Chin-chin - Cocktail Welly is for everyone!

October 15, 2020

Let’s face it. If we’re being honest, we all had a drink or two over lockdown to, er... “pass the time”. But it just wasn't quite the same without your cronies (even when you attempted to bridge the gap with the odd Zoom knees-up). 

Cocktail Wellington takes place over the whole Festival month (1-31 October), meaning you have plenty of time to catch up with your crew over cocktails you weren’t forced to cobble together yourself in your own kitchen! 

And don’t forget - Cocktail Wellington is for everyone! For those who are hapu/pregnant, in training or just don’t partake in alcoholic bevvies - please don’t feel left out. We most definitely want you to come to the party. Almost every Cocktail Wellington cocktail is also available in a non-alc counterpart!

The best bit of all? All cocktails come with a little tapas or food pairing on the side, carefully curated to complement your cocktail. 

And proving that cocktails are just as varied as dishes and burgers, we’ve compiled a list of cocktails in a range of flavour profiles that has something to suit everyone. 

Chin-chin to Cocktail Welly 2020!

Photography by Bebemos: Why the Bloody Beer Not

Savoury 

The author of this Cocktail Welly blog has a particular penchant for savoury cocktails (in particular, Bloody Marys), which is why this is at the top of this Cocktail Welly list. It’s kind of like a savoury dish in a glass. 

Bebemos’ serves a take on the Mexican Michelada with Why the Bloody Beer Not? made with Fork & Brewer’s Hardpour Corn maize lager, tomato juice, lime juice, Apostle hot sauce, housemade chilli liqueur and chilli peppers with a sea salt-rimmed glass, garnished with a stuffed olive, housemade pickle, celery, smoked cheese and thick bacon kebab skewer.

Capitol, likewise, riffs on the Bloody Mary, with a Spanish gazpacho-inspired twist. Gazpacho Picante de Tortilla Patatas is a housemade tomato juice with vodka, Pedro Ximénez, cucumber, Spanish onion, green olive and housemade Bloody Mary mix, accompanied by a potato tortilla with Spanish onion and green olives. Muy bueno! 

The Hudson, known for its massive selection of local and international gin, can’t go past a dirty martini - in particular, the Dirty Martin (we don’t know who the Martin in question is, but we’ll excuse the dirtiness as long as it’s restricted to martini form). Compiled of Denzien gin-infused with foraged Wellington olives, presented with house-blended atomiser for a dirty style martini, this is accompanied with a beetroot puree blini, calabrese, mini dill pickle and olive.

Bacon in a cocktail? We won’t say no. The people’s meat finds its way into Wilson Barbecue’s Smoke Swine Sour, an intriguing concoction of Woody's Free Range Farm smoked bacon infused whiskey, simple syrup and lemon juice, sprinkled with a bacon and citrus crumb, accompanied with bacon and jalapeño mac 'n' cheese bites drizzled with honey sriracha mayo.

Photography by Little Beer Quarter: Schubert's Last Word

Fruity 

A refreshing, fruity cocktail is the libatory equivalent of a splash of cold water on your face - it picks you up, leaving you ready for another round. 

Take a backseat with Highwater’s Backseat Driver, made of Darling's Apple Brandy, lemon juice, chamomile syrup, orange zest and thyme, and accompanied by a traditional Italian snack of fried bread topped with 'Poaka' rare breed cured pork, housemade quince jelly, pecorino, Juno extra virgin olive oil and thyme.

Umu in Paraparaumu is pouring the Yum Yum Peach and Plum, vodka with 5036 Boutique Plum, peach puree and pineapple juice, served over a Zelati plum sorbet.

We’ll leave the last word on fruity cocktails to LBQ’s Schubert’s Last Word, a cherry’s kiss of Denzien x LBQ 'Window 3' gin with housemade cherry liquor utilising Belgian Kriek beer, green Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur and lime juice, accompanied by a cinnamon sugar dusted craggy apple donut stuffed with framboise sour beer mascarpone.

Photography by Dirty Little Secret: Give me S'more!

Sweet 

Sometimes cocktails are a great stand in for dessert - a cheeky, moreish little drop to top off the night. Try these at the end of the evening to wash down your Burger Welly burgers! 

A smoreish little drink can be found at Dirty Little Secret - Give Me S’more! is made with Imagination Syrah barrel-aged gin, toasted marshmallow syrup, cherry syrup, lime juice and egg whites, topped with a caramalised sugar, and accompanied with a housemade biscuit and toasted marshmallows.

Fans of the tiramisu should try Ombra’s Ti-rum-isu - a Smoke and Oakum’s Gunpowder rum with Zany Zeus cream, marsala wine, Good Fortune Coffee syrup and Wellington Chocolate Factory Samoa chocolate, accompanied by a chocolate and chilli meringue.

A different take on sweet is One80 Restaurant’s Vodka Dry Fruit Thandi, a lassi-inspired cocktail, made with vodka, Zany Zeus Zorganic milk, almonds, and a combo of Indian flavours, including saffron, khus, pistachio and rose, accompanied by an aloo stuffed wheat flour crisp with crispy chickpea noodles, coriander, tamarind and yoghurt. 

Photography by Choice Bros: Choice Blood Bro

Sour 

A different kind of refreshing - a lip-puckeringly tart, fruity cocktail, sometimes tempered with a sweet element is just what you need to kickstart your night on the Cocktail Welly circuit. 

Boulcott Street Bistro’s jewel-hued, Oyster Martini, Martini Oyster is a piquant cocktail featuring Denzien gin, Champagne reduction, Te Matuku oyster brine, red wine and shallot vinegar. Accompanied by two Te Matuku oysters garnished with a gin and raspberry granita, this is a lush pre or post dinner option.  

Choice Bros dialled up the sour in its Choice Blood Bro with the inclusion of the brewery’s blood orange sour beer combined with mezcal, lime and salt rim, accompanied with a gougère puff with whipped goat curd and orange.

Photography by Burger Liquor: But first… Coffee

Coffee 

Coffee cocktails get a category all of their own, because, well… Wellington. The Capital claims to be the capital of many things (culinary, craft beer, arts, film-making, etc.), but coffee has to be at the top of that list.  

Burger Liquor knows Wellingtonians can’t start the day (or pretty much anything) without one, hence the appropriately named, But First… Coffee, made of Frozen Flight Coffee, vodka, Frangelico, Kahlúa and creme de cacao with a hazelnut cream float, accompanied with a Montfoort mini breakfast stroopwafle. Probably not the best to kick off the day with one of these, but definitely one to put a fullstop on the end of the day! 

For all the chocolate and peanut butter combo fiends out there, C.G.R. Merchant & Co. is serving the Snickers Affogato, a very moreish combo of house-infused chocolate and peanut butter rum, house-infused salted caramel rum, and cold brew Supreme coffee served hot with vanilla nougat gelato, and accompanied by a vanilla nougat gelato.

Another take on the coffee combo is Crumpet’s Planters Brew, with a house-infused banana rum, Peoples Coffee and cumin infused coconut whipping cream, accompanied by a vegan caramel cookie.

And like a good cup of coffee, these are all guaranteed to inject a bit of pep in your night out. 

Photography by Hot Sauce: Ting Tong Bucket

Non-alcoholic

All of them! As we mentioned, Cocktail Wellington is as much about the non-alcoholic drinks as it is about the cocktails made with alcohol. 

We want everyone to take part in the fruity, the sour, the sweet and the savoury in liquid form, so have a look at the Cocktail Welly line up - you’ll find the majority of beverages also come in a non-alcoholic counterpart. 

Many of the non-alcoholic drinks use Seedlip’s non-alcoholic spirits, such as Hot Sauce’s Ting Tong Virgin, where you can build your own non-alcoholic creation with Seedlip and selection of Pete’s Natural Tonics - and it’s accompanied by mango sticky rice balls, white chocolate and desiccated coconut. YUM!! 

Check out the full line-up of Cocktail Wellington cocktails, and start planning your date night, work drinks or catch up with friends and whānau!