Cross the threshold into a rabbit warren of darkened rooms whispering with the shadows of Hemingway and Chaplin. Sconces smolder as displays of exotic dark spirits create niches, with furnishings from barrels and stools, to leather chesterfields — perfect for clandestine meetings. Watch silk sleeves catch on the exposed brick walls. The gleaming bar is well fortified by aproned bartenders sporting Ivy caps and suspenders, shirt-sleeves rolled above the elbow.
The Walrus List offers craft beers, boutique wines, a line-up of spirits from absinthe to aperatifs amid a veritable rum diary of 300 different bottles, all tagged and bagged; a humidor partition of Cuban and Dominican cigars the resonant finale. The tinny sounds of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Bessie Smith are absent, but the ambience of the 1950s cool jazz fits in nicely.
HOW? Slip past the bottle-o towards the little lane and shimmy down a narrow stairwell — speakeasy style — past the motif of a top-hatted walrus to the back door, complete with security grille.
WHO?
The Walrus Club pays homage to Brisbane’s first floating distillery and sugar mill, The SS Walrus. The Pioneer Floating Sugar Mill Company bought the steamer and The Walrus traveled up and down the Logan and Albert Rivers, often evading the state government on its rum production.
Brisbane’s very own Moonshine Maharani Krystal Hart fronts The Walrus as a victor in the 2011 World Class Cocktail Competition with pedigrees acquired from such local canteens as Sling Bar, Byblos and Canvas.
WHY?
The cavalier businessman’s thirst for dark spirits and dark spots is justified, the ambience fashionably wrapped up in taboo and a Gatsby feather boa to keep womenfolk contently meek and mild.
WHERE?
Coronation Drive’s number one watering hole lifts the bar in Brisbane, offering a beau monde alternative to The Regatta’s beergarden and steakhouse.
