One of Sydney’s game-changing cocktail specialists finds a second life in a CBD basement, bringing Prohibition-era glitz and glamour to the Harbour City’s bar scene.
Hidden addresses. Speakeasy vibes. Dapper uniforms. Drinks with far-out flavour combinations that double as experiences. While it’d be a stretch to say one bar introduced Sydney to all these ideas, Eau-de-Vie brought them together more sharply and convincingly than ever before when it opened in 2010 at the back of a boutique inner-city hotel. The place made a big impression on clued-up locals and critics straight away, but its impact was felt further afield – the following year it clinched the number 13 spot on The World’s 50 Best Bars list, thrusting Australia’s cocktail scene into the global spotlight. Truckloads of international awards followed and, before long, every second gin joint in town seemed to be channelling the 1920s and specialising in a brand of over-the-top bartending.
In 2020, the venue’s 10-year lease came to an end, but Eau-de-Vie has made a triumphant return to the Harbour City right where you’d expect to find it – down several flights of stairs behind an inconspicuous door on an unassuming laneway off Wynyard Station. You can’t keep a good bar down for long.
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