Best Cocktail Bars in Melbourne

Melbourne's cocktail bar scene has long been one of Australia's most sophisticated, built on a culture of laneway bars, hidden speakeasies, and rooftop terraces that has defined the city's drinking culture for the past twenty years. The city's love of the hidden, the intimate, and the expertly made has produced a bar culture that consistently punches well above its weight in global rankings.

Eau de Vie in the CBD and the Everleigh in Fitzroy are Melbourne institutions that have shaped the Australian cocktail conversation. Bar Americano — an impossibly narrow standing bar in the CBD that fits perhaps 10 people — represents Melbourne's passion for the intimate and the perfectionist. The Attic at the Adelphi Hotel, Above Board in the CBD, and Little Lon Distilling Co add further depth. The city's laneway culture — dozens of hidden bars accessed through unmarked doors, back alleys, and converted loading docks — remains one of Melbourne's most distinctive hospitality inventions.