With a story we can all relate to in some way shape or form, Australia’s first non-alcoholic bar and the home of Sapiir is Brunswick Aces.
Description
Brunswick Aces: Sapiir, Spades, Hearts, Oh My!
Brunswick Aces, the name is Melbourne and northside as it gets, right? Hear it and the first things that likely come to mind are Brunswick Aces Sapiir and the fact it’s Australia’s first non-alcoholic bar.
But how did the team of neighbours go from getting together to watch Game of Thrones and share their own homemade treats find themselves with an international operation and Australia’s first non-alcoholic bar? Read on to find out.
The home of Sapiir: Origins
Nothing sidelines alcohol quicker than finding out a tiny human is on the way or (to a lesser extent) finding out that marathon training is hard enough as it is – without the impacts of alcohol slowing you down!
From a desire to develop:
- drinks “oriented around the flavours rather than alcohol”;
- recreate the drinking experience without the alcohol;
- that sense of togetherness and inclusion in every scenario for those who choose to or can’t drink; and
- fill the gap that was created by two of the Aces crew not drinking traditional alcohol,
the crew got to work with their existing stills and Brunswick Aces Sapiir was born.
With time family and friends got the word out and it became clear that a magical liquid that looks like gin, tastes like gin, and (arguably, most importantly) feels like gin was needed to fill a void in the market.
As you can imagine, it also meant the small-batch still was no longer going to cut it!
The Brunswick Aces Bar: Melbourne
Australia’s first non-alcoholic bar is located in the suburb the brand is named after, Brunswick.
The bar is home to:
- a menu that is made up of 100+ non-alcoholic cocktails, mixed drinks, beers, and wines.; and
- the Aces stills that, have been designed and built by Stephen Lawrence and Dr Cameron Hunt (two of the founders).
Paying the bar a visit during daylight hours will see you treated to:
- not only the menu of over 100 non-alcoholic drinks; but
- witnessing the operation of the only stills in the world to exclusively produce non-alcoholic sappir.
If getting an insight into the heart of the operation, Saturday looks to be your day of choice. The distillery is opened up to tours and the production process, origins of sapiir, and guidance on how to taste and use sapiir are all part of your experience. Plus there’s a cocktail waiting for you at the end of it!
We’re making our way down for a tour shortly and will report back with our findings!
Where Can I buy Brunswick Aces Sapiir?
If you’re keen to find out how non-alcoholic gin is made, head to the blog here. But if you’re up for picking pick up some of your own Aces, we have dropped a few retailers below for you to browse through.
