Three Cocktail Games to Try at Your Next Aussie Get-Together

Saturday arvos around the barbie are practically a national sport in Australia, and the best ones always end with someone pulling out a deck of cards or a dusty board game. Why not swap the usual Uno or Trivial Pursuit for something that uses the bottles chilling in the esky? A few clever rounds with our premixed cocktail bottles keep the evening rolling without anyone having to measure, muddle, or play bartender.

The whole point of ready-to-drink bottles from Original Bartenders Cocktails® is convenience. You crack the seal, pour over ice, and you're drinking something that tastes like a bartender in Tulum spent ten minutes on it. That kind of quality frees you up to focus on your guests rather than on shaking tins. With the liquid sorted, all you really need are a couple of paper print-outs, a timer, and a few mates who don't mind a bit of friendly one-upmanship.

These three games work for a casual backyard catch-up in Brunswick just as easily as they do for a long lunch in the Adelaide Hills. Each round leans on the bottles you've already opened, so nobody wastes a drop. Bring out a jug of water between turns, keep the music low enough for chat, and let the games do the heavy lifting when it comes to breaking the ice.

Setting up the mystery mix challenge

Pick two or three bottles from the line-up, one with a tropical lean, one with a citrus edge, and one richer blend for contrast. Cover each bottle with a tea towel, then number them one, two, three so nobody sees the label. Set out a row of three tumblers or small wine glasses in front of each player, along with an empty carafe, a shot glass, and a small jug of water.

Each player gets to be the "mixologist" for one round, taking a single shot of whichever bottles they fancy and combining them in the carafe. Everyone else at the table becomes the taster, scribbling down their guess of which bottles went into the blend and how much of each. Australian groups love a good debate, so expect loud calls of "way too much of the tropical one" before anyone actually takes a sip. Award two points for nailing the exact combination, one point for getting close, and zero for a wild swing-and-miss.

Swap roles every few minutes so the workload stays even. You can extend the round by adding a splash of fresh lime juice or a dash of bitters to throw the guessing off further, particularly once the crowd has worked the bottles out by round three.

Running the mystery mix round

After three full rotations, add a twist: the mixologist now has to make their mystery blend without looking at the bottles themselves. A helper covers their eyes while they pour, which forces intuition over familiarity. The tasters also score on creativity, casting a vote on which combo they'd actually order again at a bar.

Tally the scores on a piece of butcher's paper stuck to the fridge. Whoever lands the top total by sunset gets crowned "Mixologist of the Arvo" and claims bragging rights until the next gathering. If you want to turn it into a real event, glance through some party theme ideas that align with this kind of hands-on fun, from tiki nights to retro speakeasy dress-ups that pair neatly with the bottles you've already got open.

Prepping cocktail bingo

Print out a five-by-five bingo card for each guest, but skip the numbers. Instead, fill each square with a descriptor like "uses a garnish of mint," "contains citrus," "poured over crushed ice," "named after a place," or "shares a colour with the sunset over Bondi." Hand each player a pen, and stack the bottles somewhere central so the labels are visible to all.

Keep around twenty small strips of paper in a hat, each naming one of the bottles on the table plus a few wildcards. Pull a slip, announce the cocktail name out loud, and let players cross off any square on their card that fits. First to a full row shouts "cocktail" and wins the round, with bonus points awarded for whoever nails a blackout by the end of the evening.

The fun lies in stretching the descriptors. A bottle described as "shares a colour with the sunset" might get crossed off for amber blends, rosé-toned drinks, or anything that catches a certain light. Keep the wording playful rather than technical, and the game stays inclusive for mates who don't drink much as well as those going harder.

Hosting the bingo rounds

Stagger each round so the bottles keep flowing but nobody tips over too quickly. Rotate who draws the slips so one person isn't carrying the whole evening, and stash the hat back in the freezer between rounds to keep it chilled. If your crowd leans towards grazing rather than drinking, lay out a ploughman's platter; salty, creamy notes dovetail nicely with the cocktails and you'll find solid guidance on cheese board pairings worth bookmarking for future reference.

Build in a couple of "free" squares right at the start, such as "anything served at a barbie" or "poured from a clear bottle," to keep spirits up early. By the time the second round ends, most of the room will be shouting out their own squares before you even finish reading the slip, which is exactly the energy you want at a relaxed Aussie get-together.

Briefing the speed cocktail round

Split the group into teams of two or three, with one bottle per team, an ice bucket, and a stack of tumblers. The aim is simple: each team has to design, name, and present a serve in under three minutes, judged on presentation, creativity, and the actual pour. Set a phone timer on the bench where everyone can see the seconds ticking down, with a proper countdown so the pressure builds in plain view.

Allow each team to crack open their bottle and add whatever extras are on the table: a bowl of sliced citrus, a jar of olives, fresh herbs, simple syrup, or a bottle of tonic for stretched serves. The mixologists get bonus points for using one of their bottles as the hero ingredient rather than as a base mixer.

After the timer blares, each team sends a spokesperson up to present their creation. Give the room a glass of water to clear the palate between tastings, and have a non-drinking judge score each round purely on naming flair. Some of the best cocktail names in Australian homes have come from these improvised sessions, with mash-ups like "Brunswick Bramble" or "Bondi Breeze" popping up more often than you'd expect.

Scoring the speed round

Add up the marks at the end of each round and post them to the running total on the fridge. The team with the highest cumulative score after five rotations wins the night, with the losers fetching the next round of bottles from the esky. Hand out a small prize to the winning team, even if it's just the title of "Head Mixologist for the Week," which everyone takes a touch too seriously by the third arvo in a row.

Keep spare bottles on standby for the inevitable question of "what else have you got?" Once the games wrap, the bottles keep doing their job well into the evening. Stock the freezer with a few extras the day before so you're never caught short, and run a quick tidy of the bench before kick-off.

When the night finally winds down, gather everyone for one last toast using whichever bottles still have a splash left. It's the kind of easy, slightly cheesy moment that Australians tend to lap up once the drinks have been flowing for a few hours, and it gives the gathering a proper send-off rather than letting things just fizzle out. A quick photo of the team holding their glass aloft tends to land nicely in the group chat the next morning, especially if there's a winner to crown along with the judging sheet on the fridge. Pick three bottles from the line-up the day before your next catch-up, decide which game fits the crowd best, and pop them in the esky that morning.