James Evans
Shooting to thrill with a hint of the wild Aubrac.
Suze – Picasso drank it, or at least he painted a bottle of it in his 1912 Cubist stunner Verre et bouteille de Suze. Nicolas Poelaert certainly drinks it. He trained with Michel Bras in the same French wilderness where some of its constituent bitter herbs grow, and now, as he knocks socks cooking at Brooks in Melbourne, his barman Shae Silvestro pays tribute to those roots (gentian in particular) in a handful of cocktails showcasing the complex elixir’s charms. The Grassy Knoll, as befits the name, has lethal potential in the right hands. Brooks, 115-117 Collins St (enter via George Pde), Melbourne, Vic, (03) 9001 8755.
Pour 30ml gin, 15ml green Chartreuse, 15ml Suze, 30ml freshly squeezed lime juice, 20ml sugar syrup (sugar dissolved in an equal measure of water) and six mint leaves into a shaker half-filled with ice. Add more ice, shake hard and fast, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and serve without delay.
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