George Lane Bar

George Lane Bar

Clem Bastow

Thursday, April 26, 2007

The spirits here are impressive, particularly if you're a vodka nut.

As all the prime real estate fills up, bars are boldly going where no bars have gone before: on top of shops, in art studios and shipping containers and, seemingly most popular of all, down lanes next to the bins. Such unassuming surroundings are perfect for sorting the wheat from the chaff when it comes to clientele, as weaker-willed partygoers are put off by the dank backdrop, rotting cabbage leaves, spooky dark doorways and/or tortuous trip to and from, generally over high-heel-unfriendly cobblestones. If that isn't enough to put you off, you have won the right to drink all night. Fortunately, it's only a mad dash down a short lane (jutting off Grey Street) to George Lane Bar, with the entry heralded by strung-up fairy lights that pierce the inky - and, on the night we visited, cold and rainy - darkness. An unassuming doorway leads into the front part of the bar, comprising the modest but overflowing bar and a smattering of tall tables and stools. The bar has only a few ...

Full review on The Age