Canberrans can now pay homage to the city's designer by knocking back a drink at the capital's newest bar.
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Nicknamed Walt after Walter Burley Griffin, the fully self-contained pop-up café and bar unit will debut its “Classic Canberra” cocktail menu this evening, offering up a combination of espresso, rum and ice labelled “The Burliest Griffin”.
The centenary themed drinks are just one part of the service that Lachlan Moulton, who is running the bar on behalf of city-based cafe Two Before Ten, hopes to provide to lakeside patrons near the Gallery of Australian Design.
“Simply put, we want to implement something new and very cool,” he said.
“We formulated a special menu for the event. It's speakeasy drinks with a local twist.”
Mr Moulton and his crew behind the scenes will be serving beer and cider from Wig and Pen, as well as customised cocktails using produce sourced from a nearby farm.
“We really wanted the menu to be about the region,” he said.
“Lavender is everywhere in Canberra, so we're making a lavender spritz using lavender from a local farm.”
Decorated with cartoons of Walter Burley Griffin from project collaborator and architecture collective Canberra Lab, the unit is almost unrecognisable as a shipping container.
The second building - a gallery called Maz after Marion Griffin - is still under construction and is set to be installed next week, Canberra based industrial designer Tom Skeehan said.
Following the designs of Canberra Lab members Nikki Butlin and Lester Yao, Mr Skeehan was contracted to build the bar and gallery, with the timeframe of just one fortnight.
“It's been around the clock,” he said.
“We had a crew of six working 16 hour days.”
He said the ingenious design, which once packed fits onto the back of a truck, was something with a lot of potential.
The bar opens this evening with live music and will be operating on March 2, 8, 9 and 11 before being relocated to other sites throughout the city.