Taking up a grand heritage sandstone building with tasteful art-deco furnishings in an otherwise unassuming university suburb, The Kilburn is a vibrant whiskey and cocktail bar with over 400+ whiskies and incredibly knowledgeable staff. It doesn’t matter what your tastes are – you’ll find a drink here to love.

Smack bang on the corner of Burwood and Glenferrie roads sits the heritage listed “Commercial Bank of Australia” building – but you won’t find bean counters and disgruntled mortgagees here, instead this grand old building has been converted into a modern twist of arti-deco and modern brightness welcoming you up to a long bar packed to the brim with good times and good drinks. This brilliant bar brings an unpretentious elegance to an otherwise every-day high street, with a range not seen this far from the city and is definitely not to be missed should you find yourself out that way.

The key here is whiskey – and lots of it. Hosting over 400 whiskies carefully sorted by country of origin and region, every whisky has been hand selected by the experienced bar team who are only too happy to share their wealth of knowledge and flavour profiles across the range. Whiskey not your thing? Fear not, there are plenty of great rums, gins and every other sprit you can think of coupled with a decent cocktail list – that, and the ability to make almost any classic cocktail you could think of. Put all this together and you have a recipe for a very dangerous place to be – for your wallet and liver, at least…

If you’re feeling a bit peckish some simple fried chips, waffle fries and squid are on offer along with classic nachos, burgers and pizzas to help keep the stomach lines for more whiskey. Chuck in their churros for dessert and it becomes a one stop shop!

I’d recommend grabbing a seat up at the bar in the main lounge area (mostly so you can drool over all the whiskey on display) underneath the great big chandelier, but if you prefer a more intimate setting there are plenty of booths in a lower-ceilinged area at the back as well as generous spaces in the main lounge area.

So jump on the train, tram, uber, taxi or your friend’s car (you won’t want to be driving) and head on over to Hawthorn for this absolute banger of a whiskey bar – you’ll want to kill to get back there!