In celebration of National Aperitif Day, impress your friends with these elegant and exciting cocktail combinations from Maybe Mae's Ollie Margan.

Recipes Ollie Margan | Styling Natalie Homan | Photograph Brendan Homan

Bill Murray
A bright whisky sour with a cult-like following inspired by Murray’s role in Lost in Translation.

40ml Toki Japanese Whisky
20ml apricot brandy
30ml lemon juice
10ml sugar syrup (1:1 sugar dissolved in water)
3 mint leaves
1 egg white

Incorporate all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake to emulsify.
Add ice and shake again to chill/dilute.
Double strain into a rocks glass over ice.
Garnish with a mint sprig.

Tijuana Maid
A spicy, aromatic warm day sipper for the margarita fans. The bright jalapeno spice is cooled by the cucumber and mint.

45ml silver tequila
10ml mezcal
20ml lime juice
15ml sugar syrup (1:1 sugar dissolved in water)
2cm cucumber, diced
5 mint leaves
1 dash green hot sauce (as spicy as you like)

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker.
Muddle in cucumber and mint.
Shake your heart out.
Strain into a rocks glass with as big an ice cube as you can manage (or multiple small ones).
Garnish with a cucumber ribbon and mint sprig. 

Pineapple Club
The only drink that has been on the menu since day one in some form. A fun tiki drink that is finished with flames!

20ml Bacardi Ocho
20ml Bacardi Carta Blanca
20ml Marionette Dry Curacao
30ml lime juice
20ml pineapple syrup
10ml Coco Lopez
30ml ginger beer
3 dashes Angostura bitters

Add all ingredients to a tiki glass with crushed ice.
Churn to dilute.
Top with ice.
Garnish with orange slices and native aromats, we use Geraldton wax and eucalypt
Optional step: Flame absinthe over the top to finish.

Peel St Corpse Reviver
Maybe Mae’s signature serve for local industry folk. Super clean, refreshing and spicy. Don’t be put off by the inclusion of beer, it merely prevents the drink from being too rich/sweet.

30ml Never Never Triple Juniper Gin
30ml ginger honey
30ml lemon juice
60ml lager/pilsner

Shake all ingredients well.
Strain into a chilled 7oz beer glass.
Top with beer.

ginger honey
¼ cup local honey
5cm piece of ginger grated
1⁄3 cup water

In a saucepan, bring all ingredients to a simmer, dissolving the honey.
Refrigerate before use.
For best results let it rest overnight, keeps for 2 weeks.

Bitter Pearl
An after-dinner digestif; bittersweet and herbal. An all-Australian answer to the negroni.

35ml Never Never Amaro
35ml Seppeltsfield DP117
20ml Never Never Triple Juniper Gin

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass.
Add ice and stir to chill/dilute.
Strain into a cocktail glass.
Garnish with a lemon swathe.

 

These recipes first appeared in the September 2020 issue of SALIFE magazine.