Kings Cross proof cocktails now at Hugos

Hugos Bar Pizza has launched a new 'one shot' cocktail menu in response to the recently introduced alcohol restrictions for venues in Sydney's Kings Cross.

The new regulations limit bars in the precinct from serving drinks containing more than 30mls of alcohol after midnight – and the 30mls of alcohol has to be served with at least 30mls of a mixer.

"Most of our cocktails have 60ml of spirits so it had stopped us being able to serve any after midnight. It's a bit of an issue as we pride ourselves as a cocktail venue," said Hugos Group beverage manager, Stuart Morrow.

"So we came up with the idea of 'one shot' cocktails that had to have only 30ml of spirit and at least 30ml of mixer."

One issue Morrow faced when creating the drinks was not being able to use other spirits or liqueurs to modify the base spirit or introduce other flavours to the drinks.

"I use infusions to get as much out of my spirits as I can, and any extra flavours had to come from syrups, juices etc. We are lucky in that we make a lot of syrups and mixers in-house so I could create what I needed," he said.

The new Kings Cross restrictions have also thrown another obstacle in the way of bars wishing to serve quality cocktails – no glassware after midnight.

To combat this, and because he believes "no cocktails should be served in plastic", Morrow has sourced a range of non-glass (and non-plastic) alternatives for serving cocktails in.

This includes ceramic mugs, pewter and copper cups, cardboard coffee cups and china tea cups, while the venue is also looking at the viability of using bamboo cups and even possibly serving drinks inside fruits such as pineapples.

"Downstairs we can use glass but upstairs we needed a solution. We wanted an element of fun with the vessels we picked and they had to be able to be sourced en masse."

The new 30ml cocktail list has been available at Hugos Bar Pizza for the past two weekends and has been well received, Morrow said, with early sales figures looking promising.

Source: The Shout, 20 March 2013