Drinking Culture

Melbourne often drinks its gin where you'd least expect it: down narrow lanes, behind unassuming doors. The Gin Palace on Russell Place opened in 1997 under Vernon Chalker. It counts as one of the city's first laneway bars. This only became possible because Victoria had just relaxed its strict licensing rules. Small, intimate bars had been unthinkable before that. The sister bar Ampere right next door has also belonged to this ensemble since 2011.

Velvet sofas and dim lighting still define the space today. The stated aim is to capture the spirit of the 1850s gold rush era. When the bar opened, Australia had perhaps fifteen gin brands available to buy. Today it lists over two hundred. It calls itself the largest gin selection in the southern hemisphere.

From there, a pattern spread that shows up in many corners of the city. Small bars with long drink menus replaced large venues with short ones. Bartenders here don't just pour a gin and tonic. They choose a glass to match the character of the particular gin. For herbal notes like lemon myrtle, they reach for a slender copita, so ice doesn't overwhelm it. When juniper and citrus need room to breathe, the large balloon glass comes out.

The city itself feeds into this culture. Melbourne's reputation as a coffee city shaped the same lanes that now house its bars. Pouring espresso by day and gin by night happens in many of the same venues, just at different hours. Anyone linking the two regions often travels the same day from the distilleries in Healesville to the bars downtown.