Speak In Code

🚨ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨

Listen up, we figured we’d drop this news a day early - partly because it’s shaping up to be an incredible day for Manchesters Bars…

We’re super excited to welcome Melbourne’s own - Caretaker’s Cottage for an industry seminar, followed by a guest shift in the evening.

Not only known for their incredible hospitality, drinks and venue, this bar is littered with accolades for good reason. From Best New International Cocktail Bar at Tales of the Cocktail, to the Art of Hospitality Award, Best Bar In Australasia & ranked Number 19 in the world’s The World’s 50 Best Bars.

We’ll be joined by venue manager Matt & Bartender Eddie for a one of a kind evening from one of the best to do it…

Reservations will go live on Friday 7th August at 12pm. For spots on the industry seminar, usual drop us a DM and we’ll get you booked in. Reservations will likely be popping off so y’all can use Double Down as a place to hang if spaces are limited

Shouts to & World Class GB for pulling up!

• SiC Introducing - Owen (Sponsored by Red Bull) •

🗣️Open puts Red Bull on his cornflakes, pass it on…

Owen is a family man, which probably explains why he’s the team harmonizer - our resident dad. The voice of reason, the team anchor, the guy who knows how to clean a spilled drink on the fly… Need some advice? He’s on it… Need crayons? Keep’s em spare in his apron. Heels causing you issues? Keeps banana shaped band aids in his pockets…

Owen’s been with us for minute now - showing great ambition and warm hospitality, coming from varied bar backgrounds - has fully immersed himself in our SiC ways and genuinely loves what he does.

Favourite cocktail is Red Bull. Used its power of recovery on the train back from Top 50 awards 😎

The powerhouse that is Owen, sponsored by Red Bull - Spread the word let’s get Owen his energy drink endorsement, that sweet cheese, that good old brand money - or at least a case a month or something we can keep in our fridge for him, name dropped enough times for that to happen we think…

Pleasure to have ya, Owen. Another comp entry from him we’ll be shouting about soon…

Come say hey next time you’re in for a bev…

• Comp Season •

Always a pleasure to work with such an ambitious team…

One of the ways they can show this as individuals is to take part in competitions, with high value prizes such as global accolades and travel.

You’ll see several competitor menus in our space throughout the next few months, and you can support the team by trying their drinks on your next visit.

There’s a few more mentions to add onto this, but are going live in the weeks following the current crop…

Come show some support 🫡

• It’s comp season •

Our team are in full swing with cocktail competitions at the moment. Most of thea team in fact…
Our Eddie is in the semi finals of Connoisseur - showcasing 2 serves for the next few weeks, in venue.

Untitled 27 - you could liken to a dry Manhattan, with some herbaceous and nutty notes with hazelnut & heather. This is complemented with a Magnolia leaf distillate, made in house using the Magnolia leaves that Eddie picks from his front garden back in Preston… Like we’d make it easy eh…

Untitled 28 - you could liken to a cognac paloma, that’s playing with some floral notes. Honeysuckle gives a touch of umami but brings out the grapefruit as they share a same aromatic compound called Linalool - which gives a floral, spicy aroma. Raspberry leaf brings some tannin to round out a well balanced, crisp highball.

Come through, support our boy, show some love…

• TBH •

Let’s introduce this Totally Bloody Handsome fella, TBH. This Total Bartending Hero knows how to get an ice up done on the fly…

To Be Honest, we actually can’t remember when he stopped being Thomas Beckett Hill and he became the anomaly - TBH, The Bars Historian. Although, Technically Bartending Here for a little while now, he Trained Bar Here whilst intending to become part of the opening team for DD - and quickly became The Bars Hero at SiC.

Favourite ingredient of ours is our Thai Basil Halva which we use in Demo 7, he’s a Trusted Beverage Handler with a Truly Big Heart. Tender, But Hardened. His words to live by are Tequila Before Hydration.

TBH has become a pillar of our team, with a big focus on developing as a hospitality pro and all round great bartender. His personality is infectious, and brings a genuine care and love for what he does.

His favourite pets growing up were his Tiny Belgian Horse and his Three Blind Hamsters.

Welcome to the team, TBH… Loves our Tremendous Banter, Honestly…

Come say hey next time you’re in and he’ll whip you up a White Russian.

SiC x DD Ice Production

For some time whilst we mapped out the opening of Double Down, we had a conversation on whether we should get into ice production… Ice is arguably the most important ingredient in a drink - whether its to shake /stir with, or to control temperature and dilution once in the glass. So why would we not treat this in the same way we approach all other parts of our drink design - to make it in house and have full hands on the process from start to finish…

Let’s walk you through the details. We invested in a BF Tech Ice block maker (The P150) with 6 tanks. You line those tanks with sheets and then fill, you fill to roughly ~31kg of water, then we use clamps to hold up water pumps to keep it circulating. Most of us are familiar with directional freezing - usually top down in cool boxes when it’s a bit more DIY, but these machines rest around -38 degrees, combined with the pumps, allowing the water to freeze from the bottom up. Roughly 55 hours later, you’ll have some cold slush / a couple inches of cold water that needs to be skimmed - and then we begin the ‘harvest’.

Blocks are tempered, removed, put into a tempering freezer at -25, then when they’re dry, they’re then cut into slabs on our Mainca bandsaw, re-dried, and then cut further into the 16 different shapes we use between both sites, and left to re-dry, before boxing.

They then make their way to the bar to pre ice glassware for quick and slick service.

The process can be up to 4 days from filling the machine to glassware. It’s meticulous, purposeful, and incredibly valuable to the cocktail experience…

Come see our production room next time you’re here…

• Demo 12 •

Our ‘next up’ from a Pisco Sour.

Eucalyptus is acquired locally from Flower Style , and distilled into a super aromatic and floral modifier, alongside Vetiver - a woody, aromatic liqueur with sustainably sourced ingredients, inspired by the Amazon rainforest.

We juice Nashi pears and PH adjust, to add a juicy, sweet but light acidic bite, shake, and then top with red wine - a nod to classic New York sour style drinks, adding more aroma and tannins to the drink…

Damn fine drink for a summers day…

• Oli Baddeley •

Oli’s our venue manager - how does this differ from more traditional management roles?

When we promoted Oli from bartender to senior bartender, we understood that he possessed all the qualities to keep SiC a well oiled machine, so to speak. Alongside Ben, our business development manager, we wanted to give license to both to split a more traditional general manager or head bartender role that you often find in similar bars, and give creative freedom for both to flourish in specific niches.

As mentioned previously, we’re a very ambitious team, and with that comes lots of responsibility and project management. Someone needs to keep operations tidy, drive us forward and make sure our standards are as high as can be. Other things that Oli pays particular attention to is menu development. We’re now starting to draw the curtain back a little on our new menu launch, expected later this year. Oli is a huge lead in the project management and development of this new menu, and all of the procedure changes that come with it. New menus are no joke when you take the route of home made, with local collabs in mind. Custom ceramics, house distillates, collaborative spirits, beers & wines, a fermentation & carbonation focus… This takes time to develop. You’ll see we don’t tend to rush our menus - we work on them meticulously behind the scenes, and someone needs to manage that carefully.

You’ll see Oli in service, as a team leader and bartender - with some heightened responsibility to continue to push SiC forward and help shape our future success.

Big love to king Oli, catch him in the gaff…