Trap

Five house cocktails, three beers and two wines. That’s the brief at Trap, a 15-seat cocktail bar underneath Cold Chisel Lane. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but a hell of a lot goes into making it work. Co-owner and acclaimed bartender Lachlan Gunner changes the cocktail menu every six months to coincide with the new year and the bar’s birthday in June. That’s more than a month’s worth of development on each drink.

Trap’s first menu – Toy Soldiers – was dedicated to the space’s former tenants, a pioneering Adelaide art collective. It included a blue drink with a pompadour of citrus gin cocktail air. And another ferried to you on a robot that rolls along the bar. In short, the kind of mystifying and fun creations we’ve come to expect from Adelaide’s elite bar scene. And they’re absolutely worth heading underground for.

While the bevs here are laser-focused and theatrical, the vibe is anything but. Service is relaxed yet intimate. Customer graffiti covers the fridge, and scribbled-on coasters are stuck to the walls (drinkers get a black sharpie and sunflower seeds to snack on when they arrive). And in the back room, you’ll find monthly hip-hop open mic nights with a live band.