Alex Elliott-Howery is a goddamn legend. She is the co-founder of what has become a thriving and boundary-breaking food community in inner Sydney through the Cornersmith cafes she owns with her husband in Marrickville and Annandale, renowned for their big hearts and strong conscience when it comes to sustainably sourced food. Alex also teaches pickling and preserving workshops at the Cornersmith cooking school, the Picklery, and is the co-author of two cookbooks, Cornersmith Recipes from the Café and Picklery and the recent release Salads & Pickles.

There are some obvious crossovers between Cornersmith and Archie Rose, most notably, fermentation. But on a broader stroke both companies also have a focus on education and operate classes to share our passions.

Alex and I solidified our friendship in an awkward photoshoot to publicize our respective appearances at this years’ All About Women conference at Sydney Opera House. We bonded for life over an inability to smile like a normal human person in a photo, and started discussing how our two companies can work together. Alex has already taken boxes of spent oranges (post distillation from our Signature Dry Gin) off our hands to turn into some orange cakes which we’re sure have quite the kick.

Archie Rose Bar has a monthly menu feature called Bartender of the Month, where we invite a bartender we admire to write a short list of five feature cocktails, along with a description of the venue and the bartender’s approach to drinks creation. For March however we’re featuring Alex’s delicious pickles in our first ever (and let’s be honest, quite possibly last ever) Pickler of the Month. We’ve used her pickles to great effect, from Picklebacks fit for a gourmand to a delicious take on a pickled grape Martini to a Peach Spritz. We thoroughly recommend getting down to Rosebery during March and getting your pickle on.

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