Sydney Fringe 2012 - The Toast of Newtown

Post

Subscribe

Fri 07 Sep 2012 - Sun 30 Sep 2012

One may ask how a community comes together for a night of fun and entertainment. Whether big or small, busy or not, these businesses came together and connected with each other as one. Connection was the vibe of the pop up bar called Five Eliza, hosting the Toast of Newtown. From DJ's, hula mannequins without heads and very dim lights, the room was decorated in Halloween style and the locals were pouring in. The connection between businesses in Newtown was obvious, an ambience that can't be forged. The Newtown Business Precinct Association (NBPA) worked with Sydney Fringe to present a one off awards night of cocktail delight.



Sleepless in Newtown Lew, Sydney Fringe General Manager had been working like a 'bull at a gate' with his team for weeks to ensure the nights success. Lew wanted to capsulate Newtown in a glass and market Newtown, the Fringe and the cocktails all in one.


The initial idea for a cocktail competition came from Bench Wine Bar owner, Robyn. Sydney Fringe took the idea and ran with the 'cocktail ball' and hence, the Toast of Newtown was born.

The awards were handed out by Chris, alias The Spirit, who tasted all of the cocktails claiming that a lot of hangovers went into the decision making and it was a lot of hard work. Best cocktail name was awarded to The Wine Plate for Dorothy's Friend; and best use of product went to Hartsyard for their Bacon infused Manhattan (not for the vegetarian in you).



Where's Wally, known as Jack stirred the tea cup cauldron of dry iced Absinth punch while Ben at the bar made me a Slow & Low, a drink that has the secret ingredient 'love' and love it was, never say no to a 'Slow and Low'.





After the awards we were entertained by The Bogan-Ville Burlesque, a great performance by very talented dancers in colourful costume. With Magic Dan, who yes, is a magician, giving everybody a great night of entertainment with the inclusion of the crowd.






Bottles of Green Fairy Absinth were on display and it was the main ingredient for the mixer demonstrations. Gee David, the Green Fairy Absinth 'Mixologist' demonstrated Czech style and French style Absinth. Later, with the help of the Green Fairy herself, Ms Kacy Thurlow, the Marketing Coordinator for Southtrade International, an Absinth punch was demonstrated on stage and sold at $5 a glass.



They offered samples of the French style Absinth to everybody in the room including myself. Being a first time Absinth drinker, I have to say that it will never be my favourite drink. All I could taste was the Staranise, it was extremely overpowering and my tastebuds couldn't take a lot of it. The Absinth punch that they made up on stage had enough mixers to drown out the taste of the Staranise. They added dry ice for a smokey effect, and it tasted like fruit punch, it could easily become a regular drink for me.



All in all it was a very interesting and educational night. Sydney Fringe is hoping to continue the tradition annually and will advertise it again for next year, details can be found on the Sydney Fringe website.

#festivals
#september
!date 07/09/2012 -- 30/09/2012
%wnsydney