Hi John. Pleasure to meet you. Can you quickly fill our audience in on who you are and what you do?
My name is John Ross-Jones, I oversee the beverage program for the Saké Restaurant & Bar group. My role involves ensuring our bars continually have the best Japanese bar menu in Australia.
Your work at Saké sees you working in what could be perceived to be a more exotic field than most western beverage managers, using Japanese craft beers and sakes to create a more unique drinks menu than your standard dining experience. How did you manage to get a mastery of using these different spirits and ingredients?
I have a long and colourful background in the hospitality industry, particular in the area of drinks as I was born into a family of pub-owners in North Wales in the UK. My first job when I was studying at university was in a pub, and I took to mixology like a duck to water, working at Revolution Bar and Babycream in Liverpool and other cocktail and wine-focused restaurants and bars in Manchester and Yorkshire. I became intrigued with Japanese whiskies and sake and had the opportunity to visit Japan’s famous Hakushu Distillery, the Kiuchi Hitachino brewery and its sister saké distillery. Things kind of blossomed from there.
Is there a preference in working with these drinks and ingredients over western options?
The excitement of journeying into the unknown and trying new Japanese flavour combinations always keeps me on my toes and stokes my creativity. Every week I find an ingredient I’ve never heard of before, which is mind-blowing. My passion for Japanese ingredients has developed from seeing first-hand the craftsmanship that goes into these products and working with them has become an absolute pleasure. I don’t restrict myself to only using Japanese ingredients, however, and many western elements and ingredients work their way into our cocktails and drinks at Saké.
What’s drawn you to working with Sake? How have things been post Flinders lane launch and how do you find it managing the drinks for all five Sake venues?
I started working at Saké as a bartender four years ago and had little knowledge of sake, shochu or umeshu. Since then, having worked under some extremely passionate sake experts, and through tasting, studying and visiting Japan I became increasingly intrigued by the passion that the Japanese put into making their drinks. From carving ice balls by hand and to order for classic cocktails, to sleeping alongside the fermenting rice during sake production, the attention to detail is unrivalled when it comes to beverage production in Japan.
Saké Flinders Lane is building its own identity as a restaurant and bar. Customers are in the very good hands of our extremely talented bar manager Adrian Aussenac and I am very excited to see the drinks that he will bring to the menu. At Saké Flinders Lane we have the most extensive beverage offering across all our restaurants and we’ve had some spectacular feedback already. In coming months we will utilise the venue as a Melbourne hub to educate customers on Japanese beverage through masterclasses and tastings. There are certainly exciting times ahead.
It is humbling looking after the drinks menus at all five venues, including Saké Hamer Hall where I also spend a lot of time. I spend a large amount of time sourcing the latest and most premium Japanese products. To see these exquisite products adorning the shelves across the country is fantastic. I have spent time working at each venue alongside hugely passionate and talented Saké managers and bar tenders, all of whom pride themselves on offering a fantastic dining and drinking experience.
Can you give us a sneak peek as to what might be appearing on the drinks menu for next season?
The soon-to-be-introduced winter seasonal list will be completely different from the last seasonal list. We will be serving some hot drinks going into winter. We have tried to stay away from the traditional mulled wine and cider, instead introducing a Japanese-inspired hot gin & tonic which will be available exclusively at Sake Hamer Hall. Also at Sake Hamer Hall, we will also be using everyone’s favourite Japanese snack, edamame, to create a vegetal and creamy tequila cocktail with umeshu and shichimi (Japanese spice), as well as our own version of a smoky BBQ Bloody Mary called the Tomato Adobencha. Across all our restaurant seasonal cocktail lists, shochu will also be a huge focus. Shochu is frequently served with hot green tea in the cold months in Japan and its earthy aroma and flavours lend itself to winter drinks. Japanese whisky, although increasingly hard to come by, will have a place on our new menu and our homemade ginger beer and tomato juice will also become more of a feature on our lists.
The trick with the seasonal and signature cocktail lists is to ensure they are balanced with regards to different base spirits, how they are served and levels of sweetness and spice. There is always something for everyone. Initially I have the bar teams brainstorm ideas, and I often introduce them to newly-sourced ingredients. We spend a lot of time on the bar together and almost all of our drinks are a team effort. My final job when creating a new list is ensuring everything is perfectly balanced, perfectly presented and offers a real wow factor.
