SOUTHTRADE INTERNATIONAL Liquid Miles

2013 TRADE

PROGRAM #3 Cocktails from the 10 finalists of SouthTrade International’s Liquid Miles trade incentive

SOUTHTRADE LIQUID MILES WINNERS

THE TWO WINNING VENUES OF THE 2013 LIQUID MILES TRADE INCENTIVE, CANVAS (QLD) AND HOTEL SWEENEY’S (NSW) CELEBRATE THEIR VICTORY

HOTEL SWEENEY’S (NSW)

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SouthTrade Liquid Miles Cocktails

CANVAS (QLD)

FIRST DRINKS

SOUTHTRADE LIQUID MILES SIGNATURE COCKTAILS SouthTrade International ran its successful Liquid Miles trade incentive once again this year, but this time the company rewarded two lucky venues with an allexpenses paid trip for two people to Tales Of The Cocktails 2013 in New Orleans.

This year’s competition, which attracted entries from 210 venues across the country, was split into two categories – small bars and large venues – which were judged on different criteria.

ON THE COVER: CANVAS’ WINNING COCKTAIL, BRUICHLADDICH PENICILLIN PHOTOGRAPHED BY: ANDREW JARVIE EDITOR: SACHA DELFOSSE

All participating venues had to range at least four brands from the SouthTrade range, and feature and promote at least three cocktails using these brands throughout the competition.

There were a variety of ways venues could score points during the incentive, ranging from the amount of products they purchased and stocked, how many drinks they promoted – and how well they were made and presented, as well a venue’s product knowledge and customer service.

A winner from each category was chosen for each state, who were then flown to Sydney to attend a Cirque du Soleil themed grand finale party held at Sydney’s Slide Lounge.

After some great burlesque dancing and circus performances, and plenty of delicious SouthTrade cocktails, the national winners were announced to a room full of industry peers.

Brisbane’s Canvas bar took out the first prize in the small bar category, and Sydney’s Hotel Sweeney’s came in first place in the large venue category. Both venues received a grand prize, valued at $15,000, which included economy flights, accommodation, passes to Tales Of The Cocktail 2013, $1,000 spending money and a $1,000 bar tab, as well as a trip to the Buffalo Trace and Finest Call distilleries.

Keep checking the SouthTrade International website or speak to one of the representatives to make sure you and your venue get involved next year.

Cheers, The SouthTrade Team

Liquid Miles finale party SouthTrade International’s 2013

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SouthTrade Liquid Miles Cocktails

SouthTrade Liquid Miles Cocktails 5

Canvas

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his year was the first time Canvas, winner of the small venue category, entered the Liquid Miles trade incentive, with the new rules and criteria introduced this year making the competition more appealing for the bar.

And the victory and subsequent trip to New Orleans could not have come at a more pertinent

moment, with the team behind Canvas – Marco and Emily Nunes – about to launch a new venue, called Papa Jack’s, which will have a New Orleans theme to it.

“That’s one of the reasons I entered this year and really wanted to win, because I wanted to be able to go and visit as many places in New Orleans and get inspired,” Nunes says.

“And another reason for entering was the SouthTrade brands – I’ve been a massive supporter since day one. Before the criteria didn’t suit Canvas, but this year’s change in rules gave Canvas more of a chance, due to size and volume, to win the whole thing.”

For the competition, Canvas designed a ‘mini-menu’ packed with 16 cocktails, made using four SouthTrade brands – Buffalo Trace, Esprit de June, Bruichladdich Organic and G’Vine – which was placed alongside the bar’s normal drinks list.

“Every cocktail was quite different – highballs, classics, short drinks, mixed drinks etc. – it was full of different styles of cocktails and flavours because we wanted to express the brands in different ways so people could appreciate them fully,” Nunes explains.

“G’Vine sales did very well, Buffalo Trace always does well, and Bruichladdich was more of a challenge but people loved it once they gave it a crack. Once you explained the products to the customers they would be open to try them and most times they’d come back for more.”

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SouthTrade Liquid Miles Cocktails

SMALL BAR CATEGORY WINNER

Canvas

BRUICHLADDICH PENICILLIN Glass: Double Rocks Ingredients: • 30ml Bruichladdich Organic Islay Single Malt • Port Charlotte Peat Project Islay Single Malt • 30ml Fresh lemon juice • 5ml Honey • 15ml Ginger juice Method: Shake all ingredients and strain into ice filled glass Garnish: Stemmed ginger and lemon twist

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The Kodiak Club

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ast year’s winner (and this year’s runner-up in the small bar category), The Kodiak Club, found that one of the main benefits of entering the competition again this year was that there was a wider range of products to play with.

“It was nice to have a wider range this year. There are a lot of new products from SouthTrade

that we got to throw in, like Excellia. We also expanded to include the full range of Patrón,” owner Nathan Debritt explains.

“We followed the same suit as last year but reworked all the cocktails, added some new things, and since we had new staff involved they had a fresh take on things. Also, having a tequila bar upstairs (Little Blood), which we didn’t have last year, allowed us to do a lot more with Patrón and Excellia.”

The bar used a variety of measures to drive sales and promote their Liquid Miles drinks, including chalk boards, cocktail specials and serving some cheeky twists, sometimes to a customer’s surprise.

“Sometimes people would order a Mojito and we’d make them a Southside that looked like a Mojito and kind of wait for the reaction. Most of the time it was a pleasant surprise for them,” Debritt says.

“Then we did the Kodiak Espresso Martini to get the Patrón XO Café sales going. On a busy Saturday night you get a lot of people coming in just wanting Espresso Martinis, but we don’t have a coffee machine so we’d chuck in two shots of the Patrón XO Café, cognac and a whole egg and make a delicious flip.”

Another product that the bar managed to move a fair bit of was Hayman’s Sloe Gin, Debritt says, largely due to the popularity of the bar’s Charlie Chaplin cocktails.

“The best thing about this competition is that SouthTrade always bring out good products so you don’t really have to struggle to make good drinks with them.”

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SouthTrade Liquid Miles Cocktails

SMALL BAR CATEGORY FINALIST

The Kodiak Club

BUFFALO TRACE BOULEVARDIER Glass: Coupette Ingredients: • 30ml Buffalo Trace Bourbon • 30ml Sweet vermouth • 30ml Campari Method: Stir with ice until chilled.

Strain into pre-chilled coupette Garnish: Orange twist

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Wolf Lane

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or Wolf Lane, entering the Liquid Miles trade incentive was an easy choice, as the majority of the cocktails on the bar’s drinks list already used SouthTrade brands.

“Every cocktail on our list has at least one SouthTrade product in it. It’s great for us

because, more than any other supplier, they stock the main ingredients for most of our cocktails,” venue manager, Tash Paige, says.

“My staff love to create quality cocktails and SouthTrade’s products are all quality spirits so our staff love using them – we are all about serving quality products at Wolf Lane.”

Not only does Wolf Lane stock and sell a great deal of SouthTrade brands – with Buffalo Trace, Patrón and Green Fairy Absinth amongst the top selling – but the bar’s strong focus on customer service meant Paige was confident her well-trained team would “kick ass” in the mystery shopper component of the competition.

“I didn’t care if the mystery shopper came in because I was confident all my staff would be delivering a great experience to any customer, as that’s what they do for everyone that comes in.”

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SouthTrade Liquid Miles Cocktails

SMALL BAR CATEGORY FINALIST

Wolf Lane

G’VINE FLORAISON Glass: Sling/Tall Glass Ingredients: • 30ml G’Vine Floraison Gin • 20ml Dry vermouth • 5ml Orgeat syrup • 10ml Lemon juice • 10ml Sugar syrup • Tonic water Method: Shake all ingredients and strain into ice filled glass.

Top with tonic water Garnish: Cucumber slice and a dash of Angostura Bitters

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Bar on Gouger

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ar on Gouger entered last year’s Liquid Miles trade incentive and came close to taking out the first place for South Australia, a feat they were proud to have achieved this year.

“We had seven cocktails in total, which we found that the public really responded

to. We used a fairly broad cross section of SouthTrade products in the cocktails,” bar manager Nathan Scutter says.

“We range probably the majority if not all the SouthTrade products so we didn’t have to convince customers too much, they already knew and loved the products. But it was also a good way to expose customers to some of the newer SouthTrade products.”

The bar saw a strong increase in sales of the cocktails it crafted for the Liquid Miles competition, compared to the regular cocktails on its drinks list, with two of the most popular being the AMA and Lou Ferrigno cocktails.

“Liquid Miles was a good way to get bartenders behind the products and educating customers. Having the staff be a part of the creative process helps as well. If the bar staff are happy it generally translates to happy customers.

“Another thing we saw was a lot of interest from customers in the Patrón tequila range, with many of them branching out beyond just the XO,” Scutter states.

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SouthTrade Liquid Miles Cocktails

SMALL BAR CATEGORY FINALIST

Bar On Gouger

ALIZÉ BERRY BOO Glass: Goblet Ingredients: • 45ml Alizé Pomegranate Liqueur • 10ml Finest Call Raspberry Puree • 45ml Pressed apple juice • Ginger ale • 6 mint leaves Method: Shake all ingredients with ice. Strain into ice filled glass.

Top with ginger ale Garnish: Mint sprig and fresh raspberry

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Taste Baguette & Grill

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aste Baguette & Grill decided to enter Liquid Miles for the first time because on top of the great prize on offer, bar manager Nami Park, saw it as a great experience for her bar team.

“We already had a few cocktails using SouthTrade products on our menu but we worked

with our staff to come up with many more,” Park explains.

“We pretty much stuck all the SouthTrade products in front of the staff and told them ‘use these’. They made a cocktail each and everyone did their homework.”

The venue promoted their cocktails in a range of ways, including chalk boards, a wall of empty Green Fairy absinth bottles (filled with green liquid) and by selling cocktails at a special rate.

“I found we were able to introduce more customers to these products, especially the G’Vine range that is very new for a lot of people, and also Fireball, which has become very popular with our patrons,” Park explains.

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SouthTrade Liquid Miles Cocktails

SMALL BAR CATEGORY FINALIST

Taste Baguette & Grill

TOMMY’S PATRÓN MARGARITA Glass: Jam Jar/Large Rocks Ingredients: • 45ml Patrón Silver Tequila • 20ml Fresh lime juice • 10ml Agave syrup Method: Prepare glass with a salt rim. Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into ice filled glass Garnish: Two lime wedges

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Hotel Sweeney’s

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he winning venue in the large venue category, Hotel Sweeney’s, didn’t just score a trip to New Orleans from the competition, it was also able to develop a successful cocktail offer through entering this year’s Liquid Miles trade incentive.

“To be honest we are not really a cocktail type of bar so getting into that was great, we

were able to introduce good, simple cocktails to our customers,” assistant manager, Gretta Henry, explains.

“We have been mainly a ‘blokey’ pub and we have tried to turn that around with the cocktails, and it’s working. The competition has been really good fun, and we never thought we’d win and go this far.”

One of the best selling cocktails at the venue during the competition was the Coco Chanel, made with Alizé Coco, Henry says, with sales of Patrón, Fireball, Green Fairy and Hayman’s Sloe Gin cocktails also doing well.

SouthTrade’s training and support assisted greatly in helping develop a good cocktail list, while the use of the Finest Call range made it easy for the bar to deliver consistent, quality cocktails to its patrons.

“Finest Call made it simple for us, which is what we needed. The staff liked it because it’s a new thing, it’s simple and great quality. We get a different range of people and there was a lot of interest from our customers.

“Depending on the product, our sales went from half a case to one or two a week. Most of the cocktails from the competition have now set the standard for the venue, and the staff are more confident in recommending them to customers,” Henry says.

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SouthTrade Liquid Miles Cocktails

LARGE VENUE CATEGORY WINNER

Hotel Sweeney’s

ULTIMAT BLOODY MARY Glass: Highball/Tall Glass Ingredients: • 45ml Ultimat Vodka • 120ml Finest Call Bloody Mary Mix • 10ml Fresh lemon juice • A pinch of celery salt Method: Rock all ingredients four to five times in an ice filled shaker.

Strain into glass half filled with ice Garnish: Celery stick with cherry tomato and cracked black pepper

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Press Club

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ress Club entered the Liquid Miles trade incentive last year, where they were named second runner up, which made it a no brainer to enter again – with the aim of taking out first place this year.

“The main products we pushed during the competition were Buffalo Trace, Patrón and

Ultimat, which were used in a range of cocktails,” The Press Club venue manager, Scott Griffin, explains.

“Sales of Espresso Martinis made with Ultimat and Margaritas made with Patrón went up.”

The bar found that upselling to Ultimat and Buffalo Trace had more customers asking about the products and gave the bartenders a chance to engage with them in conversations about the two brands.

“This was a good way to expose our customers to products like Ultimat and Buffalo Trace.

Overall I think the brand recognition of the whole SouthTrade portfolio stepped up because of the comp,” Griffin says.

“SouthTrade is well integrated within our bar, so we didn’t have to change it too much for Liquid Miles; it really fell into what we were already doing, which is focussing on quality cocktails and customer service.”

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SouthTrade Liquid Miles Cocktails

LARGE VENUE CATEGORY FINALIST

Press Club

IT’S MINT TO BE Glass: Vintage Glass/Coupette Ingredients: • 40ml Buffalo Trace Bourbon • 10ml Cointreau • 10ml Dark crème de cacao • 8-10 Mint Leaves Method: Spank, tear and drop mint leaves into mixing glass.

Add all other ingredients and stir with ice. Strain into chilled glass Garnish: Mint sprig

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Devilles Pad

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evilles Pad boasts the biggest range of absinth(e) in Western Australia, including all of the absinth(e)s in the SouthTrade International range, and the bar also has Buffalo Trace in its speed rail, something the venue built on during the Liquid Miles trade incentive.

“At Devilles Pad, being a 60s supper club style venue, we focus on old school drinks using

old school spirits, which SouthTrade have a great selection of,” Devilles Pad bartender, Ben Louthean, says.

“During the Liquid Miles competition, we had lots of cocktail specials and we sold lots of Buffalo Trace since it’s in the speed rail.”

Although the staff sat through a few training sessions prior to the start of Liquid Miles, Louthean explains that not much was needed since “SouthTrade are one of the companies that our staff know their range very well”.

One of our most popular cocktails sold during Liquid Miles was a Green Fairy Absinth punch called Horny Devil, while the bar also noticed many people embracing the Buffalo Trace brand.

“We noticed a change in bourbon, with people drinking Buffalo Trace instead of their usual choice. We put a lot of effort into educating people to try something else, and now we got people coming back to the bar asking for Buffalo Trace cocktails,” Louthean states.

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SouthTrade Liquid Miles Cocktails

LARGE VENUE CATEGORY FINALIST

Devilles Pad

THE GREEN BEAST Glass: Absinth Fountain/ Punch Bowl Ingredients: • 150ml Green Fairy Czech Absinth • 100ml Fresh Lemon juice • 100ml Elderflower cordial • 1L Chilled water • 12-15 Cucumber slices Method: Build all ingredients and add two scoops of ice.

Stir well to combine flavours and serve chilled Garnish: Cucumber and lemon slices

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Sugar Nightclub

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or this year’s Liquid Miles trade incentive, the team at Sugar focussed their attention on some of the brands in the SouthTrade portfolio that were already a hit with their customers – Agwa, Patrón and Buffalo Trace.

“One of the Agwa cocktails we made, Bolivian Pact, sold very well at the start of the comp

but died down a bit towards the end – I think it was mainly due to the weather.

“The other ones that sold well were The Bolivian Rose, also made with Agwa, and our Patrón Old Fashioned was quite popular too. And those cocktails, as well as many others from the competition are still selling strong,” bar manager Eugene Jet Armstrong explains.

Armstrong says the venue received great support from SouthTrade with regards to training and tastings, which not only helped the bar team in regards to the competition, but gave them a greater understanding of the company’s range.

“It’s always good to have some good exposure to brands, especially from a company like SouthTrade, because they have such good products to work with too.”

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SouthTrade Liquid Miles Cocktails

LARGE VENUE CATEGORY FINALIST

Sugar Nightclub

BOLIVIAN ROSE Glass: Double Rocks Ingredients: • 45ml Agwa Coca Leaf Liqueur • 30ml Fresh lemon juice • 20ml Rosemary infused syrup • 1 Egg white Method: Shake all ingredients vigorously with ice.

Strain into ice filled glass Garnish: Rosemary sprig with lemon twist

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Baroq House

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lthough the team from Baroq House was unfortunately unable to attend the 2013 Liquid Miles finale party and celebrate their success amongst all the other finalists, the competition still provided the venue with some rewards.

“Being part of the Liquid Miles trade incentive gave us the opportunity to put Patrón on our

cocktail list and move to a more exclusive cocktail list,” the bar says.

“It also opened the doors to other lines, like Agwa. In addition, The Espresso Margarita we created and sold during the competition did very well with our customers, and it helped develop a new avenue to sell Patrón XO Café through.

“Overall the 2013 Liquid Miles trade incentive was a good experience and a lot of fun for our team.”

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SouthTrade Liquid Miles Cocktails

LARGE VENUE CATEGORY FINALIST

Baroq House

HOLA MAMACITA Glass: Double Rocks Ingredients: • 40ml Patrón Reposado Tequila • 20ml Alizé Gold • 10ml Ginger syrup • 20ml Finest Call Passionfruit Puree • 2-3 Kaffir lime leaves Method: Prepare glass with half rim cinnamon sugar. Press two to three kaffir lime leaves in shaker, add all ingredients and shake with ice.

Fine strain into chilled glass Garnish: Ginger slices

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Miles SouthTrade International Liquid ocktail 2013 C e th f o s le a to T Winners’ trip

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SouthTrade Liquid Miles Cocktails