A famous NYC bar lands on Flinders Lane. How much sense does it make in Melbourne?
Death & Co, a key player in the global craft cocktail game, is here to take you from date night to late night, with cocktails it’s got a reputation for.
Death & Co, a key player in the global craft cocktail game, is here to take you from date night to late night with cocktails it’s got a reputation for – and scandalously dim lighting.
January 1, 2026
Bar snacks$$
What does the name Death & Co mean to you? Maybe you’ve never heard of it. Maybe you think “undertaker”. Or maybe you’re in the well-travelled (or well-researched) cocktail circles that recognise it as one of the more influential American bars of this century.
Since launching in New York’s East Village in 2006, it’s been credited for its role in the global craft cocktail movement and expanded to Denver, Los Angeles and Washington DC. And now? Melbourne, its first international outpost. A second has opened in Brisbane.
It’s the result of an unusual partnership with Australian Venue Co, a gigantic hospitality group that runs 200-plus venues nationwide – mostly pubs like the Espy and the new Hickens Hotel. But managing the bar is Cara Devine, who’s respected in Melbourne’s drinks scene as an author, longtime bartender and co-owner of Northcote’s Goodwater.
Back-to-back booths line one side of the candlelit ground-floor bar.Jason South
Despite its name – and barely-there signage – Death & Co is very much alive and already kicking on its third week at the top end of Flinders Lane, where Trinket Bar once was.
A host greets us at the door, delivering a Death & Co crash course as he leads us through a hallway swathed in red-velvet curtains, the daylight behind us instantly disappearing. It’s 6pm but it could be midnight, and the romance is palpable, with date nights in full swing through the candlelit ground-floor bar, where back-to-back booths line one side. (A cordoned-off “party pod” is bookable for groups of six who want to properly lock in.)
The venue has two levels and we plonk downstairs in the even more intimate cellar bar, hugged by plush, copper-coloured armchairs you could lose hours in. And so we do, with service that’s kneel-down-next-to-you enthusiastic, starting with a “hey, you two!”
The first round is exceptional. Among Death & Co’s most globally regarded cocktail creations is the peachy-pink Naked and Famous, which deserves (the second part of) its name. The modern classic is a de-spritzification of Aperol, shaken up with mezcal, Yellow Chartreuse and a heavy hit of fresh lime. It’s not rocket science, but when it’s this elegantly executed, refreshing and re-orderable, who needs liquid nitrogen?