Bulletin Place
If you’re going to drink cocktails in this town, this is where you do it
CONSISTENCY DOESN’T SOUND sexy – it’s not the descriptor designed to get you a super like. But when you change your cocktail list more often than most people change their sheets, a guarantee that those five drinks are going to be creative, delicious, exciting, and worth every last dollar is starting to sound very attractive, isn’t it?
That’s why people still love Bulletin Place. This 45-person capacity bar hidden down near the harbour has proved without a shadow of a doubt that time does not have to erode the quality or consistency of your product. If anything, the team here are going harder than ever. Not quite imbibing the way you used to? They’re making their own kombucha in-house and their mango edition is a punked-up soft drink that manages to be equal parts complex and tropical fun. Can a drink be both fruity and dry? It can if it’s the Roses are Red, combining the gentle astringency of blood plums, hibiscus and Campari with fruit-infused wines. Upstairs, they get up to all sorts of fermenting wizardry when not behind the bar, like making their own wine out of pears and camomile. They’re also mixing fresh peaches in with riesling and skin-contact whites to create something extra fresh and juicy. Add a lug of gin and a spritz of fennel flower, and you’ve got a summer garden party riff on a Negroni.
Bourbon, blackberry and sherry, shaken and served up, digs deep for the kind of rich, Southern velvetiness that you’d expect on a Mississippi steamliner. We don’t drink a dud all night – in all honesty, we never have here.
Being an early adopter can be challenging. Back in 2013, Bulletin Place was a lonely island of undiluted cocktail excellence in the north of the CBD. Fast forward six years, and the likes of Bistecca, Doss House, Maybe Sammy and soon, Mary’s and the Ramblin’ Rascals are joining the party down near Circular Quay. But Bulletin still holds our number-one dance card for cocktails in Sydney. àLvl 1, 10-14 Bulletin Pl, Sydney 2000. www.bulletinplace.com. Mon-Wed 4pm-midnight; Thu-Sat 4pm-1am.