First look at Gold Coast’s only gin bar serving up more than 90 types of the trendy spirit
GIN — it’s not just a drink for grandmas, and a hip new Gold Coast bar dedicated to the spirit has an interesting new way to prove it.
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GIN is not just a drink for grandmas, and Miami Marketta is out to prove it.
The new Gin Parlour at the food and arts space is hoping to change the attitudes of hesitant gin drinkers with a trendy venue for sinking the unexpectedly versatile spirit.
Miami Marketta director Emma Millikins says the concept started as a plan to build a gin distillery, but life got in the way — quite literally — so the proposal was fast-tracked.
“We were going to open a little gin distillery … we were thinking the Gold Coast doesn’t have one of those at the moment,” Emma says.
“Then I got pregnant, and realised I wouldn’t be able to taste the gin we made.
“We kind of fast forwarded that part and went, let’s just do the gin part.
“In our research, we found out there were so many of these micro small batching distilleries around Australia.
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“So we made a list of 90 gins. And we thought, OK, we have to stop right now. Otherwise we’ll just keep adding and adding.
“We ended up with a list of predominantly Australian, then we have German, Italian, and of course London, a few UK gins.”
The Gin Parlour will be open to the public on Thursday nights with live jazz music and fare from food trucks the Italian Job and Double T.
Marketta will operate the usual street food arcade on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights, with guests able to order gin drinks, cocktails and regular beverages from the Gin Parlour bar.
“Our big gin night will be the Thursday night. We’re going to have live jazz music, the lights will come down, it’ll be a bit more dive bar-ish,” Emma says.
“The crew will be doing table service, we’ll have a whole menu as well, more restaurant style dining. Then on Friday and Saturday nights we’ll morph into street food.”
There will be an extensive list of gin-based drinks available, from fruity, sweet tipples, to earthy, wooden tones. And if you’ve heard of a tequila worm, wait until you hear the gin version.
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“The Adelaide Hills green ant gin — it has six or seven green ants in the bottle. They give off a really peppery, peppermint taste,” Emma says.
“We’re also doing a pink gin. We pair that with a strawberry to bring out the sweetness and a grapefruit to balance out the sour.
“Ink Gin is very popular; that’s the one from Husk Distillery. That’s a really bright purple flower gin.
“One of the most popular (cocktails) will be the elderflower southside, we’re going to do that with Young Henrys gin. It’s a really fresh mint and lime, quite a summery kind of drink.
“We’ll do a new fashion, the same thing as an old fashioned, but with the whiskey we’re going to use a barrel-aged gin. It will have a few woody, whiskey tones, with orange star anise and a little bit of bitters.”
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Emma says gin is generating increased interest as a new generation opt for locally brewed or distilled alcohol and plant-based drinks.
“Whiskey became popular a few years ago and a lot of people who have whiskey stills make gin too because whiskey takes three to five years before you can even get a bottle out of it,” she says.
“So a lot of cool young brands were starting to make gin and I think it’s made this on flow of brands just making gins.
“It’s colourful and fun and fresh, and people like the look of it. It’s a young person’s drink.
“Everyone goes ‘gin is an old lady’s drink’, but these days it’s more about drinking something that’s quite pure and botanical based and natural.”
The bar area is furnished with vintage lounges and tables, antique knick knacks and dozens of gins presented in their very own arched hollows. The most impressive element is the huge tarot-card inspired murals suspended from the ceilings.
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“The whole space is inspired by my last European trip,” Emma says.
“I really wanted to base it around the roof. If you ever go to the Louvre, they’ve got cool couches where you recline and have the head rest and you can look at the art on the ceiling.
“Aesthetically, we’re an art space, first and foremost. Whenever we do any fit outs we really like to put an emphasis on the arts.”
For adamant non-gin drinkers, never fear. The Gin Parlour will cater to most people’s alcohol preferences with infused vodka and freshly squeezed juice.
“It’s not just a gin bar, we do lots of our own vodka infusions,” Emma says.
“We’re doing things like a strawberry jalepeno vodka.
“Then for people that like the idea of gin but don’t know where to start, we’re going to have gin boards, where they have four different types of gins, tonics and a condiment tray.
“It’ll be an easy way for them to find out. We’ll do it with our vodkas as well.
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“We’re going to bring back the classic vodka and orange. So we’ll be making freshly squeezed juice with vodka.
“Fresh juice mixes, whiskey and green apple, vodka and orange, and tequila and fresh pineapple.
“We’ll have beer and wine, champagnes, Moet. Just that little bit higher tier of product.”
The Gin Parlour opens 5pm on September 20 at 23 Hillcrest Parade, Miami
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