Around the Bars: how to build a back bar, the homegrown edition
Cara Devine’s new newsletter looks at what the best of Melbourne is doing right now.
Welcome to the first instalment of a new weekly newsletter from Cara Devine, unpacking what’s happening in Melbourne's bars (and what you can learn from them), sent every Tuesday to your inbox. Sign up here.
First impressions matter. In a bar, the centrepiece of the venue is the back bar. Rising behind the bartender, it draws the eye of the guest immediately, and acts as a venue’s mission statement. Think of Atlas bar in Singapore. An imposing, golden column of spirits towering to the ceiling, it's unlikely that your instinct would be to order a schooner of lager there. Conversely, as you peruse the few dusty bottles of booze on the back bar of a local RSL, it might strike you that a Martini is not the way to go. Stocking the back bar means making choices: are you going to have something for everyone? Keep a tight but versatile inventory? Or, are you going to hone in on a specific class of spirits, or a region?
One trend that is becoming ever more popular: the Australian-focused back bar.
The Australian distilling industry has grown exponentially in the past decade, and the first person to see the potential of this was Sebastian Costello. When he opened Melbourne bar Bad Frankie in 2014, he pioneered an-all Australian spirits approach — even if the number of spirits available to him in those days were relatively few.
“It was essential to me as an Australian to tell the story of my area, just like a Scotsman telling the stories from Scotland or someone from Cognac telling stories about France,” Seb says. When I went overseas, I wanted to get the local experience, so I decided to do that for my home also. When we opened Bad Frankie in 2014, there were 80 products from 20 distilleries. When we sold the business in 2022, we had 700 bottles from over 450 distilleries.”
This sense of place helped Seb to focus on what to stock, and created a sense of connection by keeping things local. “If you can meet the people who make it and even collaborate with them, then it gives you a unique selling point and something customers will come back for,” says Seb “It was great when people came in for a drink, and you can say it was made down the road, go see them tomorrow.”
That Australian focus has been a big draw for guests at Black Kite Commune, too, where the bar is around 80 percent Australian. “When we first started talking about opening Black Kite Commune, it seemed the natural choice to support the local industry,” says venue manager Jess Clayfield. “We were also talking about supper clubs and what they stand for, which is locality, so that played a large role in how we stocked the bar. Our guests really get behind the Australian focus, and I don't think it ever gets old when people try them for the first time and fall in love.”
Just because it’s Australian, doesn’t mean it’s good
Of course, as much as we love to support the local industry, we don’t want to do it for the sake of it; the products have to be up to snuff. For Seb, stripping all of the marketing and internal bias away and judging each bottle on its merits was important when choosing what to stock. “I made sure we did a blind taste on new products so you are not clouded by marketing. I would then tell the staff the story of the product and why they created it. It is essential to get the product's story and then celebrate it.”
It has to work for the business
At the end of the day, a bar is a business. “Taste comes first, unfortunately price is close behind,” says Jess. “At the moment, keeping in mind a threshold of what guests are willing to spend on a single glass is a big factor. We try to stock quality products at all price points and have a good mixed bag of options so as not to exclude any of our clientele from getting something tasty.”
Thankfully, as the industry has grown, this has become a much easier brief to fill. A local angle can help with practical considerations as well. “When we work directly with a distillery or Aussie supplier, we are able to remove elements like overseas shipping and delays. We find that developing these relationships often pays out in the end, whether it's with us being able to go to where the product is made, or getting access to harder to get spirits.”
You might have to let them down easy
Working directly with smaller producers can cause some awkwardness. You’re not dealing with an international conglomerate — you are often speaking directly to the producer themselves or someone very close to the business. This is how they put food on the table. So how can you politely turn down the 1001st Australian gin someone wants to sell you?
“I don't think I taste many sub-par spirits these days, but occasionally I will see things that I've had before,” says Jess. “I'm not convinced imitation is the best form of flattery, I'd always prefer to hear a story on why certain choices are made, or even about doing things to push boundaries and experiment. Having to let producers down is always a bit uncomfortable, people spend so much time and energy creating something, giving critical feedback can seem hurtful. I think it's important to find something positive to work on, and approach things with good reasoning.”
Seb has acted as a sounding board for many in the industry over the years, but always with the end goal of increasing the overall quality in the industry. “When giving feedback, we made sure it was done encouragingly. Product development is a journey, so as long as the feedback is constructive, it will always help.”
A strong back bar can make your bar stand out
Whether this is the right approach for your venue will be an individual decision, but a strong sense of identity helps a venue stand out from the pack. The ‘no, but’ approach is one that can elevate a guest experience when delivered well; it’s great to give a guest what they want, but if it’s something that they didn’t even know they wanted in the first place then it makes the experience memorable. While Bad Frankie went the whole hog — or kangaroo, as it were — introducing native flavours can be done incrementally.
Black Kite Commune takes it further, stocking mostly Australian but with some international options for those guests who won’t be swayed. “We didn't want to box ourselves in too much by setting rules for ourselves,” says Jess. “Our agave and amaro categories are where we have the most international products and it's driven more by demand from guests, whereas vodka is 100 percent Australian for us and there's little call for that to change. Occasionally we replace an international product with an Australian one if a product of equal quality is being made, for instance we were excited to get in the Imperial Measures Auvert as a replacement for Chartreuse — we stock both now and it's great to give guests an option to try the Aussie alternative.”
It's an option that we’re extremely lucky to have here in Australia; we make pretty much every category of spirit now. So, next time you’re looking for a bottle for your back bar, try looking just down the road — you might just find something delicious.
Around the Bars
The weather in Melbourne has had me carb loading of late, and there’s no better city for it with awesome Italian bars and restaurants where the drinks programs are equal to the comfort food.
- Jonny Linstead’s ‘Leo’s Spritz’ at Leonardo’s Pizza Palace is a strong contender for my all time favourite Spritz (a position long held by the Olive Spritz at Gerald’s Bar). A zingy combination of gin, Aperol, Okar Tropic, green grape and lemon soda, it made me believe that summer would come again.
- Relative newcomer Bar Olo, sister to long standing Italian restaurant Scopri, is bringing the goods with a Campari Shakerato — it pairs perfectly with complimentary aperitivo between 4 and 6pm — and a fluffy Barolo Sour which uses Barolo Chinato for a bitter twist on a Pisco Sour.
- And Guy Grossi’s late night bar Arlechin is back, with a new look drinks list from Russell Branford. The Puttanesca Martini harnesses the flavours in their cult classic Midnight Spaghetti to create a textural, savoury and slightly spicy take. They serve food right through til 1am too, so treat yourself to a Bolognese Jaffle or Bone Marrow Risoni after your next shift - you deserve it.
That's it for the first instalment of Cara's new weekly newsletter unpacking what's happening in Melbourne's bars (and what you can learn from them). Get it every Tuesday to your inbox — sign up here.
Sam Bygrave
