The coveted Time Out Sydney Bar Awards Bar of the Year award has gone to one of the city’s hidden gems, underground rum bar Lobo Plantation.
Named after Julio Lobo, the legendary Cuban sugar baron from the 1950s, the popular after-work haunt offers Sydneysiders a tropical mini-break without ever leaving the city limits.
Held at Sky Terrace at the Star and hosted by comedian Andrew McClelland, Time Out Sydney’s eighth Bar Awards celebrated the best bars and bartenders in town. Industry professionals, cocktail connoisseurs and Time Out readers gathered to witness winners announced across 13 categories.
The awards have revealed that Darlinghurst is still at the heart of Sydney’s nightlife, with spritzer specialists This Must Be The Place named Best New Bar and Eau De Vie taking out Best Cocktail Bar for their skill and flair with a shaker, blowtorch and a little liquid nitrogen when the occasion calls for it!
Best Wine Bar went to the Surry Hills bar 121 BC for their extensive list of Italian vintages. Redfern’s local art bar, The Bearded Tit, was named Best Neighbourhood Bar; and serving up some of the best sushi in Sydney, Sokyo Lounge was awarded Best Bar Food.
The Baxter Inn’s talented crew members bagged two awards for the team, with James Irvine recognised as Best Bartender and Rachelle Hair as Hot Talent. The Best Bar Team award went to Newtown butchery turned bar Earl’s Juke Joint, headed up by Pasan Wijesena, who was Time Out’s Bartender of the Year for 2015.
Artist management and touring company Astral People won the inaugral Party Starter Award. In just over four years the crew have thrown vibrant and memorable parties, staged annual events like OutsideIn Festival, curated nights for Vivid and still made sure to foster homegrown talent such as Collarbones, Basenji, Roland Tings, Cosmo’s Midnight and Wave Racer.
Chippendale’s home of late-night hijinks, Freda’s, was crowned Best Party Bar, and Time Out readers voted laneway tiki barPapa Gede’s winner of the People’s Choice Award for the second year running.
The Lord Mayor Clover Moore was the recipient of this year’s Legend Award, in recognition of her efforts to bolster Sydney’s small bar scene. Starting with the Small Bars Legislation in 2007, the Lord Mayor has continued to support the passionate people behind Sydney’s bar scene, helping to sustain industry growth despite challenging times.
“Sydney’s lockout laws have definitely created new challenges for bar operators,” says Time Out Australia CEO Michael Rodrigues. “But Sydney’s best have managed to defy the odds through a combination of resilience and innovation, lifting already high levels of service and product to great new heights. Our Bar of the Year, the Lobo Plantation, represents all that is great in Sydney drinking right now.”
And the winners are:
BEST NEW BAR
This Must Be the Place
(Highly Commended: Dead Ringer)
BEST COCKTAIL BAR
Eau De Vie
(Highly Commended: Bulletin Place)
BEST WINE BAR
121 BC
(Highly Commended: Monopole)
BEST NEIGHBOURHOOD BAR
The Bearded Tit
(Highly Commended: Wilhelmina’s)
BEST BAR FOOD
Sokyo Lounge
(Highly Commended: Surly’s)
BEST BARTENDER
James Irvine – The Baxter Inn
(Highly Commended: Tom Egerton – Eau De Vie)
BEST BAR TEAM
Earl’s Juke Joint
(Highly Commended: Lobo Plantation)
HOT TALENT AWARD
Rachelle Hair – The Baxter Inn
(Highly Commended: Nathan Pepper – Papa Gede’s)
THE PARTY STARTER AWARD
Astral People
(Highly Commended: Picnic)
BEST PARTY BAR
Freda’s
(Highly Commended: Goros)
PEOPLE’S CHOICE
Papa Gede’s
BAR OF THE YEAR
Lobo Plantation
LEGEND AWARD
Lord Mayor Clover Moore
The eighth annual Time Out Sydney Bar Awards were presented by White Rabbit, Maker’s Mark, Gentleman’s Collection, Cider is Hills, Hydrodol and The Star, Sydney.
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