DRINK > Above Board, Melbourne

A serious cocktail bar. Only 16 seats and no standing permitted. That is the message for the now widely acclaimed Above Board.

Located off Smith Street Collingwood it is not easy to find but this is an area where cocktail bars are serious and Above Board take that to a level more akin to Tokyo or Kyoto than we are used to seeing in Melbourne. The wonderful minimalistic design of the room with its long American walnut bar, with bottles, glassware and utensils all hidden away to keep the very linear nature of the room perfectly aligned.

It probably won’t surprise you that this bar led by Scott Lambert has won many awards including being listed in the extremely prestigious World’s 50 Best Bars (2021). Lambert (a kiwi) is something of an expert in high end cocktails, he worked for a number of years in Europe including at the award winning Merchant Hotel in Belfast. Prior to starting Above Board, Lambert worked the fabulous (and now sadly closed) Bar Americano (standing only) in the Melbourne CBD, making what was claimed to be the world’s best Negroni.

The main thing here though are the cocktails which change regularly and no matter if your taste is for zing, fruit or dirty martini you will find something that will wow your tastebuds.

Above Board is in Chopper Lane, behind and above ‘BeerMash’ so enter down the lane and through the back door (1/306 Smith Street, Collingwood).

Image Credit | Above Board (click on an image to view the lightbox)