A Night in Liverpool

Well... What can I say about the city of Liverpool? As we arrived, We instantly noticed the typical ’Scouse’ traits. The girls dressed up with fake tan and big hair, the blokes with trendy designer labels and flawlessly styled hair. Aside from the fashion, Liverpool is famous for being the home to pop music in the UK. It was labelled by the Guinness World Records Book as being the “World Capital City of Pop". Which is understandable, the city is the birth place to bands and musicians like The Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, along with many others. 

Liverpool is also known to have the best nightlife in the UK, better than rival cities, London and Manchester. So Cara and I were excited to head out and see what made Liverpool’s nightlife so great. We spent the day exploring the city, visiting places like the famous Liverpool Cathedral, the Merseyside docks and of course a walk past the “Cavern Club”, home of the Beatles. We returned to our hotel and quickly got ready to hit the town at night.  We noticed that Liverpool has a huge nightclub scene. Along with the clubs, there are also many pubs (which is a standard feature in cities throughout the UK), there seemed to be a lack of high end quality cocktail bars. However, there was one place, that all the guides and reviews online mentioned was a must see bar. This place is called “Alma de Cuba”. This was a bar which had been built inside an old cathedral. It has been said to be one of the best looking bars in the UK. As we made our way through the Cathedral’s front doors, we saw the bar, which was positioned in the centre of the building (where the aisle of the would usually be). On one side of this island style bar was a more relaxed lounge type set up. Whereas the other side of the bar was designed to be more of a stand up area, with a couple of high tables and small booths running along the churches wall.  The far end of the cathedral was a small stage where a jazz band was about to start playing. As Cara and I took found a seat in one of the booths, we were amazed by the “mish-mash” decor. Many elements of the old existing church still remained, but there was now added features such as palm trees, along with other cuban influenced details. The menu was also a combination of Cuban flair with a religious twist. The first page of the menu was a ‘tongue in cheek’ version of the 10 commandments starting with “Love thy neighbour...they may be drunk”.

When Cara and I sit down at bars, we tend to look around the room and see what other people are drinking. It’s usually a mixture of beers, wines, mixed spirits and cocktails, but at Alma de Cuba, almost everyone was holding a cocktail. This could only mean one thing... Their cocktails were good. Cara kicked it off with ordering an Alma original, a drink called a “Kingston Crush”. This tiki inspired cocktail consisted of Appleton Estate VX rum, muddled pieces of watermelon, pineapple juice, lime juice and frozen chunks of grapefruit, shaken and strained over crushed ice. It was lastly topped up with ginger beer. These types of cocktails can be dangerous. Not in the sense that it’s high in alcohol, but dangerous because it’s not. This drink was fruity, refreshing and very tasty. You could hardly taste the rum. It’s a drink that you could have half a dozen very easily. But the rum was not going to ly down with out a fight. If you were to down six of these fruity concoctions, it would hit you hard. It’s hard to go wrong with this mixture of watermelon, pineapple and lime, they are always popular ingredients.  But the use of grapefruit and the fizzing finish of ginger, makes this drink a little different then your standard tiki cocktail. It was perfect for Cara. A nice fruity, refreshing cocktail, one which would quench the thirst after an afternoon exploring Liverpool.

I decided to consult the bartender and ask him to make me his signature drink. When a bartender is asked to make their own creations, you can guarantee that little extra bit of love, care and attention will  be put into that drink. His creation was a cocktail called “Mrs Jones’s Breakfast”, a drink which was inspired by his mother. The bartender explained to me that when his mum made him breakfast throughout his childhood, she’d serve up cereal covered in pieces of grapefruit and apricots and sprinkled with sugar on top. He recreated this meal in the form of a drink by starting with Aperol,   followed by Elderflower liqueur, Caradores Blanco (Tequila), a dash of grapefruit juice and lemon juice. It was all shaken together with ice and strained over into a sugar rimmed glass. It was a simple concoction but one which was well thought through and well executed. Each ingredient complemented the other nicely. It wasn’t to sweet, or sour, or bitter.  Even the non-tequila drinkers would love this cocktail. I thanked the bartender for sharing his story. A cocktail seems to always taste better when it has a story and not just thrown together randomly.

As we made our way back to our hotel, we could see the surrounding nightclubs were getting into full swing. We were both glad we got the chance to visit Liverpool, even if it was only for a short time. We had an early start to the next day, as we were returning to a place, which now feels like our second home. We were going back to London.






“Kingston Crush”
In a shaker:
Muddle 3 - 4 chunks of watermelon
15ml Lime Juice
60ml Appleton Estate VX Rum
30ml Pineapple juice
3 - 4 Pieces of Frozen Grapefruit
Shake firmly and strain over crushed ice
Top up with Ginger Beer












"Mrs. Jones’s Breakfast”
In a shaker:
15ml Cazadores Blanco Tequila
15ml Elderflower Liqueur
30ml Aperol
15ml Grapefruit juice
15ml lemon juice
Rim short glass with white sugar
Shake and strain into the glass over ice

Aperol & Fernet Branca

After an amazing few days in Venice, we jumped on board a train and took a trip back to Milan. As we were only there not even 2 months ago, the city was fresh in our minds. We easily were able to navigate our way around, as our plan was to show Cara’s mum and dad the famous Duomo Cathedral. The weather was again hot in Milan and we were all in need of some drinks. I noticed next to the cathedral was a small bar which specialised in serving Aperol drinks. This looked like the place to sit and relax. 

Without a doubt, Campari dominates cocktail menus in Italy. It’s the base to some of the most iconic Italian cocktails in history. But the Campari company also released another aperitif, Aperol. This product has always been in the shadow of Campari. It was first created in 1919, but did not become popular in Italy until after the second world war. With Campari being such a strong bitter flavour (which many people either loved or hated), Aperol was designed to be a lighter, softer alternative. It’s 11% alcohol rating makes it less than half the strength of Campari. Only in recent years, the Aperol name and brand has stepped out of the shadows and come into it’s own. In 2010, Aperol won the highest accolade possible by winning a double gold medal at San Fransisco’s World Spirits Competition. By far the most common Aperol drink to order is an “Aperol Spritz”. This is simply a single shot of Aperol, topped with lemonade and garished with a slice of orange, or lemon. It’s a light refreshing drink, perfect for a hot summers day in Milan. 

As I often do when we are in bars, I like to take a look at the back-bar, to see what else they have decided to stock. There is one product which I’ve noticed in all Italian bars. It is a product which is a household name in Italy, but a bit of a mystery abroad, It’s Fernet Branca. This unusual and lesser known spirit has a dark colour and a syrupy texture. Some have said it’s similar to Jagermiester. It’s flavour has been compared to a mixture of medicine, crushed plants and bitter mud. It’s exact recipe is a closely guarded secret, but what we do know, is that it’s production (both recipe and process) are still same as when it was first produced in 1845. 

Milan is the birthplace of Fernet Branca. It was created by Bernardino Branca at the Fratelli Branca Distillery. This spirit was claimed by Bernardino to have many health benefits. It could be used as a  digestive, to reduce fever, cure stomach bugs, along with being a basic warming medicine when you felt cold. It was said to be a “revolutionary liqueur”. This argument became useful during the prohibition years where Fernet Branca could claim that it was a type of medicine, which still made the sale of it legal.  

In the hot summer sun, I felt today may not have been the best time to try a Fernet Branca cocktail. I’m sure I’ll have the chance to try some again soon.  I was happy with sipping on my Aperol spritz, sitting in front of the Duomo Cathedral and enjoying the sun. 

Back to Italy

Well it’s summer again in Europe, and Cara and I have been looking forward to getting out of the cold, wet weather that we’ve been experiencing in London and go back to one of our favourite countries in Europe for some sunshine and amazing food... Thats right, we were returning to Italy. Our first trip to Italy was very special. We travelled to Rome and had an amazing few days. This time round we made a trip to one of Europes fashion capitals, Milan.  Being a city of style and fashion, it was fair to assume that their bar and cocktail culture would follow the same trend. So we were both excited to explore another new city, try some new cocktails and of course eat the amazing Italian food.


By far the main attraction in Milan is the “Duomo di Milano”, which translates to the Cathedral of Milan. This gothic and impressive structure began construction in 1386. It was finally complete in 1965. Looking at the fine detail in the cathedrals exterior, we could understand why it took them so long to complete. It is the forth-largest cathedral in Europe, and it’s the largest in Italy. So Cara and I decided to find a perfect spot to have some of our much-loved antipasti and take in the grandeur of the Duomo, before continuing our exploration of Milan.

A trip to Milan is not complete without experiencing the cities high-end fashion scene. As we walked the streets, passing all the big name featured stores; we decided to make another stop. This time at Dolce & Gabbana, and more importantly the D&G Martini bar. This fashion icon is the brain child of 2 Italian fashion designers, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. They came together in 1982 to launch one of the most sort after brands in Italy and the world. The D&G Martini bar has been designed to convey the same ideals of the high-end fashion label, which has made the brand so successful today. It’s relaxing, intimate and glamorous setting, gives shoppers the perfect place to unwind after a ‘hard’ days shopping. I wanted to order a cocktail from their menu that screamed “Italy”. I chose a cocktail called “Milano”. Not the most original name in the world, but one that was fitting. It was a martini that consisted of equal parts Campari (another great Italian spirit), Gin and Aperol. It was garnished with slice of orange, which was coated in saffron. This cocktail was exactly what I expected. Crisp clean, with a (what I like to call) razor sharp finish. It is certainly not a cocktail for everyone. Campari can be a tough spirit to drink. But as I looked around the room, I couldn’t help but notice that most of the other patrons were drinking the famous fiery red spirit. Only in Italy would you find so many people drinking Campari at the same time. Aside from the Campari, the gin and the Aperol added to its dry crispness. The Aperol gave the cocktail a refreshing apricot after taste. The garnish was a nice touch too. A saffron coated orange slice was something original. It gave the drink an acidity, which complemented the spirits nicely.

As we sat and enjoyed our drinks, we noticed every customer that walked into D&G’s Martini bar all came carrying a number of shopping bags from the various well known fashion label stores in the nearby area. Being typical Aussies, dressed in flip-flops and me in my Australian soccer top, we suddenly felt a little out of place. Not to worry though, the day was young and we still had lots to see in Milan.

D&G’s “Martini Bar”
The Milano:
In the cocktail shaker
30ml Campari
30ml Gin
30ml Aperol
Stir and strain into a Martini Glass
Garnish with a slice of Orange coated
in Saffron.