La Prohibition

A couple nights ago, a group of friends, French & Australian, gathered together to go hunting for some alcoholic beverages around Melbourne's CBD.  Organised by the French-Australian Chamber of Commerce the night was designed as a step back in time to the era of the speakeasy bar.  The members of the tour formed themselves into smaller teams of five or six, each team with a set of clues to set us on the cocktail trail . . .

This particular evening seemed very apropo in setting the mood of the broody times of film noir & forbidden fancies . . . Hence the railway station pic; drizzle, lamp post & all.

My team members were these gorgeous guys & dolls . . .

Windswept & raring to go, we seized our first clue & took on the rainy streets.

This led us to Strange Wolf, a basement bar situated most inconspicuously down a small alleyway.

Hungry & thirsty little wolves ourselves, there was a moment we feared this scrumptious though modest serve of smoked almonds would be all the pack had to devour . . . 

But then there came la charcutérie & order was restored . . . sort of.

With this extra fuel we tackled the next clue.

Yes, we might have managed to get lost in our own city.

But after a little wandering to and fro, we skipped our way over to Manchester Lane for some more prohibition fare.

After some tomfoolery we got down to the business of our next clue, leading us to a delicious concoction of sweet & sour whisky cocktails.

This lemon & ginger number was the perfect remedy to warm the cockles of our hearts once we'd blown into the bar, rosy cheeked from having clambered up hill & down dale in search of  . . . Whisky and Ale!  (Buddum-chsshh)

And as for the final clue.  This lead us to . . .

. . . a bar in blue.

In my French to English translation confusion I spent my time at Murmur bar mispronouncing it as 'Muremure' or in French, 'WallWall'.  I wondered what the story might be behind this unusual name, & now I realise that at that point I may have had enough champagne.

Until next we meet, mes amis, "Santé!"