From New York to Toowong – Death & Co touches down in Brisbane
Brisbane just got a new reason to linger after dark – legendary NYC-born cocktail bar Death & Co has opened beneath the Regatta Hotel. Boasting an intimate atmosphere and menu of inventive cocktails, Death & Co is fancy without the fuss, globally inspired without the ego and perfect for anyone who wants their cocktails stirred with a side of big-city swagger.
“Why Brisbane?”
This is the question I put to David Kaplan minutes before Death & Co opened the doors to its newly minted bar in Toowong.
The NYC-born sipping spot, renowned globally for influencing early 21st-century cocktail culture, holds a cult-like status among serious sippers. Death & Co’s impact on modern mixology is profound and often credited – alongside several of its Manhattan contemporaries – with sparking a revival of the cocktail craft not long after David founded it in 2007.
Fast forward almost 20 years and Death & Co has expanded to locations in Los Angeles, Denver and Washington D.C., as well as its first two international outposts. One opened in Melbourne a week or so ago, followed quickly by the Brisbane venue, where David and I now find ourselves chatting.
So, why pick Brisbane as one of the brand’s first overseas ventures? The answer, it turns out, is simple: David loves the place.
“I came here and absolutely fell in love with the city – the culture and the lifestyle here,” David reveals. “Even though everyone was saying, ‘Well, Brisbane’s not quite there yet’, I think you guys have crazy cool shit here – what’s here is absolutely fantastic.”
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David, now CEO of Gin & Luck – the hospitality group behind Death & Co – explains that the Brisbane opening represents the culmination of about five years of work. After a 2020 Australian pop-up tour in collaboration with Australian Venue Co. and Aviation Gin, the idea of an international expansion began to take shape. Already incredibly fond of our sunny shores, the plan quickly shifted from possibility to inevitability.
“International expansion has always been the dream,” says David. “As I’ve grown and created the architecture to expand the Death & Co brand and consistently evolve it, Australia just started to make more and more sense.”
In partnership with Australian Venue Co., David and the Death & Co team secured two cracking locations in which the concept could take root. Death & Co Melbourne opened in the old Trinket space on Flinders Lane, while Death & Co Brisbane can be found under the Regatta Hotel in the subterranean space previously home to The Walrus Club.
Death & Co Brisbane leans into the site’s heritage bones, creating a moody, candlelit setting. Intimate nooks invite you to settle in for the long haul, while stools at the marble bar offer chances to chat with staff and fellow drinkers. Wander past the bar and you’ll reach The Studio by Death & Co, a red-lit cocktail lounge and performance space – completely new territory for the brand – where regular jazz sets will infuse the room with electric energy.
“For the most part, every Death & Co property has a great sense of discovery,” says David. “[Each location is] quite different in a lot of ways, but there’s certainly threads of continuity between all of them. There are some visual anchor points that we use, like the marble bar – and there are always lots of banquettes and they’re all very dark. There’s usually also a kind of roughness to it – here you get that from the brick, from the building itself.”
As for the bar itself, those familiar with the brand will already know what’s up (hint: top-tier cocktails). But when I prompt David to summarise what Death & Co is – or, rather, how he would explain the concept to a first-time visitor – he frames it as a celebration of craft and connection, one that eschews pomp and circumstance.
“It’s not a concept – it’s really just meant to be a modern classic cocktail bar,” explains David. “Within that context, modernity is really just an acknowledgment of time, rather than progressiveness. I think we’re constantly evolving and pushing, but really the celebration of our craft is quite subtle.
“It’s not intended to be in your face. It’s meant to be a beautiful stage by which we celebrate human connectivity.”
Overseeing operations is venue manager Samantha Katsikas, who adds to David’s point by driving home that customer service is regarded as, if not more important than, drinks.
“We love our cocktails, but we also want to cater to everyone who comes through our doors,” Sam tells us. “Everything we do centres on the guest and their experience. We love our craft and sharing that passion with everyone who walks through our doors is what makes this work so exciting. It is a place where you can truly be yourself.”
That said, cocktails are key to the Death & Co experience (did I mention the bar has published three of its own books on the craft?). You won’t find one single-page menu here – guests are presented with an extensive and thoughtfully structured tome filled with “cocktails for every moment” – a mix of beloved Death & Co favourites from over the years alongside new creations crafted specifically for Brisbane.
The menu leads with Death & Co OGs like the Naked & Famous (Del Maguey Vida mezcal, Chartreuse, Aperol and lime) and the Oaxacan Old Fashioned (El Jimador Reposado, Del Maguey Vida mezcal, agave syrup, Angostura bitters). Flip a page and you’ll find light and playful sips like the Buko Gimlet (navy-strength gin, cachaça, finger lime, pandan and coconut), while elegant and timeless beverages like the Kaikoma Highball (Japanese whisky, single malt Scotch, yuzu and soda water) can be found further along.
“Another great choice is the God of Wine – perfect for anyone who loves wine but also enjoys a cocktail,” adds Samantha. “It truly gives you the best of both worlds. For guests who prefer something a bit stronger, I’d suggest the Crescendo, a more spirit-forward, old-fashioned-style cocktail.”
Can’t decide? You can leave it up to the bartender to come up with something you’ll enjoy. Otherwise, there’s a clutch of wines, beers and zero-proof mocktails available.
On the food front, Death & Co offers a tight snack-heavy menu, featuring the likes of aromatic truffle popcorn, blistered shishito peppers with toasted sesame, lamb burgers with spiced tzatziki, stracciatella with garden-pea pesto and buttermilk fried-chicken skewers. Rounding out the offering is Uncle Wes’ Drunken Cookies, a staple item in the US – think milk and dark chocolate cookies laced with banana liqueur and served with ice-cold milk.
Though equipped with everything needed to vault to the top of Brisbane’s cocktail bar pyramid, David insists that Death & Co isn’t here to take over. If anything, he hopes the bar can add to the already established scene, helping to elevate the city’s standing on a global stage and deliver something a little bit different – something that entices and reflects local palates.
“Anywhere we go, we don’t look at it as if we’re showing – at best we’re participating,” says David. “We’re going places where we feel we can be inspired by the F&B scene that’s already there.”
“When you come to Death & Co Brisbane, it’s going to be different from Death & Co Melbourne – otherwise we failed. We have absolutely no ambition of being McDonald’s. This bar is a reflection of the people that work here. It’s a reflection of Brisbane.”
Death & Co Brisbane is now open – head to The Directory for operating hours and menu details.