a Dirty Martini add 15 ml (½ fl oz) and for a full throttle Filthy Martini throw in 22 ml (¾ fl oz). Go crazy with those olive garnishes. We pop one in the drink and two in a sidecar.
Like yours garnished with a pickled onion? We call that a Gibson. The possibilities are almost endless.
A Spot At The Bar: Welcome to The Everleigh is released November 1 by Hardie Grant, $45.