Meet Hayden Lambert, the guy behind one of Australia’s very best cocktail bars, Melbourne’s Above Board.
Lambert refined his bartending skills during his time at the influential Merchant Hotel in Belfast, and was twice named as Ireland’s bartender of the year.
Lambert is like the great bartenders of the pre-Prohibition age, in that his recipes tend to stick with him a while. Whereas many modern day bartenders create a new batch of cocktails for each new incarnation of the cocktail list, many of the drinks on Above Board’s menu have been with Lambert for some time, like the Empire Strikes Bax.
Here, Lambert speaks to Sam Bygrave about lockdown, his approach to drinks, and the Melbourne bars he recommends to guests.
Tell us first of all how lockdown is going — and are you sick of talking about it yet?
You know what? I’m not in control, so I can’t do much about it. It’d be different if I was the only one suffering, but the reality is everyone is suffering, no matter how they spin it or how many Instagram pictures they put up.