Best Cocktails in St Kilda 2026: Where to Drink
St Kilda has always done things differently. While the CBD huddles under laneways and roof-top pretension, our suburb throws it wide open — bay views, salt air, and drinks that taste better because of what’s outside the window. The cocktail scene here isn’t trying to compete with those tiny, candlelit joints in the city. It’s doing its own thing: beachside spritzes, speakeasy-style mixing rooms, and pubs that pour harder than they let on.
I spent three weeks bouncing between every cocktail spot on the peninsula. Eight venues. Some were packed on a Tuesday. Some were nearly empty on a Saturday (that tells you everything). Here’s what’s actually worth your money.
Updated 16 March 2026 | 8 places tested | Jess Harper reporting
1. The Ghost of Alfred Felton
The vibe: Dark wood, velvet booths, and the feeling that a 19th-century art collector is watching you from around a corner. This is the Espy’s crown jewel — a top-floor cocktail den that pays homage to Alfred Felton, a chemist and philanthropist who once lived upstairs at the Hotel Esplanade. The room feels like a private library you’ve snuck into.
The cocktail list reads like a novel. Each drink ties back to Felton’s world — Victorian-era ingredients, modern technique, and garnishes that double as art. The “Alchemist” ($26) is a gin-based number with elderflower, activated charcoal, and a dry-ice fog that arrives at the table looking like a small weather event. The “Philanthropist” ($24) uses Australian whisky, honey from a Rooftop Honey collaboration, and a thyme sprig that smokes when you twist it.
The bartenders here don’t just pour — they perform. Ask for the off-menu “Felton’s Folly” if the head bartender is on shift. It changes every month and has been rumoured to include actual gold leaf. I got one with yuzu and mezcal that was genuinely one of the best cocktails I’ve had in Melbourne, not just St Kilda.
Order this: The Alchemist ($26) Address: Hotel Esplanade (top floor), 11 The Esplanade, St Kilda Hours: Fri–Sat 5pm–late Insider tip: The entrance is through the main Espy lobby — take the stairs past Mya Tiger and follow the dim lighting. It’s deliberately hard to find. That’s the point.
2. Captain Baxter
The vibe: Beachfront confidence. Captain Baxter has been running rooftop cocktails above the St Kilda Sea Baths for years, and it still pulls it off better than most newer spots in the city. The 1920s beach-bungalow aesthetic means retractable roof, cushioned seating, and a panorama that takes in the pier, the bay, and — on a clear evening — the entire sweep from Brighton to Williamstown.
The cocktail menu is tropical-leaning but not tacky. Think Thai basil margaritas ($22), lychee and sake spritzes ($19), and a rum-heavy “Sunday Session Punch” ($16/glass) that’s been responsible for more bad Monday mornings than any other drink on the peninsula. Their Pan-Asian food menu pairs well with the drinks — the kingfish sashimi and a frozen margarita is a move I keep coming back to.
Sunday Sessions are their signature play: DJs, flowing cocktails, and a crowd that ranges from twenty-somethings in linen to families pushing prams. It works because the space is genuinely huge and the vibe never tips into nightclub territory.
Order this: Thai Basil Margarita ($22) Address: St Kilda Sea Baths, 10-18 Jacka Boulevard, St Kilda Hours: Wed–Thu 4pm–late, Fri–Sat 12pm–late, Sun 12pm–late Insider tip: Arrive before 3pm on weekends or you’ll queue. The bungalows (private rooftop cabanas) book out weeks ahead — skip them unless you’re hosting 8+.
3. Ellora
The vibe: Two-storey beachside theatre. Ellora sits at 1 Fitzroy Street, right where the street hits The Esplanade, and it uses every square metre of its position to maximum effect. Downstairs is a buzzing cocktail lounge. Upstairs is a rooftop bar with what might be the widest uninterrupted bay view in St Kilda. On sunset, this place fills up fast — and for good reason.
The cocktail list leans toward the familiar done well: Aperol Spritz ($18), Espresso Martini ($22), Cosmopolitan ($19). They don’t try to reinvent the wheel. What they do is pour reliably good versions of the drinks people actually want, then stick a view in front of you that makes everything taste better.
Happy hour runs Wednesday to Sunday, 4–6pm, and it’s genuine: $15 Cosmopolitans and Espresso Martinis, $10 pints of their house Ellora Draught, and $8 house wines. In a suburb where happy hours often mean “$1 off a schooner,” this is refreshing.
Order this: Espresso Martini ($22, or $15 during happy hour) Address: 1 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda Hours: Wed–Sun 4pm–late Insider tip: The rooftop gets windy after 8pm, even in summer. Grab a seat near the glass balustrade on the leeward side — still has the view, minus the hair-in-mouth situation.
4. Bang Bang St Kilda
The vibe: Pan-Asian energy with a cocktail edge. Bang Bang opened on Fitzroy Street in March 2025 and quickly became the pre-drink destination for anyone heading out in St Kilda. The room is loud, colourful, and designed for groups — big booths, share plates, and a cocktail list that goes heavy on the Asian flavours.
The “$2 oysters and $15 cocktail specials” happy hour (5–6pm weekdays, 4–6pm weekends) is frankly absurd value for Fitzroy Street. Their signature “Bang Bang Sour” ($21) blends lemongrass-infused vodka with passionfruit and a chilli-salt rim that hits exactly where you want it. The “Sichuan Negroni” ($23) sounds like a gimmick until you try it — Sichuan peppercorn-infused gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth with a numbing tingle that makes you reach for another.
The food is the real draw for a lot of people — prawn toasties, chicken bao, Sichuan fried eggplant — but the cocktails hold their own. This isn’t a bar that does food as an afterthought. Both menus are built for each other.
Order this: Bang Bang Sour ($21) Address: 157 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda Hours: Mon–Thu 5pm–late, Fri–Sun 12pm–late Insider tip: Book online or expect a 20-minute wait after 7pm on weekends. The corner booth by the window is the best seat in the house for people-watching.
5. Freddie Wimpole’s
The vibe: The local you wish you had. Freddie Wimpole’s occupies the corner of Fitzroy and Grey Streets — the old George Hotel, reimagined as a dive-bar-meets-craft-beer-destination with a cocktail list that punches well above its weight. Named after Frederick Wimpole, St Kilda’s mayor in the late 1880s, the history runs deeper than the fit-out suggests.
With 14 rotating taps of craft beer, 180+ premium spirits, and live music four nights a week, Freddie’s could coast on its beer credentials alone. But the cocktail program is quietly excellent. The Smoky Old Fashioned ($22) arrives in a 19th-century-style glass bottle with a gentle smokiness that avoids the “bong water” trap that plagues most smoked cocktails. Their “Fitzroy Spritz” ($18) — Aperol, prosecco, and a house-made grapefruit shrub — is the perfect first drink of the night.
Late-night licensing until 3am (and a takeaway licence until midnight) makes this the spot that catches you when everywhere else has shut. It’s not trying to be sophisticated. It’s trying to be the bar you end up at at 1am, ordering one more round and meaning it this time.
Order this: Smoky Old Fashioned ($22) Address: Corner Fitzroy & Grey Streets, St Kilda Hours: Daily from 4pm (until 3am Thu–Sat, midnight Sun–Wed) Insider tip: The outdoor corner table is prime Fitzroy Street real estate. Get there before 6pm on a sunny arvo to claim it.
6. St LuJa
The vibe: Irish pub meets 1920s speakeasy meets whatever St Kilda wants to be today. St LuJa at 9 Fitzroy Street calls itself “St Kilda’s cocktail bar with an Irish accent,” and that’s actually a fair description. The Guinness is excellent (they claim the second-best in Melbourne — I’m not arguing), and the cocktail list runs alongside it like a parallel universe.
This is the kind of bar where the bartender remembers your drink by the second visit. The menu rotates regularly, but the execution is consistently sharp. Whisky-based cocktails are their forte — expect Negronis with single-malt depth and Irish coffee variations that would make a Dublin pub weep with pride. Sunset views from the upstairs seating area are genuine, not just marketing.
The crowd skews slightly older than the Fitzroy Street average — late 20s to 40s, people who’ve graduated from pre-game pregames and want a bar that respects their liver while still making it worthwhile. Comfortable booth seating and a curated music selection that doesn’t assault you complete the picture.
Order this: Ask the bartender for their current whisky-based specialty (rotates monthly, usually $20–24) Address: 9 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda Hours: Thu–Fri 5pm–1am, Sat 12pm–3am, Sun 12pm–11pm Insider tip: Sunday arvo here is criminally underrated. Quiet room, good jazz playlist, nobody’s trying too hard. Bring a book, order a pint, pretend it’s Dublin.
7. Prince Public Bar & Little Prince Wine
The vibe: St Kilda institution, no apologies. The Prince of Wales Hotel has stood at 2–4 Fitzroy Street since 1936, and it still operates as a genuine multi-purpose venue: pub downstairs, live music upstairs, boutique hotel in between. Prince Public Bar is the ground-floor watering hole — an island bar surrounded by footpath seating where the people-watching rivals the drinks.
The cocktail offering isn’t the main event here, and that’s fine. Prince Public Bar keeps it classic — solid G&Ts ($15), dependable Espresso Martinis ($19), and a spritz selection that does the job without trying to win awards. Where it earns its spot on this list is Little Prince Wine, the adjacent bar that takes cocktails more seriously. Their wine-focused cocktail list features spritzes built on Victorian natural wines ($20–24) and a “Prince Fizz” that blends sparkling shiraz with elderflower that sounds bonkers and tastes like celebration.
The band room upstairs is one of the last remaining mid-sized live music venues in this part of town. Catch a gig, come back downstairs, order a cocktail. The rhythm of this place works.
Order this: Prince Fizz at Little Prince Wine ($22) Address: 2–4 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda Hours: Public Bar daily 7am–late; Little Prince Wed–Sat 5pm–late Insider tip: If there’s a gig upstairs, the public bar gets packed after 10pm. Arrive early or post up on the footpath where you can still hear the bass.
8. The Espy — Main Bar & Sunroom
The vibe: Five levels of everything. You can’t write about St Kilda drinking without The Espy. It’s 144 years old and somehow keeps reinventing itself. The Main Bar on the ground floor does coastal-inspired cocktails with views of St Kilda Pier — the kind of drinks that taste like summer even in March. The Sunroom, which opened in early 2025 in the former Ichi Ni Izakaya space, is a brighter, breezier take: 160-person capacity, open deck, and a cocktail list that leans lighter and more aperitivo.
The Main Bar’s “Pier Punch” ($19) is a rum and passionfruit number that’s been on the menu in some form since the Sand Hill Road group took over. It’s the drink equivalent of comfort food — you know what you’re getting and it’s always good. The Sunroom’s menu changes more often, with seasonal spritzes and lighter gin-based builds that suit the sun-drenched room.
Mya Tiger, the Cantonese restaurant on level two, does its own cocktail menu ($18–24) with lemongrass, pandan, and lychee infusions that pair with dumplings and Peking duck. It’s a different world from the Main Bar downstairs, and worth the detour if you’re eating as well as drinking.
Order this: Pier Punch ($19) from Main Bar; the rotating seasonal spritz from the Sunroom Address: Hotel Esplanade, 11 The Esplanade, St Kilda Hours: Mon–Thu 11am–11pm, Fri–Sat 11am–1am, Sun 11am–11pm (Sunroom hours may vary) Insider tip: The retractable roof on the upper levels makes weather irrelevant. But the Main Bar terrace at sunset is unbeatable — arrive by 5pm to grab a table by the glass.
What We Skipped and Why
Lucky Coq — The legendary $5 pizza-and-beer joint on Glen Huntly Road does serve cocktails, but they’re an afterthought and always have been. This is a pizza spot with a drinks menu, not a cocktail bar. We cover it in our Best Cheap Eats in St Kilda guide instead.
Day of the Dead — The Mexican-themed bar in the George Building used to be a solid cocktail shout, but the menu has stagnated and the space feels dated compared to what’s moved in around it. If they refresh the list, we’ll reconsider.
Secret Garden — Known more for DJ nights and big-room atmosphere than cocktail quality. Great for a dance, but the drinks are mixed to serve volume, not craft.
The Carpenter’s Ruin — A strong pub with excellent food and a good beer list, but cocktails aren’t its focus and it doesn’t pretend otherwise. Check our Best Pubs in St Kilda for the full review.
The Bottom Line
St Kilda’s cocktail scene in 2026 is split into two camps: the view-driven spots (Captain Baxter, Ellora, the Espy) where the bay does half the work, and the craft-driven dens (Ghost of Alfred Felton, Freddie Wimpole’s, St LuJa) where the liquid in the glass is what matters. Both are worth your time.
If you’re only doing one night: start with happy hour at Bang Bang ($15 cocktails and $2 oysters is absurd), walk to Ellora for sunset on the rooftop, then finish at The Ghost of Alfred Felton for something dark and serious. That’s the cocktail crawl this suburb was built for.
🗳️ POLL: What’s your go-to St Kilda cocktail order?
- A) Espresso Martini (classic for a reason)
- B) Margarita (salt rim or death)
- C) Negroni (I’m sophisticated, actually)
- D) Aperol Spritz (I’m on holidays, spiritually)
- E) Whatever the bartender recommends (trust the process)
Getting Home Safe
St Kilda’s last trams run around midnight (check PTV for your specific route — the 96 is your best bet). After that, Uber and Didi surge hard on Friday and Saturday nights, especially along Fitzroy Street and The Esplanade. Pick-up from the Esplanade car park side avoids the worst of the crowds. If you or someone you’re with needs help: call 000. St Kilda Police Station is at 67 Lakeside Drive, open 24 hours. Don’t walk home alone along the dark sections of the foreshore — stick to well-lit main streets.
Planning your next St Kilda night out? Check our Best Bars in St Kilda for the full picture, or see how St Kilda stacks up against Prahran in our suburb rivalry showdown.
This article is part of the MELBZ St Kilda Nightlife Guide series.
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