The classics as inspiration: how Thomas Egan crafts cocktails

At rooftop burlesque and cocktail bar, Nineteen Ten in Adelaide, you’ll find veteran bartender Thomas Egan. That’s where you’ll find the bartender giving the classic New Orleans cocktail, the Vieux Carre, a new life throughout the month of August.

That’s because he’s also one of the top 25 bartenders in the Espolòn Afterlife To The Bone cocktail competition.

So below, lightly edited and condensed for clarity, Thomas talks about his entry for the Campari afterlife competition and the creative process behind it, and the simple but effective techniques he uses to craft new cocktails.

Alright, would you like to say who you are and where we are? Yeah cool.

Hi, I’m Thomas Egan, we’re at Nineteen Ten in Adelaide, so our rooftop burlesque and entertainment venue, just on Hindley Street.

Tell us about your drink for this Campari afterlife comp, what’s the name of it?

Right, because we had to twist a classic, the classic I chose was the Vieux Carre. I decided to call my drink the Nueva Vida, which is new life. So new square, new life. It’s a quite a booze driven cocktail. So obviously heavy on the Espolòn Reposado, but then sweet vermouth, mezcal, and a couple of seasoning agents in there as well to really bring out that tequila.

Why did you choose the Vieux Carre?

It’s a classic cocktail that’s a little bit of a soft spot in my heart. It’s slightly pretentious in that it’s a lot of booze and it’s a very bartender drink that no one really orders. It’s just one of those sort of bartendery cocktails that I really enjoy, and want to share with my friends.

What was the creative process behind it? How do you usually think about creating drinks?

As most bartenders would do, I tend to use classics as bit of an inspiration and that’s the base level of where I’d get my ingredients or ideas from. Then again, I work off the spirit as well, like Espolòn Reposado is gorgeous. It’s got those beautiful caramel and agave notes, but then it also has like an orchard fruit to it. So I wanted to use something that was a little less used as a base ingredient. I’ve actually used quince in this one. I tend to use fresh produce in a way that’s simple, but effective.

What do you do here? What’s Nineteen Ten about?

Yeah, so our tagline is cocktails and mischief. We have quite a lot of entertainers, a lot of burlesque, a lot of fire spinning. We’ve got drag shows, shibari shows, all sorts of different things. So any kind of performance art, we’re more than happy to do, especially during Adelaide Fringe — we have upwards of 70 shows within three or four weekends sometimes, four or five a day. It’s a crazy turn around, a lot of fun.

How long have you been bartending?

It’s been a hot minute. It’s probably been over a decade at least. I’ve been in nightclubs, pubs, I know fine dining restaurants, Michelin star hotels — all sorts, lots of crazy stuff.

I find that my passion is definitely just serving cocktails to individual people and having that chat behind the bar. So just bringing the personality into it.

Vida Nueva

45mL Espolòn Reposado
10mL Montelobos Espadin Mezcal
15mL Quince Vermouth
2 dashes Bergamot Bitters
5mL Peppered Campari
5mL Shiraz Reduction

For the Quince Vermouth:
150g Quince per 750mL Rosso Vermouth. Sous Vide @ 70º for 6hrs. Fine strain and chill.

For the Peppered Campari:
10g lightly crushed Pink Peppercorns per 200mL Campari. Sous vide @ 60º for 3hrs. Fine strain and chill.

For the Shiraz Reduction:
Reduce 750mL Barossa Shiraz (preferably 2022) with 100g White Sugar by 30% on low-med heat.

For the Citrus Spray (garnish):
50g Orange Rind, 10g Lemon Rind, 200mL Neutral Alcohol. Steep at room temperature for 24hrs.