Zero Hero

The Ministry of Ombibulous Studies is a cosy lounge bar nestled in the heart of Port Fairy, a small coastal town in regional Victoria. Not normally the sort of place you’d expect to be paving the way for hospitality across Australia. Below is an example of what can happen when a venue is open minded and is asked to do better by their customer.

“We opened our Lounge Bar in September 2020. We built the Ministry based on our passion for exceptional customer service, flavour and impact. We built it to challenge and educate. We built it as a place for everyone to feel welcome and enjoy the experience.

Looking back now in some ways it is surprising that alcohol free beverages weren’t really on our radar and in other ways it is not surprising at all.

Amy was the original squeaky wheel that started with an informal chat giving us an understanding about this market. Since then The Minister has spent countless hours researching and crafting our zero infusions–such as The Earl of Brunswick and the 0% Gimlet–as well as carefully curating the wine and beer offering–which include the Plus + Minus range, Heaps Normal and Big Drop–to create a zero % offering that has as much flavour and impact as the rest of our menu.

Our guests are loving our zero beverages. We’re finding the appeal isn’t just the sober, sober curious, pregnant or drivers, who of course appreciate what we offer, but the more surprising market is those who had a few drinks after dinner and would prefer to finish the night with a couple of 0% drinks to save their following morning.

As we like to say, if you are coming into the Ministry for a drink, your drink should have all the flavour you deserve, no matter if you are having alcohol or not.”

Leesa & Damon ClausenBrown

Starting to think this non alc thing could be worth a crack? Not sure where to start? Drop me a line hello@drybutwet.com.au. I am happy to chat and offer suggestions based on my extensive reviews of products across all ranges.

“Book it and they will come” – Wayne Campbell