What to expect when wine and cocktail bar, Dark Blue, opens this month

It’s a busy newsletter today. We’ve got a chat with Charlie Hunter about what to expect when new wine and cocktail bar, Dark Blue, opens in Fortitude Valley — it’ll be open in time for Bartenders’ Weekender, by the way; a new menu from Bar Planet in the press release roundup and lots more to drop; a new book from Cara Devine; and plenty more.

Speed Rack is back! Speed Rack is the US-based high-speed bartending competition designed to highlight women and femme-identifying people in the bar industry, all the while raising money for charities supporting breast cancer research — and putting on one big party. And in 2025, Speed Rack is returning to Australian shores with the assistance of William Grant & Sons. Registrations for the NSW, Victorian, and Queensland heats of Speed Rack Australia are open now — the NSW round takes place on Sunday 1st June at Now & Then, with Victoria happening a week later on Sunday 8th June at Goodwater, and Queensland happening on the 13th of July. The fastest two competitors from each state round will go through to the national final in October. Get involved — it’s a great comp for a good cause! Hit the link here to register.

Bartenders’ Weekender kicks off next month — next month! — and that means I’ve been spending some extra time up in Brisbane.

And not only are there good things happening there right now — Milquetoast, the newish bar from George Curtis and co, is one of my favourite spots in the country right now — there’s also good things on the way.

One of those is Dark Blue. It’s a new wine and cocktail bar from Hannah Wagner, the operator behind Dark Red in Bakery Lane in Fortitude Valley — which, if you hit the Mix Haus takeover at last year’s Bartenders’ Weekender, you’ll be well acquainted with.

And Hannah has brought on the talented Charlie Hunter (ex-Savile Row) to open the new bar, which is located in a heritage listed space and will have just 30 seats.

“My title is bar manager, but honestly it sounds so silly as I’m the manager of me,” Charlie says.

Hannah will also move across to the new venue, working the floor while Charlie takes care of the bar. To that end, Hannah has brought on Ellery Low to take reigns of Dark Red. (You may know Ellery as the bartender in charge of Maker when it landed at number two on the Boothby Best Bars Queensland list in 2024, and as someone whose drinks have been a regular of the Top 50 Drinks of the Year.)

Below, lightly edited and condensed for clarity, I met with Charlie at Dark Blue to talk about what we can expect when the bar opens.

So Charlie, we’re in what is going to be Dark Blue.

Yeah.

It’s not there yet, but it should be there in time for the Brisbane Bartenders Weekender in June?

Easy peasy.

What’s the big idea with Dark Blue?

We’ve got another one called Dark Red, Hannah Wagner owns both. And essentially at Dark Red she focuses on Italian wine varietals, whereas Dark Blue we’re going to be focusing on Chilean, Argentinian, Portuguese and Spanish wine varietals.

Right. And there’s cocktails involved as well?

Absolutely, which is why I’m here.

Which is why I’m here too, actually.

So at Dark Red we’ve got Ellery Low doing the cocktail list, and he’ll be taking over the venue when Hannah comes here [to Dark Blue] with me. I’ll be doing the cocktail side of things.

A small, changing list — we don’t want it to be set in stone, we want to change things as it feels right, as it’s seasonal obviously — we’re working with producers currently in season.

It means there’s always something new to people coming into the bar as well, right?

Yeah, you know, we’ve only got a little 30-seater here. It’s tiny. We want people to come in regularly and be excited for what they’re gonna have next time.

So we’re thinking a really small list of maybe six to eight cocktails that will change frequently and kind of keeping in a Mediterranean theme. We want things that are really light and fresh. We’re also going to have some rotating Gin & Tonicas.

Yeah, it suits the climate in Brisbane — you don’t need like a Hot Punch or something like that.

You do not. We’re going to have a couple of rotating Gin & Tonicas as well. Then like a really Med Martini, olive and lemon heavy, kind of going along those lines. And then there’s a drink called the Rebujito, which is a Spanish, Andalusian drink where it’s fino sherry and traditionally a lemon-lime soda.

It’s like a Sherry Highball.

Yeah. But we want to rotate that soda frequently. So that’ll be like really fun.

Are you going to make your own sodas?

I’ll be making my own sodas but not my own tonics. Tonics, we’ll be working with some really fun funky ones and pairing them with the gins as we see fit.

Sounds fantastic. Is there going be food here?

So we’re going to do a little bit of snacky style stuff. We’re going to have just some tin sardines kind of vibes.

Perfect.

Yeah, just like little snacky things. Me and Hannah really like going out [and eating] but not feeling so heavy that you want to go home afterwards. Sometimes you don’t want a full meal-y thing.

You don’t need the food coma.

No, no, no, no. So what we want is just some really light stuff that pairs really well with the offering of drinks that we’ve got. You like have some snacks, it keeps you going, but you don’t feel dense, like you gotta go home and have a nap after it.

So what was this place before?

It was a hairdresser before this and then before that I think it was a vintage store.

So this place Dark Blue and then Dark Red across the road — they’re both in these little laneways in Fortitude Valley. They’re a bit of an escape from some of the madness that goes on out there, is that right?

Yeah, Dark Red’s really fun. So many of the people that go there come because they just walk past Bakery Lane and they see the lights and they’re like, what’s this? The owner of the laneways does a really good job of curating the businesses that are in those laneways and creating a vibe for them.

You can find Dark Blue when it opens at 5a Winn Lane, Fortitude Valley.

More good news

Cara Devine has a new book — you can pre-order now. Boothby writer and co-owner of Goodwater in Melbourne, Cara Devine, has been working hard on her second book and it’s now available to pre-order. It’s called Behind The Home Bar, and it looks great and includes some very cool stuff on how to flavour match spirits — get your copy here.

Jamie Fleming is back on Masterchef. We hear they’re a few months into filming, and from what we can gather, the talented bartender and owner of the much missed Alba Bar & Deli in Brisbane is still in Melbourne where the series is filmed — fingers crossed our guy goes all the way and takes home the top spot.

Press Release Dump

The list of North America’s 50 Best Bars was announced in Vancouver overnight, with Mexico City bar Handshake Speakeasy (from owner-bartender Eric Van Beek) taking out the top spot.

Clemente Bar, run by Sebastian Tollius (whom you may know from this episode of Drinks At Work) landed at number 11 on the list, whilst Sip & Guzzle — from Shingo Gokan and Steve Schneider, who appear in the second issue of Boothby in print — was the highest new entry on the list, landing at number five.

Get a look at the full list here.

Bar Planet has collaborated with local producers for their new cocktail list. They’ve sourced some “hyper-local” ingredients like sour whey, fresh baguettes and fermented hot honey, from three local producers: A.P Bakery, Goldstreet Dairy and Rooftop Bees.

Per the press release: “We are cementing our place in the beating heart of the Inner West,” says Jeremy Blackmore, Creative Director at MUCHO Group, “We’re working with some of our absolute favourite producers to make some of our best drinks yet. These are the kinds of drinks that you won’t be able to get at any other bar on earth.”

Morris Whisky is now distributed by Proof Drinks Australia. Casella Family Brands’ award-winning Australian whisky — which we first reviewed back in 2021 — has new distribution having left the Vanguard Luxury Brands portfolio.

Drew Doty, General Manager of Proof Drinks, said, “We’re delighted to partner with Casella Family Brands to distribute their spirits portfolio. CFB’s dedication to quality perfectly aligns with our mission to present premium spirits to discerning consumers. We look forward to introducing more audiences to the exceptional craftsmanship and quality of these premium Australian-owned brands.”

Get more info via email at info@proofdrinks.com.

Andy Gaunt is the new CEO of Sullivans Cove. Andy spent the last 10 years building the Fever-Tree brand in Australia and beyond, and now moves into the whisky world. You can read more in the press release below — we’ll be speaking with Andy about all things Australian whisky soon.

The second issue of Boothby magazine has landed and to subscribe to the magazine, click here — your support means so much.