Above Board | World's 50 Best Bars Above Board | World's 50 Best Bars

Everything about Collingwood bar Above Board is minimalist but that didn't stop it coming in the World's 50 Best Bars for a second time in 2024*.

Above Board is a small intimate award winning cocktail bar with only 16 seats and no standing permitted.

No Bookings - Walk-ins only. 6pm-1am 7 days

Level 1 306 Smith Street (access through Chopper Lane) Collingwood 3066

Entrance down the laneway just off Smith & Perry Street, directly behind Beermash.

* We are elated and proud to once again make it onto the World's Best Bars list. Thanks to @50bestbars

We are so grateful for our amazing team and all our customers who make Above Board so special. Our little bar in the heart of Collingwood has surpassed all expectations, and we couldn't be happier with what it has achieved over the last 8 years. It really is a gem, and we love it

Thanks to all our mates and peers in the hospo community who continue to push this industry to amazing new heights year after year. Thanks for all the love

Above Board came in at #44 in 2021.

broadsheet.com.au says

Above Board is a rare sort of cocktail bar. There's no luminous back bar stacked with bottles and bottles of brand-name spirits.

There are no intimate corner tables or booths - the only place to sit is at the big 12-seat island bar, or the coveted pair of two-seater banquettes behind it. And though owner Hayden Lambert has impeccable bartending credentials (Bar Americano, the Merchant Hotel), he won't make you any drink you can think of, no more than a restaurant will make you any dish you can think of.

It's a polarising place, but you can't fault Lambert's intentions. He'd rather serve 25 cocktails he knows how to make perfectly, than hundreds he's less familiar with. Business partners Manu Potoi (Rockwell & Sons, Bar Liberty) and Cornelis Ribbe are down with it.

Due to limited space, common spirits such as chartreuse just aren't stocked. If you're the kind of person who "only" drinks Hendricks gin or "only" drinks Diplomático rum, this isn't the place for you. Lambert decides which labels are best suited to the menu, decants them into elegant crystal bottles and conceals them in giant drawers behind the bar. Most of the time, you won't know which brand you're drinking.

It's not a big deal. There are 25 or so cocktails on the menu, split into signatures and updated classics. The Big Four are here - Negroni, Old Fashioned, Manhattan and Martini - made to exacting standards. Then there are creations such as the sweet, smoky Cherry Rascal with Islay whisky, blackberry liqueur, cherry brandy and absinthe.

Sad bowls of skinless fruit and tatty bunches of mint have no place here. Lambert's style is big and boozy, with minimal garnishes. Subtle, unexpected combinations are common. It turns out Midori, that lurid-green teenage classic, goes pretty well with two types of grown-ups-only vermouth.

Finding the place isn't easy. When BeerMash is open, go inside and enter the unmarked door at the back of the shop. Above Board is a sharp U-turn and a flight of stairs away. Otherwise, entry is at the rear. Walk down Perry Street and up the graffiti-riddled Chopper Lane, which isn't listed on Google Maps.

Review: broadsheet.com.au

❊ Address ❊

 ⊜  Level 1, 306 Smith Street Collingwood  View Map

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❊ Web Links ❊

➼ Above Board | World's 50 Best Bars 

➼ www.aboveboardbar.com

➼ www.instagram.com/aboveboardbarmelb






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