Your guide to Australian craft spirits & Melbourne's cocktail culture
Climb The Carlton‘s staircase at the moment and you will find portals into a sextuplet of different worlds. Their Bar Dream contest is in full flight as six former backpacker residences are transformed into competing venue concepts. It’s like moving through a house party on acid as you wander through the […]
Escape this never ending rain to somewhere tropical. Or to Union Electric‘s version of tropical at the very least! The Chinatown bar is letting Cargo Cult’s rum takeover the venue this week. The small batch spiced rum is named for the cargo cults who worship John Frum (a.k.a John from […]
The House of Suntory returns once again to bring even more ‘Omotenashi’ style hospitality and service – plus barrelfuls of Japanese whisky, naturally – to Hihou. The entirety of Suntory‘s whisky portfolio will be on offer to taste at the bar every Wednesday in July (starting tomorrow) at the quartet of […]
Many have dreamt of opening a bar. But do you have an idea for one that you’d like to make come true? Applications for the next round of The Carlton’s ‘The Bar Dream’ contest is closing soon. You could find yourself with the free space and support from the venue […]
Happy Negroni Week! In ode to that holy trinity of Campari, gin and vermouth, the festival is basically a bittersweet excuse to drink marginally more negronis than usual (plus you might find unique takes on the classic recipe on offer at certain venues). Each tipple counts with $1 from each negroni […]
Last year, Project Botanicals – one of the most promising concepts of 2014 – served up a staggering 13,500+ cocktails (and four lonely beers?!) After such success the pop-up bar returns to Melbourne next month. “It’s basically a celebration of the botanicals, or herbs and spices, used to create Bombay Sapphire […]
World Class Cocktail Week is but one week away. This celebration of all things shaken or stirred includes full on degustation dinners to short and sweet paired bites. Some events focus on old fashioneds, martinis and bloody marys. Some will give a general history lesson (for which you’ll actually want […]
There is so much more to discover than malt, head and hops at Good Beer Week. Here’s your handy guide to the events on the 2015 GBW line-up where beer happily shares the spotlight… Beer Cocktail Degustation – 1806/The Understudy – Saturday 16 to 23 May, 7.30pm Here’s a cocktail degustation that […]
Here’s to a long hot Summer ahead! Seven special ways to cool off around Melbourne below… Veuve Summer Party I was taught to never call the renowned Champagne simply “Veuve” as this means widow and there’s quite a few of those in wine-making history. “Clicquot” is supposedly the proper truncation. But […]
After the brilliant Melbourne Food & Wine Festival rolls around again in February/March, I’m going to be both fat and broke (but very, very happy). Looking at the just-released 2015 line-up there seems to be a lot of dough, more than a fair share of boats and more tipples than ever […]