Get ready for a wild night out as a Melbourne distiller is getting ready to open “Australia’s first permanent non-alcoholic bar.”
Brunswick Aces have actually been making gin minus the actual gin for a few years now but now they’re ready to expand into a full booze-free bar. In late April, the distiller will have one of the most intriguing spots in Melbourne’s inner-city when “Australia’s first permanent non-alcoholic bar” opens in an unused warehouse in Brunswick East.
It’s the stuff of every designated driver’s dreams. No longer will the perennial ‘deso’ have to watch their mate Dazza embarrass himself on the dance floor after one too many jagerbombs. No longer will the ‘deso’ have to be called the boring one of the group.
It certainly won’t be to everyone’s tastes – literally – but it’s an intriguing idea. There will be alcohol-free alternatives to popular drinks like gin: Brunswick Aces currently have two zero-alcohol alternatives to it, the London dry-style Spades blend and the sweet-citrus-meets-wattleseed Hearts blend. Whisky and rum alternatives are also coming very soon.
There will be “complex, adult-tasting cocktails”, with enticing flavours galore. Think delicate rosemary touches and Earl Grey mixtures that should quickly make you forget about those horrid mocktails you’ve laughed at on bar menus before.
The teetotal movement has actually been gathering momentum in recent years thanks to healthy-conscious millennials. “People feel like it’s a fad and it’ll drop off, but it doesn’t,” Brunswick Aces co-founder Stephen Lawrence says of the teetotalling movement. His bar will be a safe haven to see if alcohol-free tipple might be for you.
Everything has also been done to ensure that the space reminds customers of a lovely late night bar, with mood lighting and comfortable and cosy nooks throughout. And if this concept has tickled your intrigue but you’re not anywhere near Brunswick, fear not: there are long-term plans to export the concept to Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane.
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The Brunswick Aces Bar is scheduled to open at 124 Weston Street, Brunswick East in late April.
Check out Brunswick Aces’ mobile bar:
