Newcastle speakeasy Coal & Cedar is next week celebrating its 10th anniversary with a week-long party - and you're invited.
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"I don't know how I'm gonna make it through, but I'll do my best," co-owner Ethan Ortlipp said, laughing.
"The idea is that we want to have as many guests back as we can from over the past decade, including former staff and old collaborations."
The party kicks off on Monday, March 11, with a Bartender Battle where contestants roll a dice to select the base spirit, flavour modifier and style, and have five minutes to design a cocktail. The drinks will be judged on taste and presentation.
"Vangard Luxury Brands has jumped on board to collaborate with this one, with plenty of prizes on offer," Ortlipp said.
On Tuesday a Margarita Party will take over the bar from 5pm. Trombo Tequila will introduce their Tromba Cafeto Coffee Liqueur on the night, and "very very cheap margaritas" will take centre stage.
"Wednesday is a big one for us - we're doing 50 per cent off the top 50 whiskies that we have in the house," Ortlipp said.
"Whiskies that some people would never be able to access in their lifetime will be readily accessible.
"There will be a lot of very expensive Japanese whiskies going out the door, a lot of very rare Australian and Scotch whiskies as well, possibly some good American stuff too."
Also, Jameson Irish Whiskey will be offering punters a complimentary pony of beer with any Jameson Whiskey purchased, and Hunter Beasley Trio will perform live from 9pm.
Thursday is Four Pillars Social night, where brand ambassador Sam Hulston will be sharing his knowledge of gin and handing out samples. Adam Miller Trio will take to the stage at 9pm.
Friday night's Cult Meet stars Mountain Culture Beer Co. Beers are on the house from 5pm to 7pm, there will be drinks specials all night and the team from the one-hatted Flotilla will be preparing tasty bar snacks.
The festivities will conclude with Saturday night's Earp Distilling Bash, with bar snacks again provided by Flotilla, music until 2am, and a complimentary Earp Just Juniper Gin punch on arrival.
"We're not there to make money that week, the idea is that we'll activate a lot of collaborations and the distilleries, beer companies and wineries will be sending their people in, and they'll be on-site chatting to people and talking about their products and the history of their products," Ortlipp explained.
"Mountain Culture is our collaborator for the entire week and they're launching their Aussie Pale Lager with us, and will be taking over our taps and our canned beers."
Also, anyone who books a table at Coal & Cedar next week goes in the running to win a 10-person cocktail masterclass valued at $1000.
When Coal & Cedar opened on Hunter Street in 2014 it was one of the city's first small bars. Many have followed, some have failed. Ortlipp, who also owns the Royal Crown Hotel at Dudley, has seen it all.
"We've watched the city change over the past decade ... when Ryan [Hawthorne] and I came here from Sydney there wasn't a lot of competition at the time," he said.
"Now it's extremely competitive, and everyone keeps pushing each other to achieve more and just get better and better. We're surrounded by all these great venues we can recommend to people.
"We've seen tourism explode and we couldn't have done it without the support of Newcastle council in the initial days, and even now Nuatali and all the team, Tim Crakanthorp ... they've all been pretty fantastic in supporting small bars and late night trading.
"We got to see the end of the lockouts that were disabling Newcastle, you know what I mean?"
Coal & Cedar, which was named Australia's Best Regional Bar in 2016, also weathered the COVID storm and disruptions caused by the light rail construction.
"We had fences against our wall for what must have been two years for the light rail, among other things," Ortlipp said.
"The climate was difficult when we got here. It wasn't the best-looking street to walk down, Hunter Street, and it didn't feel very safe at times. But we've seen the revitalisation of the street, much more lighting, it's much safer to walk along, the courthouse was built after we arrived.
"It's pretty much accepted that bars generally don't last 10 years, so we've done well.
"It's not easy being well-known across the country in bars, it takes a lot. There's a lot of trust involved. You can't just open a bar and start stocking certain brands, it doesn't work like that.
"It takes time to build a rapport and a reputation and now we have access to products that 95 per cent of bars across the country just can't get. When there's only five bottles of something in the country and one of them comes to us, it's pretty cool."
I mention the many innovative ideas - some as weird as they were wonderful - adopted by businesses during the COVID lockdowns and Ortlipp laughs.
"During COVID we were making up small sample packs of each of our spirits and they were being hand delivered in cool little bottles, which was a great pivot," he said.
"We were a patented speakeasy and it felt like we became an actual speakeasy because we were making little bottles, in here late at night, getting them set up.
"We used that time to change the design of the venue and our offering: originally it was four drinks and they rotated every week but eventually we moved to a full-time, larger menu, and then we introduced bookings.
"Every year I think 'this is the year we are probably going to become irrelevant', you know? Having lots of young staff who are on top of trends and wherever the industry is going helps us to adapt."