This Cult-Favourite NYC Cocktail Bar Brings The East Village To Brisbane
In Good Spirits
By Natalie McGowan | 21st January 2026When the iconic The Walrus Club closed late last year, it left a prohibition-style, basement-sized hole in Brisbanites’ hearts. Luckily, it wasn’t long before Death & Co made its Australian (and international) debut, first touching down in Melbourne’s Flinders Lane, before arriving shortly after right here in Brisbane, hidden beneath the historic Regatta Hotel.
For those unfamiliar with the cult cocktail bar, Death & Co was founded in New York City’s East Village in 2006, quickly rising to fame for its blend of killer craft cocktails, moody ambience, and a groundbreaking team of bartenders. Its cocktail books were just as influential, cementing the brand’s now-legendary status among industry insiders and cocktail lovers alike.
With the recent opening of the Brisbane venue, we caught up with co-founder David Kaplan to talk all things Death & Co Brisbane – and why he wanted to bring a slice of the Big Apple to little ol’ Toowong.
How did the original Death & Co come about?
Before launching Death & Co, what were you doing?
I was 23 when I started working on what would become Death & Co, and 24 when we opened the doors. Before moving to New York, I did a one-year stint in Las Vegas at a massive nightclub called Rain. That experience ended up being hugely influential, because Death & Co became, in many ways, the antithesis of that world – less spectacle, more intimacy; less scale for its own sake, more focus on connection and craft.
You expanded across the U.S. in Denver, LA, and Washington, D.C., before choosing Australia for your first international ventures. Why Australia, and why Brisbane specifically, over a more expected choice like Sydney?
One of our non-negotiables is that we have to genuinely love the city we’re stepping into, and we absolutely adore Brisbane. It’s a city I love visiting and could easily imagine living in. It also has the mix we always look for: business travellers, leisure guests, and a strong base of local residents. Our goal is never to be just a stop on a cocktail tourist’s checklist – we want to earn regulars from all of those groups. Brisbane’s food and beverage culture is incredible, and there’s a real sense of curiosity and pride around hospitality. We felt it would be a privilege to contribute, in our own small way, to a scene that already has so much momentum.
What was it about the space beneath The Regatta that made you feel it was the right fit for Death & Co’s first Queensland outpost?
The history of The Regatta is palpable, and the spaces beneath it have this cinematic sense of discovery. We’re always drawn to locations that feel like hidden destinations but are still part of a guest’s natural evening – not a pilgrimage. At The Regatta, someone can have dinner upstairs, meet friends for a pint, and then wander down into Death & Co. That layered experience of one building, multiple moods, combined with the heritage of the pub itself, made it feel like a very natural home for our first Queensland bar.
How do you balance maintaining Death & Co’s New York City-infused DNA with creating something unique for each city? And what sets the Brisbane venue apart?
There are a few threads that run through every Death & Co: an obsession with craft, a respect for classic cocktails, thoughtful design, and a focus on genuine, unhurried hospitality. Beyond that, each bar is a direct response to its building, its neighbourhood, and the team that runs it. We look for spaces that feel like they could have always been there. That sense of permanence and character is important to us. Over time, every location’s menu is created by the local team, so the drinks and food become a true reflection of that city and that crew. Brisbane is shaped by its riverside setting and subtropical climate, so you’ll see that in the way the menu leans – a bit more light, vibrant, and fresh, while still very much in the Death & Co universe. It feels distinctly Brisbane, not a carbon copy of New York, Denver, LA, or DC.
I’d love to hear more about The Studio. What is its purpose, and how does it fit into the broader Death & Co experience?
We’ve always loved the idea of a “second bar within the bar.” In LA, we have Standing Room; in D.C., we have The Garden; and in Denver, we operate additional spaces like Suite 6A and The Garden. These rooms allow us to offer different moods and experiences under one roof, where you can have two very different nights in one visit. The Studio in Brisbane continues that idea. It gives us a more intimate, flexible space where we can host live music – a first for us in terms of recurring programming – as well as immersive pop-ups, collaborations, and takeovers from other bars. It’s another way for Death & Co Brisbane to evolve over time and for guests to keep discovering something new each time they come back.
For those yet to visit, what can we expect from the food and drink program here in Brisbane? Any Brisbane exclusives?
The food and drink in Brisbane draws from our years of developing menus at the Death & Co’s in the US and layers in Australian ingredients and techniques throughout. The cocktail menu is composed of familiar styles of drinks, like martinis and gimlets, with the creative flair D&C is known for. All served alongside a food menu developed by the talented culinary teams in Brisbane, from the Australian Four Pillars Gin in The Buko Gimlet to the local kingfish in the crudo, we’ve taken inspiration from what Brisbane and Australia have to offer while remaining quintessentially Death & Co.
Keen to see for yourself what all the hype is about? Death & Co is now open at 543 Coronation Drive, Toowong.
