Staff Picks

Atotonilco el Alto, Jalisco · Mexico

Patrón Silver Tequila

We stock it because people ask for it by name, and because the quality justifies the recognition rather than merely following it.

700 mL40.0%22.1 std

Sydney, New South Wales

Maybe Sammy Old Fashioned

We stock it because the Old Fashioned is the drink most often ruined by pre-mixing - too sweet, too dilute, or both - and this one is neither. It also travels, which matters when the alternative is carrying three bottles and a jigger to someone else's kitchen.

100 mL30.0%2.4 std

Sydney, New South Wales

Maybe Sammy Maybe Margarita

We stock it because it was built by a bar that has to defend it to customers every night, and because the small bottle lets you put it beside the canned Margaritas on this shelf and taste what the difference between the two formats actually amounts to.

100 mL22.0%1.7 std

Sydney, New South Wales

Maybe Sammy Sundown Aperitivo

We stock it because the aperitivo is the one drink on this shelf with an actual job to do, and because most bottled versions are a spritz with the bubbles taken out. This one holds together poured over ice on its own.

100 mL18.0%1.4 std

Sydney, New South Wales

Maybe Sammy Italian Dirty Martini

We stock it because it takes a drink people order out of habit and gives them a reason to notice it again, and because Maybe Sammy have the standing to change a Martini without it reading as a gimmick. Ingredients 42 Below Vodka, Olive Brine, Oregano, Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth, Grapefruit Bitters

100 mL28.0%2.2 std

Richmond, New South Wales

Karu Rested Morita

We stock it alongside the standard bottle because they do different jobs. The original is for building drinks; this one is closer to something you would sip, and it is the more interesting of the two.

700 mL42.0%23.2 std

Melbourne, Victoria

Curatif Spicy Margarita

We stock it because it is the version people ask for, and because the heat is built in rather than sitting on the rim as a gimmick.

130 mL22.0%2.3 std

Sydney, New South Wales

Maybe Sammy Tropical Espresso Martini

We stock it because it is the only coffee cocktail here built on rum rather than vodka, and the gap between those two is most of the argument for buying a drink somebody made instead of the bottles to make it. Ingredients Bacardi Oro, Mr Black, Pineapple, Almond

100 mL22.0%1.7 std

Sydney, New South Wales

Maybe Sammy Eucalyptus Gimlet

We stock it because it is the one bottle here that could not have been made anywhere else, and because it answers a question worth asking: what the classic cocktails would look like if they had been written in this country.

100 mL26.0%2.1 std

Sydney, New South Wales

Maybe Sammy Jasmine Negroni

We stock it because it comes from a working Sydney bar rather than a contract bottler, and because 100 mL is one drink. You are buying a single Negroni made by the people who built their name on it, not a bottle you have to commit to.

100 mL24.0%1.9 std

Melbourne, Victoria

Curatif Tommy's Margarita Cans 130mL

We stock it because a Margarita made properly is three ingredients and no sugar syrup, and this is the only canned one on our shelf that reads that way.

130 mL22.0%2.3 std

Melbourne, Victoria

Curatif Negroni Cans 130ml

We stock it because it is built from spirits we sell separately, so you can taste the parts against the whole, and because the strength is on the front of the can rather than buried.

140 mL24.0%2.7 std

Sydney, New South Wales

Maybe Sammy Lychee Martini

We stock it because Maybe Sammy make it from the fruit, and because a drink carrying that reputation is worth one bottle on the shelf arguing the reputation is out of date. Ingredients: 42 Below Vodka, Lemon Myrtle, Lychee, Supasawa

100 mL24.0%1.9 std

Sydney, New South Wales

Maybe Sammy Chamomile Martini

We stock it because it is the one in this range we would hand somebody who says they do not like Martinis, and because it usually turns out that what they did not like was the gin rather than the drink.

100 mL26.0%2.1 std

Richmond, New South Wales

Karu Morita Chipotle Vodka

We stock it because it does something no other bottle here does. In a Bloody Mary or a Paloma it replaces three separate ingredients, and it changes what people assume flavoured vodka means.

700 mL42.0%23.2 std

Melbourne, Victoria

Curatif Espresso Martini Cans 130ml

We stock it because Mr Black is made an hour up the coast and sits on our own shelf, and because most canned versions of this drink are sugar and coffee flavouring.

120 mL20.0%1.9 std

Melbourne, Victoria

Curatif Bitter Bianco Amaretto Sour

We stock it because it is the least obvious can in the range and the one most likely to change someone's mind about what a canned cocktail can be.

130 mL20.0%2.1 std

Melbourne, Victoria

Curatif Pina Colada

We stock it because the drink has spent forty years being made badly and this is what it is supposed to taste like.

130 mL17.0%1.7 std

Jalisco · Mexico

1800 Cristalino Tequila

We stock it because it is the most interesting thing happening in mainstream tequila, and because it genuinely confuses people in a blind pour, which is a decent recommendation on its own.

700 mL35.0%19.3 std