A beloved bar bids farewell, a chat with Shaman’s Amelia Low, and all the awards photos

Boothby Brisbane is our weekly newsletter briefing unpacking what’s happening in Brisbane’s bars, and talking to the bartenders and operators shaping the scene — sent every Wednesday. Get on the email list here.

Welcome to a Sam Bygrave-penned edition of the Boothby Brisbane Briefing. First up, I want to thank Becca Wang for the great work she’s done over the last year writing about Brisbane bars and bartenders. Becca will be writing a little less frequently for this briefing, as her attentions turn elsewhere, but expect to see her in the pages of Boothby magazine soon.

But as those of you who know me are aware, cut me open and I’ll bleed maroon — so I’m very pleased to take over the weekly Brisbane briefing for the next little while. If you’ve got tips on new venues and menus, let me know — you can get me on sam@boothby.com.au.

In this briefing:

a farewell to a beloved bar from a industry favourite duo;
photos from the 2026 Boothby Best Bars QLD Awards;
an interview with Amelia Low from the 2026 Best New Bar in Queensland, Shaman.

As you may have seen on Boothby yesterday, we hosted the Boothby Best Bars QLD Awards on Monday night at Dr Gimlette. The best way to describe it? A room full of the consequential, smart, and passionate people making Queensland such a rich and diverse place to drink at these days. It’s the fourth time we’ve staged the awards in Brisbane, and I think this was the best one yet.

There was genuine emotion in the room, amazing winners, and I love just how much Queensland supports every bar on the Top 30.

I’m also proud of the page we built to showcase the Boothby Best Bars QLD Top 30. It looks great both on mobile and on the desktop, gives a little preview into each bar, their contact details, and the key people involved. It’s a lot of work to get done right, but I’ve always believed that if the bars we cover are putting the effort in, then so should anyone who’s writing about them. I’d love to add more features to it over time, so if there’s anything you’d like to see, please let us know — it’s a work in progress.

One of the more special moments of Monday night was when the full house of industry types paused and applauded Alexandra Percy and Loic Mouchelin, the owners of Santé Cocktail Bar in Toowoomba. They landed at number six on the list this year (having won the title of Best Cocktail Bar in Queensland the year prior), and we pulled them up on stage to receive the applause and appreciation of the crowd, because that’s the last time that Santé — in its current, Toowoomba form, anyway — will land on the list. That’s because after six years, they’ve decided to close the bar, with the ambition of opening something new in Sydney later in the future. So, this Sunday the 17th marks the last big party for Santé Cocktail Bar in Toowoomba, and appropriately for everyone’s favourite French bartender, Loic, they’ll be closing with a Chartreuse party. If you can get to Toowoomba, make sure you get there — you won’t be disappointed. Congratulations to Alex and Loic again — we all can’t wait to see what you do next.

Amelia Low at Shaman in Brisbane — the Best New Bar winner at this year's Boothby Best Bars QLD Awards.

The Interview: Amelia Low, Shaman

One thing that regularly impresses me is just how consistently the Australian bar scene puts up new bars that make me fall in love with the industry all over again.

Brisbane bar, Shaman, is the latest bar to make me feel that way.

That’s because it’s a great bar that does all the bartending things well. There’s a joy and delight to Shaman: the drinks, as bartender Amelia Low suggests in the interview below, are anything but minimalist, the music is upbeat, there’s a great big tub of frosty Estrella Damm on ice, and riffs on classic crowd pleasing drinks that are made with the right dilution, served super cold, and prioritising delicious flavour.

It was also named as the 2026 Best New Bar in Queensland presented by Bacardi on Monday night at the fourth annual Boothby Best Bars QLD Awards.

The key to that win? It’s just a bar that does things very well.

BOOTHBY: How long have you been in bartending? What’s your origin story?

AMELIA LOW: My origin story? Gosh, I started in hospitality when I was like 13.

BOOTHBY: 13? Wow.

AMELIA LOW: Yeah, I begged the local pub back in the UK to let me waitress for them and they did. I moved to Oxford for university, but I pretty much did hospo full-time working alongside my degree, and it was mostly pub bartending. You had a few cocktails, but nothing crazy because the Brits in the countryside don’t drink cocktails.

I didn’t want to go into a corporate job. I like the people. I’m so chatty. Even when you have your bad shifts, I think there’s still something fun about it. You still get a lot out of it. And I feel like most of my favourite people I’ve ever met in the world I have met through hospitality.

BOOTHBY: The drinks here are great, very different from the minimalist style [venue manager] Ed Quatermass used to make at Maker.

AMELIA LOW: There’s nothing minimalist about our cocktails. They’re all very maximalist. But fun to me. He’s changed his ways.

BOOTHBY: Can you describe what it’s like coming to work on a Friday, Saturday night here?

AMELIA LOW: If I’m on the early team, you’re opening up. We open at three every day, trade till midnight. When we’re on our busy nights, we’ll get full by five. And then it’s just a party slam until about 10 o’clock.

BOOTHBY: Do you think you’re a hospo lifer?

AMELIA LOW: I think I fought against it for a little while just because I was like, ah, I have a new degree I spent loads of money on. But I really like it, I’m sorry. I’m always at my happiest when I’m doing something in hospo. All my favourite people I’ve ever met are here. It’s a really cool collaborative industry. There’s competition, yes, but it’s so much more than that. Some of the people I’ve met here have supported me so much. Even if I can’t stay in Australia for forever because of visa reasons, I will 100 percent move back to London and just go and work my butt off somewhere else.

BOOTHBY: What’s the path you see for the future? Would you like to one day own a space, or get into the ambassador life, or something else?

AMELIA LOW: That’d be so cool to own a space. We always make jokes about like, if you could own a bar, what would your bar be? Do you know what I want to own? A proper, cantina-style cocktail bar on a beach. Put me in southern Spain on a beach. That’s what I want to do. My family home is in Menorca and I’m so happy whenever I’m there. And you go to these really cool tiny hole in the wall bars that are in old fishing cottages. I would do that in a heartbeat.

Read more from the interview here.

The photos are in!

Get a look at all the action from the awards on Monday night — the best of Queensland turned up and did not disappoint. A huge thanks to Mikayla Adams for the great photos, and to Dr Gimlette for hosting us. What a night!