Best cocktails? Here’s a secret hiding behind the beer garden’s schooners and parmies.

Head to Pacific Palms Recreation Club (aka The Recky) at Elizabeth Beach expecting a beer garden and a footy screen, and you’ll be up for a big surprise.

At this much-loved local venue (with to-die-for views across Wallis Lake) you’ll also find an extensive cocktail menu with six categories, a full gin club, a martini list that runs to a bikini and a watermelon, mezcal margaritas, and its own jug section for good measure.

There’s a Wallis Whisky Sour and a Myall El Diablo on there too, because apparently even the cocktails know exactly which coast they’re on.

Makes sense once you know who’s walking through the door most weekends. Blueys, Boomerang and Elizabeth Beach aren’t short on people who know their way around a good drinks list. Which makes this good find your good fortune.

But it turns out The Recky isn’t the only one keeping this quiet.

Further south, the Tea Gardens Hotel does the same trick with a Sunset On Myall, Yacaaba Crush, Little Gibber and a Bennett’s Beach…to wash up upon.

At the other end of our region, the Harrington Hotel has a page at the back of their menu revealing a full signature list with local names: Turquoise Tide, Manning Margarita, Barrington Bay Breeze, Pelican Pimms, even a cheeky Tipsy Mermaid.

And the secret keeps going. The Bellevue Hotel in Tuncurry has a Bellie Rouge with its own local wink in the name, and even Hallidays Point Tavern, not exactly known as a cocktail destination, has a Pornstar Martini worth ordering twice.

Back in Forster, the Lakes And Ocean Hotel has gone further still: a proper cocktail program complete with a standing happy hour on Thursdays and a drink called It’s 12 O’Clock Somewhere, which feels like the entire point being made out loud.

So next time someone says they’re just popping into the local for a beer, maybe let them know there’s a whole other menu two pages over.

Where’s your favourite? Have we missed one?

Of course there are restaurants and distilleries across the Barrington Coast offering cocktails too. Have you tried Wharf Street Distillery in Forster or The Farmers Wife Distillery near Stroud? Both worth the trip.