It’s raining on Alex Day, and it’s my fault.
Alex is in town to oversee the opening of Death & Co. Melbourne, the world-famous New York bar’s first outpost outside the USA. We meet on Flinders Lane and are shunted out of Code Black coffee to a bench outside the cathedral when the sky opens up on us. We seek refuge under an umbrella in Fed Square while a group of scouts sing Polish folk songs loudly-amplified from the stage. Perfect.
It’s hard not to fanboy a little talking to Alex, a founder of one of the most influential cocktails bars in the world. The ideas that sprang from his bar — things like the deft employment of sherry, mezcal and interesting amari in classically-styled cocktails — are now standard practice in good bars, but were revolutionary in 2006 when D&C NY first opened its doors.
Death & Co. now has outlets in Los Angeles, Denver and Washington, D.C. as well as the original East Village venue, and I’m sure it comes as no surprise to anyone reading this that last month they opened an iteration of the bar right here in Melbourne (with my wonderful wife Cara Devine at the helm no less — now you know why I took over this newsletter), and with another soon to open in Brisbane.
Given my fanboy status regarding both Alex and Cara, rather than try to tell you about the venue from the least objective viewpoint possible, I figured it would be good to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth. So I waylaid Mr. Day for a chat in between hectic opening weekend services. The following is a condensed version of our conversation, edited for length and clarity.
FRED SIGGINS: How have the first few days of service been?
ALEX DAY: My role in this process is really taking the ideas and relationships that my business partners have formed and shepherding them into reality. I’m actively involved in the lead up, but once it’s up and running, I’m like, you guys are doing your thing. So I mostly just stand at the pass and make all the bartenders really nervous.