All hail the Mojito. If the Mojito hadn't kicked off Matt's career, we wouldn't have Caretaker's Cottage.
When we asked Melbourne bartenders about their preferred spots to have a tipple in the city (aside from their own venue), unsurprisingly, Caretaker’s Cottage was the most common answer. Of course, the venue, with its historic sandstone facade and brilliantly curated record collection, is high-calibre stuff, but it's Matt Stirling and his partners that make the CBD bar what it is. In the cosy surrounds of Caretaker’s Cottage, we sat down with Matt to chat about hospitality, bartending and the drink that inspired his successful career.
“I started in bars and restaurants in 2003, so that’s what? 19 years?” laughs Matt. Matt is what we like to call hospo royalty. Not only is he loved by everyone in the industry, but he’s accumulated a crowd of regulars that follow him wherever he puts down his jig and shakers.
Matt’s career in hospitality started much like a lot of people’s: a part-time job through uni which eventually turned into a full-time love affair. “Yeah I finished my arts and commerce degree, but there wasn’t too much going on. It was kind of post-GFC, so any places I could use my degree were no longer there. So, I opted for bartending,” Matt explains. ”I thought bars are what I can do, and what I want to do. And that was that.”
Since that moment Matt has worked in some stellar joints, including the super popular pop-up bar Fancy-Free and Melbourne staples Black Pearl and the Lincoln Hotel. And if that resumé wasn’t impressive enough, Caretaker’s Cottage recently won a suite of awards, including Australian Bartender’s Bar Team of the year and Victorian Bar of the year, not to mention a coveted spot in the list of the World’s 100 Best Bars (coming in at number 60).
While Matt makes it look easy, hospitality is a demanding industry. It requires long nights, lots of physical exhaustion and hard hours. So, what keeps someone like Matt going? “I love bartending because I love people. Working with people and the variety of work. You get to be creative and taste and try new things frequently,” says Matt. “And at Caretaker’s Cottage, the standard is really high, so we’re all challenging each other to be better, as well as creating an environment for our staff to learn and progress.”
Progression and challenge are what initially drew Matt to the industry in the first place – starting years ago when a colleague kindly suggested Matt was making a drink incorrectly. What was that drink? The Mojito.
“I made a lot of Mojitos back then, so I thought I knew what I was doing. But one day while I was making a Mojito, a colleague kindly interjected and said there are a couple of things I could think about and showed me how to properly make it,” says Matt. “When I saw him make it, I then realised the knowledge gap. It’s a super simple drink and the instruction list is pretty short, but when you really know what you're doing, you can appreciate it a lot more.”
If you’ve never had a Mojito (have you been living under a rock?), a Mojito is a delicately balanced drink made with fresh mint, sugar, rum and fresh lime. Though the origin of the cocktail is still in dispute, we do know that it was first sipped in sunny Cuba.
“Making a good Mojito is in the details,” says Matt. “Yeah, the recipe may look simple, but that doesn’t mean making the drink is simple. It’s really about respecting the process and the systematic order of doing things, a lesson I learned all those years ago, that stays with me today.”
If you want to make a Matt-Stirling-good Mojito, watch the video above and have a look at his top tips below.
Ingredients
50mL light rum
25mL lime juice
20mL sugar syrup 5–8 mint leaves Garnish: 2–3 mint sprigs
Method
Add rum, lime juice, sugar syrup and mint leaves to a highball glass Fill glass three quarters full with crushed ice Churn vigorously for around 10 seconds Add a reusable straw to the glass and cap the drink with more crushed ice Garnish with mint sprigs, placing directly next to the straw for full aromatic effect
Matt's top tips
Just as Matt said, a Mojito may look easy, but when it comes down to it, nailing it takes some real dedication.
“Making a good Mojito is all about fresh ingredients and attention to detail,” Matt explains. “You need to consider everything. Do you have the right glass, do you have enough ice, is your produce good, is it fresh, and, when someone is drinking it, does it look striking enough?”
Essentially, if you want a good Mojito you need fresher than fresh mint and fresh whole limes, so the cocktail is fragrant and fruity.
“Ice is also super important. I make my Mojitos with crushed ice which you can make at home by putting your ice cubes in a bag and smashing them with a rolling pin,” Matt explains. “Once it's at a fairly small size, put it in your drink so it adds the right amount of dilution and cools the drink down as quickly as possible.”
While the traditional Mojito calls for granulated sugar, Matt recommends using a simple syrup for more even sweetness throughout the drink.
Once you’ve built your cocktail, all that’s left is some tunes. Matt suggests playing the classic album ‘Afreaka!’ by Demon Fuzz for some easy sipping – ideally on vinyl, if you can get it. “It’s a record we were gifted from someone's personal collection. It is an incredible album, and it's not printed anymore, so that makes it really special.”
