If you’re observing dry (or even “damp”) January, then you might want to bookmark this and save it until February (although these bars have some pretty great non-alcoholic drinks on offer, too). But if you’re looking for a new cocktail spot to try, here are three of the best that opened last year. From the Rialto Towers’ 55th floor to the lows of the Queen & Collins building, with a detour in Pascoe Vale South.

Purple Pit
Hidden in the basement of the grand gothic heritage building on the corner of Queen Street and Collins Street (which also houses Reine and La Rue) is this dark and romantic cocktail den from Joe Jones of the now-closed institution Romeo Lane and Maurice Terzini of Sydney’s Icebergs.

The duo opened Purple Pit in late December, and the team is mixing and shaking some of the city’s best cocktails, including a peach Negroni (a former Romeo Lane favourite) which subs vermouth for peach wine and is finished with a single drop of smoked vinegar, as well as classic Martinis, Margaritas and more. They’re all enjoyed in a dark, romantic setting complete with white tablecloths and theatrical grey velvet curtains.

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Bar Tobala
The Mexican bar and restaurant from bartender Anthony Jayasekera and wife Frankie Jayasekera has a cocktail menu driven by seasonal experimentation that incorporates mostly traditionally made agave spirits. Anthony admits to being “painfully geeky” about cocktails and spirits and tells Broadsheet the lively spot is a decidedly “cocktail-forward diner”.

While there are your classic Margaritas and Palomas, the list also includes the Telenovela, made with the more floral/vegetal Mexican agave spirit raicilla, plus amontillado sherry, lemon, strawberry and rose water; the Motel Tan, which mixes mezcal with limoncello, yuzushu, passionfruit and morita chilli (a smoked jalapeno pepper); and the Nighthawk, a coffee-banana-coconut drink that is made using Oaxacan rum.

Lui Bar
Vue de Monde is one of Melbourne’s most revered and enduring fine-dining institutions. Its sibling venue, which like the restaurant is on Rialto Towers’ 55th floor, got a full refurb last year.

The large rectangular bar that once took up a lot of real estate has been replaced by a less intrusive circular one made from stone. Seating is more spaced out and more focused around the windows, meaning the space now makes the most of the remarkable city views.

The best part is that you can walk in for a cocktail and a few snacks (there’s a minimum spend of $50 after 5pm) and take in the sweeping cityscape. The cocktail list takes advantage of Australian ingredients with drinks including a Macadamia Martini and another called the Native Southside, which uses green ants gin, Geraldton wax, native mint and finger lime. But there are also drinks with more east and south-east Asian influences, including the Sticky Rice, which uses rum, toasted rice, pandan, coconut and passionfruit, or the Buko Pandan mocktail, which is Lui Bar’s take on the cold Filipino dessert.

Additional reporting by Kosa Monteith and James Williams