She’s 25 per cent of Marionette Liqueur, but she’s one hundred per cent drinks industry legend. Her name is Lauren Bonkowski, and when she’s not brightening your Blue Lagoon with Australia’s best curacao, you’ll find her directing and designing the creative for some of the best loved brands in the drinks business. Here’s what she drinks when she’s drinking Victorian.
Looking at the Victorian drinks world from the outside in, I think its key strengths are… It comes as a surprise to most people, even those in the industry, that Victoria was the biggest producers of spirits in the southern hemisphere in the 1920s. And now 100 years on, we again have the richest distilling community in Australia. There are so many unapologetically geeky drinks coming out of the state. And with Melbourne hospitality being at the level it is, there is no better place to show drinks off to such a well versed and engaged audience.
The last three delicious Victorian things I drank were…
- Limestone Cowboy Sauvignon.
- Larrikin Mushroom Gin. Yes, mushroom, and yes, you should try it.
- Minim XO pétillant naturel. I drank this standing on a bar cheering on friends at an amateur dance battle at Boomtown Winery – a perfect match of drink and event.
When someone hands me a drinks list, I check to see if there is a savvy B on the menu by the glass – not because I’ll order it, but because you can tell a lot about a venue and their customers based on where theirs is from. France? New Zealand? Adelaide Hills? Victoria? If it’s Victoria, I’ll often choose it because a Victorian sauvignon will likely break all the preconceptions that surround that grape. And when you find a version that nails it, it’s always memorable. Like Gembrook, an Australian answer to Sancerre: steely, mineral and delicious.
As far as I’m concerned, the defining place to get a drink in Victoria is Edinburgh Gardens – particularly in late September when we get those first few unquestionably warm days and the inner north comes out to play.
There’s no better value on drinks list or in a bottle-shop in this state than… Our go-to on this front would be Sardinas on High Street in Rezzie, just down the road from the distillery. Great for something salty and a glass en route home. Or they have cute litre bottles which you can take home filled with local tap wines, and then return it (if you haven’t already turned it into you olive oil bottle/vase et cetera) for a discounted top-up.
My favourite place to buy booze is straight from the producer. Winery, distillery, brewery. There’s no better value than buying from the source. Eating and dining out is my way of exploring the state. Getting to bring that memory back home can’t be topped.
I’d love to see Victoria planting more… We’re currently working with two farmers, one established and one new, who are now growing produce specifically for us. We can sure up product ahead of time, and the plants are low-intensity crops that fit into other farming activities. There is so much to be gained when distillers and brewers work with primary producers from the get go.
My guilty pleasure at the bar is… When I asked my colleagues they responded with things like “a glass of fino and some good bread”. My guilty pleasure, however, is without a doubt a Piña Colada. It’s my poolside holiday drink. It’s my birthday drink every year without fail. Even better, I can now make a Victorian version with Jimmy Rum, our pineapple liqueur, and juice – and I tend to have a stash of the best coconut cream around, Coco Lopez, which was used in the original Piña Colada back in 1952.
The Victorian spirit I’m loving most right now is spirit-adjacent, but any of the Beechworth Bitters amari. We’re slowly building an amari cart at home, and the Beechworth Bitters range is a conversation-starting stand-out in this very classic category.
The best or most important change to the way people drink in Victoria in recent years has been drinking better but drinking less. The stigma of drinking less, or not drinking at all, is quickly dissipating, which I think is a really great thing; even as someone who makes alcohol for a living. Seeing low- and no-alcohol options on menus makes heading out and about so much more inclusive, and Victorian brands like NON and T.I.N.A are leading the way.
For me, the most inspiring person in the Victorian drinks world is Ryan Noreiks: one of the founders of Caretaker’s Cottage and the person behind its graphics and photography of the team. The menus are ever-changing, treated with such care and they really celebrate the offering. He makes drinks photography seem bafflingly easy. And all the while he’s there with the rest of the team mixing flawless drinks that never skimp on the fun. I really think what they do sums up the care and dedication and attention to detail and originality that makes the industry in Victoria so outstanding. It’s at such a high level here, we’re so spoilt every time we venture out.
marionette.com.au; smallfortunesstudio.com