Jaz (00:00):
Hey there. Welcome to another side Quest episode of 'My Mate In...' I'm gonna share with you a little gem that I've found on adventures in Melbourne recently. Keep in mind that these aren't formal reviews. This is me sharing a place that I thought was pretty cool that you might wanna check out or not, and that's cool. So the last Side Quest was about a hot chicken place that is Nashville influenced, which is on Gertrude Street. After we kicked on from there, we walked into the city and went to a place called Beneath Driver Lane. This is an underground bar that has live music on the weekends. It was a Friday night, so we had some whiskey, they've got a great selection of whiskeys and listened to some blues music. We had randomly ended up there one time in the past and also happened to really enjoy it that time.

Jaz (01:06):
And this time was no different except that we were, uh, especially seeking it out for the live blues music and the whiskey as a little homage to our recent trip to Nashville. So location-wise, this one is, as it reads on the label, it's an underground bar that is on Driver Lane. You've probably wandered past Driver Lane when you walk in along little Bourke and you're checking out the David Jones building. So the best way to get here, if you're catching a train, the closest one is probably Melbourne Central, but it's an easy walk up Elizabeth Street from Flinder Street Station. And of course you've got the trams up and down Elizabeth Street as well. So the atmosphere of this place is pretty cool. It's dark, it's candle lit. There's lots of small tables. Um, there is seating along the bar and then there's also a wall with these, uh, pretty kind of cozy, um, cool booth style seating.

Jaz (02:15):
I don't think they do table service at all except maybe in those booths. And there's probably four or five of them and good luck scoring one of those. Uh, it's usually pretty busy and difficult to find a seat in general. Um, so most of the service is, I'm gonna say for now, to, to get a drink, you need to go up to the bar. Um, and I found the, uh, staff seemed like they were having a pretty good time. I also didn't know exactly what I wanted. I knew I just wanted to try a couple of whiskeys and compare them to each other. And so they were not too cool to help me out as a beginner whiskey drinker. And they also do food.

Jaz (02:58):
We didn't have any food this time around. Uh, but I remember we got some food last time and enjoyed it. A group at the table next to us seemed to get what looked like a toasty, a cheese toasty of some kind, and it looked incredible. Um, but my recommendation for you is if you're interested in hearing some really good blues music rock up on the weekend, they're bound to have, uh, a really, uh, one or two really great acts playing. Um, Friday night. It started from eight o'clock. Uh, sometimes there's a $5 cover charge. I think we didn't happen to be, uh, charged anything on the way in. Choose one or two whiskeys, make 'em completely different. Sit, sip, enjoy the music. Having two different whiskeys gives you a point of comparison, something to talk about, uh, kind of makes it a bit social and like a learning experience instead of just, uh, kind of trying to sit like a cool kid and sip on the one whiskey.

Jaz (04:02):
So we compared, um, a Lagavulin, is how I'm gonna say it. And the whiskey fans of the audience will, um, unsubscribe . I'm not quite sure if I've said that right. Um, but that's a really, uh, peaty smoky whiskey, um, and kind of paired or compared that to a Knob Creek rye. And I mean, I wouldn't have thought that this, uh, rye was particularly sweet or fruity until we were comparing the two. It was, you know, like this kind of really sweet dried fruit, saltana-y kind of, um, almost more like a port. Um, again, not a formal review, not an expert, um, here for the Good Vibes only, but in my novice experience, that's kind of what I got out of comparing the two. And it was fun. Um, probably a last little point I would make about this place is if you have spent any time in Sydney, it makes me think of Ramblin' Rascal, that underground vibe in the CBD kind of darker, um, great whiskeys. Of course, at Ramblin' Rascal you can get Mary's burgers, so you know, that's a bit different. Um, but yeah, this place, uh, Beneath Driver Lane, the food looked and smelled great. And I, I know it was good last time. I just don't remember what we had. And you'll sit back and you'll appreciate, you know, really talented blues artists, um, for five bucks. So that's pretty cool. Um, you'll definitely pay more than that for your whiskey though. Just a heads up.