Ambrosia Lounge owners Tim Stephens and Andrew Galbraith. Photo: Taylah Cunningham.
Ambrosia Distillery in Fyshwick has opened the doors to Ambrosia Lounge in the Dairy Road precinct. The new bourgie cocktail bar has all the right ingredients for a good time.
Distillery founder Andrew Galbraith has teamed up with Tim Stephens to open the experiential lounge. The pair met in their younger years working at Belluci’s in Woden, and now Tim daylights as a high school teacher while Andrew left a career in medicine to pursue distilling. But their friendship has brought them together behind the bar once again.
“We’re in the business of excitement and creating experiences,” Tim told Region.
“We’re all about fun, old-school, relational hospo: we know how to read a room and give people a memorable experience.”
You could easily spend a whole night or just have a few drinks before heading to the city. Photo: Taylah Cunningham.
The bar has been well received in the few weeks it has been open, with many Canberrans enjoying the slightly hidden away, speakeasy vibe of the Fyshwick location. As a destination bar, Andrew and Tim knew they needed to offer food as well, so they put together a menu of share plates. Think dips and antipasti plates, chorizo and olives, and a show-stopping baked brie that can have either sweet or savoury accompaniments.
But the main event is obviously the cocktails.
“The cocktail list is essentially variations on classic cocktails using the different Ambrosia-flavoured vodkas as the base of the drink,” Andrew told Region.
“One of the most popular options so far is what we call the Ambrosia Bump, which is a shot of one of our flavoured vodkas with flavoured pearls.”
Favourite ‘bump’ combinations are lychee vodka and raspberry pearls or toffee vodka and salted caramel pearls.
The Flavour Blaster in action! Photo: Taylah Cunningham.
Andrew is also very excited about what he called The Flavour Blaster: a machine that transforms liquids into a bubble that pops to release a vapour. It’s worth seeing it in action: order a Negroni or an Old Fashioned.
The bar space is industrial-chic, with bespoke stone statues holding different bottles of spirit and a secluded upstairs gallery. It’s the kind of place you could easily spend a whole night or just have a few drinks before heading to the city. Once the new residential blocks are built at Dairy Road, the lounge is sure to be a regular hangout for the locals.
I am lucky enough to get a sneak peek at a yet-to-be-released mango-flavoured vodka, which Andrew shakes up into a Weis-bar-inspired drink. It’s creamy, tropical, and goes down very smooth indeed. Fortunately, the city is only a 15-minute Uber away – closer than you think! – so it’s worth having a taste of the different vodkas available.
The Ambrosia Gin is also very drinkable with lemon myrtle and strawberry gum native botanicals as prominent flavours in the mix.
For those who want an alcohol-free option, the bartenders are able to whip up delicious mocktails. Tim explained that because they use such good quality ingredients to infuse the vodkas, they’re able to convert most of the cocktail list into a non-alcoholic mocktail version on request.
Find Ambrosia Lounge at Building 2/2 Dairy Rd, Fyshwick. They are open Wednesday to Friday, from 5 pm until late, and from 3 pm until late on weekends. Follow Ambrosia Lounge on Facebook or Instagram.
Loading ...
