Martin Lange co-owns some of Brisbane’s best bars, Cobbler, Death and Taxes and Dr. Gimlette, and is a well-known personality in the city’s hospitality industry. As such, he’s the perfect person to ask about the best bars to visit in the River City. He says the evolution of Brisbane’s bar scene has been incredible.
“The number of great bars that have opened over the last decade has been very impressive,” Lange says. “The culture and quality of our bar scene has really matured. Brisbane has really started to come into its own culture.”
Today, you’ll find in the Brisbane bar scene many options, including bars dedicated solely to whisky, gin, tequila, cocktails and craft beer. There’s even a dedicated Amaro bar. Brisbane CBD, Fortitude Valley and the West End are where most of the city’s bars are located, though you can also find them in other smaller spots around town.
“The CBD is great for cocktails and whisky, Fortitude Valley is known for cocktails, music and late-night venues and in West End, you’ll find beer, whisky and live music,” says Lange.
Ahead, he shares his edit of Brisbane’s best bars. From a cosy 10-seater venue in South Brisbane, to the first whisky bar in Queensland and an elegant Italian cocktail bar with a menu that focuses on fresh produce and rotates every season, these are the best places to get a drink in Brisbane.
Bar Brutus, South Brisbane
Bar Brutus can be found in South Brisbane’s growing Fish Lane. The 10-seater venue is the brainchild of Julius Pizzeria co-owner Aleks Dzajkovski and Julius barman Stefan Angelovski. It has a similar feel to traditional Italian espresso bars, with just five spritzes, five class and five modern cocktails making up the bulk of the drinks menu.
Its huge floor-to-ceiling windows open out onto Fish Lane, making the space feel anything but pokey while feeling connected to the foot traffic down the laneway. “It’s cosy and excellent for pre-dinner nights and dates,” says Lange.
Death and Taxes, CBD
One of Lange’s waterholes, Death and Taxes is an award-winning whisky bar down a CBD laneway. It’s reminiscent of a classic speakeasy, which you won’t find too many of in Brisbane. It features dimly-lit chandeliers, well-worn leather chesterfields and dark corners. it’s a place to nurse a whisky neat and contemplate your problems.
Cocktails vary from old-fashions to modern classics like the ‘bone chapel’ – Bladnoch 10 scotch whisky, oloroso, fernet branca, strawberry and sherry vinegar. The back bar boasts a 600-strong selection of the best whisky, scotch, and gin. “It’s possibly the best cocktail and whisky bar in Brisbane,” Lange says. “It has excellent service and is a great option for dates and groups.”
Maker, South Brisane
Maker is also one of Lange’s spots, consistently serving some of the city’s best cocktails and small-batch wine. The laneway venue holds just 18 seating, but it’s won multiple awards
https://explorefishlane.com.au/food-and-drink/maker/
The tiny 18-seater may have more competitors now than ever before but this laneway lovely still features in the best bars lists country-wide, quietly winning multiple awards as it goes.
Intimate, approachable, you won’t find frilly cocktail names, just a list of ingredients describing the final product. Emphasising the seasonal nature of the neat drinks list, small-batch wines are ordered in by the dozen, and there’s a tiny space for small bites to be assembled in the back corner. You’ll never have a repeat experience at Maker, and that’s all part of her charm.
Susie Wong’s Good Time Bar
Fortitude Valley
Taking over the famous digs of The Bowery Bar on Ann Street, Suzie Wong’s Good Time Bar is exactly that: a good time. Described as a Hawaiian dive bar, Suzie Wong’s aesthetic is gritty, lived-in, with a scattering of neon signs, photos, old posters, and paintings adding to her character.
Drinks adhere to the Pacific theme, too, with Suzie coladas rolling out thick and fast, but expertly made classics also get a run—in case a Fizzy Bubbly Boi doesn’t do it for you. A cocktail bar with a decided penchant for live music you can also expect gig nights and live performances dotted throughout the week and into the early hours on weekends.
Tetto
Everton Park
Brisbane’s northern suburbs is the last place you’d expect to find an Amalfi Coast-style rooftop bar, but stranger things have happened. The crown in the newly opened Everton Plaza Park Lane precinct, Tetto has been welcomed with open arms by locals looking for a Spritz fix.
White-wash walls, curved arches, paper lanterns, and striped umbrellas serve a decidedly Mediterranean aesthetic, while the drinks—including four spritz iterations and a dozen cocktails—make the perfect sundowners. Charcuterie boards, calamari, a few pasta dishes, and mains make for the perfect Sunday session or sundowner.
Kiki
South Brisbane
Natural wines and cocktails served in a corner of a verdant laneway, Kiki’s already in punters good books. Tucked under the train tracks in a beautiful Richards and Spence-designed urban space, Kiki slings coffee, artisanal pastries, and banh mi by day, before switching to hard liquor by night.
An elegant circular kiosk, Kiki’s bar is largely alfresco, taking full advantage of Brisbane’s temperate climes and plays into the subtle Vietnamese undertone; crisp Asian lagers—Singha, 333 and Bia Hanoi—and refreshing, grown-up cocktails of mojitos and margaritas, each with Asian influences and ingredients.
La Valle
Fortitude Valley
Showcasing a few dozen Australian and European drops (plus a handful of beers to satisfy the masses), La Valle is a classy little wine bar-come-bottle shop with a big attitude. Offering wines by the glass and the bottle, you might savour a bold Montepulciano from Abruzzo, an aromatic Riesling from WA, or perhaps dabble in a couple of skin-contact oranges.
La Valle does a mean selection of cheese and charcuterie boards, and four Italian-style focaccias, all stuffed with goodies the likes of heirloom tomatoes, prosciutto, and mortadella.
LOS Bar
Fortitude Valley
LOS (or Land of Smiles) may be located along one of Brisbane’s most sought-after dining precincts, Ada Lane, but it isn’t strictly visible from street level. To access Same Same’s ‘secret’ second-floor cocktail bar, you’ll have to sneak up the stone stairway, where you’re welcomed by a green-hued watering hole overlooking the street below.
Specialising in tequila and boasting over 140 bottles on the back bar, the cocktails lean toward the Thai-inspired: the ‘Thaijito’—gin, house liqueur, lychee, lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaf, ‘one night in Bangkok—rum, charred pineapple, condensed coconut milk and lime, and ‘Thai-Tanic’—galangal tequila, peach aperitif, bergamot, and suze. Keep hunger at bay with light snacks, courtesy of the bar menu at Same Same
Alba Bar & Deli
Brisbane CBD
A small 50-seater Basque-style tapas bar in one of Brisbane’s famous city laneways, Alba Bar & Deli pairs the tantalising tapas of northern Spain’s San Sebastian with fortified wines and cocktails. Oh, and iconic hip-hop beats overhead. Go figure. But it works.
Wine, particularly of the Spanish varietals, take prime position, Alba pouring several red, white and ranges by the glass, while the neat cocktail list changes semi-regularly and has that unexpected nod to hip-hop classics; ‘Ante Up’—woodfired reserve, zucca, lemon, orange marmalade, and ‘Sure Shot’—illegal joven (mezcal), tequila tromba, mango and pineapple. Serving until midnight six nights a week, Alba’s actitud relajada really rubs off on you after a couple of sherries…
Will & Flow
Brisbane CBD
Floating on the river’s edge between the QUT Gardens Point ferry terminal and Goodwill Bridge, Will & Flow has busted onto the Brisbane bar scene as a glittering riverside cocktail bar. With surprisingly few bars taking full advantage of the water’s edge, Will & Flow has a monopoly on views overlooking South Bank’s art precinct.
Take your pick from classic negronis, cosmos, and margaritas, wine, champagnes, and local beers, before heading out onto the deck for what might be the best sunset going. Hungry? The woodfired pizza oven perched on the edge of the deck keeps itself busy, slinging fresh pies to accompany a glass of bubbly.
Lobby Bar
Fortitude Valley
Spilling out onto Fortitude Valley’s Ada Lane, the aptly named Lobby Bar is the Calile Hotel’s achingly chic bar in the ground floor lobby area. Decked out in lashings of rose-hued marble, soft sphere lighting, and gold furnishings the space all but glows from within.
Take a seat at the bar, beside the pulled-back bi-fold windows, or outside on the lane’s cobbled path.
Kick back in sumptuous surrounds with an ‘una aventura’—reposado tequila, grapefruit, agave, lime, and egg whites, ‘lobby loco’—run, pineapple, mint, coconut, and lime served straight up, or house favourite ‘Calile spritz’—gin, Aperol, crème de peche, lime and soda.
Boom Boom Room Izakaya
Brisbane CBD
A subterranean Japanese izakaya-come-cocktail lounge, Boom Boom Room has reimagined the basement of the iconic heritage-listed bank on the corner of Elizabeth and George Street. A space that feels equal parts opulent bar and dining destination, executive chef Jake Nicolson and beverage director Aaron Clark nails the Japanese izakaya-style dining brief.
Come for dinner, stay for drinks, or vice versa, Boom Boom Room’s mixture of sunken bar seating and dining areas make it work. The cocktails pack a punch, tapping into meticulous Japanese artistry and Australian produce, while the bar stocks a superb selection of Japanese whiskies, sake, beers, and wine. For the whiskey connoisseur, however, you’ll want to spend some time in the vault, where 27 rare and limited release Japanese drops await your tastebuds (and your wallet).
Related: A Knead-to-Read Guide to Brisbane’s Best Bakeries
Related: Brisbane Chef Louis Tikaram on the Best Places to Eat in the City
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