Do you hear that? It's the sound of December approaching. And you know what that means, right? It means lots and lots of catch up drinks with colleagues, classmates and long-lost cousins "before Christmas". So in honour of the cocktail consuming season that is upon us we want to know where the best places to grab a beverage are in your city (and what we should order when we go there!).
Tell us the best place in your city for a cocktail (and your favourite cocktail) in the comments below!
Image courtesy of www.elle.dk
OK, i’ll start. My favourite cocktail bar in Melbourne is Double Happiness (21 Liverpool Street) , it’s teeny tiny but the drinks are amazing!
Oops… I forgot the drink – the Great Leap Forward (which is lychee, mint and ginger I think), is amazing!!
I love the Different Drummer in Glebe (Sydney) for something low key, and you can’t beat the views at Opera Bar either! Best drink… Mojtos for both for me
Small world… I LOVE different drummer – 2 for 1 cocktail happy hour was the best
I’m a Perthy so here are my picks of the bunch! To narrow the list down, I picked my locals!
399 Bar, 399 William St Northbridge – cute little bar with street views and a quaint little courtyard out the back. They don’t have a cocktail menu but the bar tenders are amazing and will either suggest something for you if you are undecided/make you what ever you please. My new favourite cocktail there is a breakfast martini!
Mechanics Institute (above Flipside Burgers on William St Northbridge) – If you couldn’t gather from it’s location, Mechanics is a rooftop bar with views through to the city. There is a giant outdoor deck with long shared picnic tables, and some smaller coffee table type things. The cocktails here are some of the cheaper ones in the area (between $12-$16) and the cocktail menu is changed up on the chalkboard each day. It is a great way to try a new experimental cocktail! They will also make up cocktails if you ask them to. Oh and you can order burgers through the bar and they bring them up from down stairs!
The Classroom, 356 Charles Street North Perth – The name says it all. This bar is a school themed bar decked out with lockers, bag hooks and all!
Bar Lafayette, Lower Georges Lane, Brookfield Place 125 St Georges Terrace, Perth – If you are after a swanky drink with a side of “cool” then Lafayette is the place. Two of the owners came from working the bar at Rockpool, so it is assumed they know their stuff! Cocktails here are very classy, very strong and served with a smile!
Phew, I better stop hahaha
Damn it, I forgot drinks too!
399 – Breakfast Martini (gin, lemon juice, cointreau and marmalade) or a Bloody Mary (sooooo good)
Mechanics – Anything on the daily menu is good.
The Classroom – Campfire Negroni or Espresso Martini (seriously, check out their menu, it is done SO well! http://www.theclassroom.com.au/menu/the_classroom_menu.pdf)
Lafayette – Bloody Mary (with freshly squeezed orange and carrot juice mmmm) or their espresso martini
I also forgot to mention Bivouc on William St in Northbridge. They do boozy breakfasts on a Saturday – special combo deals of a breakfast and either a bloody mary, a glass of champagne or a lager. Breakfast is AMAZING and even better when you have it with a super spicy bloody mary followed by a gin soldier!
I think I need a holiday to Perth!
hahaha DO IT Kate! It isn’t half as bad as Perth people make it out to be. I claim that they just don’t want to actively search for things to do. The weather is incredible (except today, today is a fail in the weather stakes), we have beautiful beaches, everyone is so laid back, and there are some great shopping/eating destinations!
:O So amazing!! It sounds like you know all the best places to go.
I can vouch for the classroom, they’re either setting cocktails on fire or serving them in cute tea cups! (not to mention their food menu is so cute and “school” like
)
Everytime I travel up to Sydney I always drop past Goldfish Bar in King’s Cross. They make the yummiest drink EVER and their male mixologists aren’t too bad on the eye either. Most noteworthy is their Honey’d Apple Nectar cocktail.. drool!
Cookies & Double Happiness it’s always full with surprises.
Where can you get this?
In Adelaide.
Rocket bar. They don’t have a cocktail menu, you just tell the bar staff what flavour you feel like and they make it up for you.
Cushdy. The best cocktails I have ever had! These guys are true mixologists and watching them mix drinks is like watching an artist create art, or a scientist mixing a potion, depending on your drink. Expect liquid nitrogen, dry ice, fire and smoke. My pick, Stiffler’s Mum. Like warm apple pie.
When in Melbourne I go to Manchuria. Dark, intimate, atmospheric, table service, and delicious vanilla vodka.
I shamefully haven’t been in years and so can’t remember specific drink names, but I used to love Gin Palace in Melbourne, off Bourke St. Has the most amazing decor, which combined with the waist coats and impressive skills of the bartenders has you feeling like you stepped back into a much more beautiful and luxurious time.
The Apple Martini at In Situ in Manly, Sydney is to die for. It’s like drinking dessert.
I love a cosmo!!
The best cocktail I ever had was a frozen mojito (think slushy but freshly-made just for me!), actually on a cruise ship between Sydney and Melbourne. And yes, the experience was undoubtedly enhanced by the fact that I was in a hot tub with my hot hubby, watching a good movie, all alone, late at night
delicious!
Ivy Pool Bar in the city, Sydney. Order the Coconut Bandito, served in a coconut (a plastic one, unfortunately… they should really be real ones, to make the experience even better). Grab a spot by the pool, take in the sun, listen to the music and feel like you’re on a tropical or Mediterranean holiday.
Raspberry & lemongrass martini @ Zeta Bar in Hilton Sydney YUMMO !!
The best cocktail bar in Melbourne is Eau De Vie, it’s off Flinders Lane (1 Malthouse Lane) and it’s very “Melbourne”. Entry is through the dark alley via an unmarked door and the place has you thinking you have stepped back in time to a speak easy. The best cocktail anywhere is an Espresso Martini, but here it’s heaven!