BEING surrounded by spirits and bitters is all in a day’s work for a Maylands resident whose second home is tucked in the historic State Buildings.
Long Chim Perth head bartender Dean Buchanan has been making stunning cocktails for three-and-a-half years but only entered his first competition earlier this year.
In addition to being named Bartender of the Year by WA Good Food Guide in October and Australian Hotels Association in November, Mr Buchanan won the 2018 STARWARD Constellations Cocktail Competition in July and was in the national finals of Angostura’s Reinvent an Icon Competition.
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READ NOWMr Buchanan said his proudest creation was Makuru, a cocktail of distilled muntries, blackberry, whey, myrtle and rain.
“It was my first time using native Australian ingredients and I based the story behind the Noongar seasons,” he said.
“People traditionally hunted and gathered food according to the six seasons.
“At that current time of the year, it was winter for us, and in Noongar terms it was called Makuru which means first rain.”
Mr Buchanan said the best part of his job was the creative freedom and being able to share knowledge with staff and customers.
“It’s being more accepted in the community as being a skill and can be taken seriously as a career,” he said.
“Especially in WA, there’s a lot of young kids coming up now who are very, very passionate about bartending who have put off degrees to pursue bartending as a career.
“Next step for me, after Long Chim, would be to open up my own bar which has been in my head for the last few years now.”
Below is the recipe for a new cocktail Mr Buchanan is working on:
Ingredients
30ml Tanqueray Rangpur 30ml Pandan & Ginger ferment 2 dashes of tartaric acid solution A dash of soda water Thai basil paint to garnish
Method
1. Paint the outside of the glass with thai basil paint. 2. Add a scoop of ice to the cocktail shaker. 3. Put all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker. 4. Shake vigorously. 5. Add a dash of soda water to the serving glass. 6. Double strain the cocktail into the glass.