Sydney’s best bars and bartenders were awarded at the sixth annual Time Out Sydney Bar Awards, held at The Island Bar yesterday.
Over 500 partygoers descended on Cockatoo Island to celebrate with this year’s winners while enjoying music from rockabilly quintet The ReChords, and husband and wife DJs Boonge & Rusty (You Am I drummer Rusty Hopkinson).
The awards celebrate the best of what makes Sydney’s bar scene special and the who’s who of Sydney were in attendance, hoping for a chance at winning one of the coveted titles. The much-anticipated annual Time Out Sydney Bar Guide was also launched at the event.
There were 13 awards up for grabs this year, including Best Bartender, Best Neighbourhood Bar, Best Pub, Best Bar Food and Bar of the Year. Eleven of the 13 awards were judged by a crack team of food and drink critics, who spent countless nights trying the best of what Sydney has to offer. Ten top industry influencers chose the Hot Talent award, and the final award, the People’s Choice, was judged by Time Out readers. [continued below]
The Bulletin Place team accept their award
The winners were as follows:
BEST BARTENDER
Charlie Ainsbury – Eau de Vie
BEST BAR FOOD
Mary’s
BEST ENTERTAINMENT
Frankies
BEST FIT OUT
Lobo Plantation
BEST PUB
The Union
BEST COCKTAIL BAR
Bulletin Place
BEST NEIGHBOURHOOD BAR
Vasco
BEST NEW BAR
Earl’s Juke Joint
BAR OF THE YEAR
Bulletin Place
HOT TALENT
Jonathon Carr – Wild Rover
BEST WINE BAR
Monopole
PEOPLE’S CHOICE
Lobo Plantation
HALL OF FAME
The Courthouse
Michael Rodrigues, joint CEO for Time Out Australia, said: "In 2008, our fledgling magazine asked the industry's titan, the AHA, whether small bars would work in Sydney. The then president John Thorpe was pretty dismissive. But even those of us who were a little more opened minded probably wouldn't have predicted the tectonic shifts that have since followed – the number, the variety, the vibrancy of the bar scene we enjoy today. Sydney's bars are now internationally acclaimed, our bartenders globally recognised."
Myffy Rigby, Time Out Australia's chief food and drink critic and the editor of the annual Time Out Sydney Bar Guide, adds: "We might have given out awards to some fantastic bars this year, and well may they party on, but the real winners are Sydney drinkers. We now live in a city where great bars aren't a privilege, they're a right."