Los Barbudos – rum, cocktails and good times guaranteed

Smith Street, the clever thing that it is, is gaining new watering holes by the day. Los Barbudos, a small space with a lot of personality, is one of them. The team behind Lily Blacks, Mr Wow’s, Double Happiness and New Gold Mountain, home to some of Melbourne’s loosest times, are also behind this one. Great drinks and a hell of a party are bound to occur.
Attention to detail is solid here.  The name, like the drinks stem from Cuban history.  In 1959 after Fidel Castro was in power, his army was called   “Los Barbudos” – meaning ‘the bearded ones’ – were invited to a Havana Sugar Kings game.  To tie in nicely with this idea, the staff at Los Barbudos wear old school baseball shirts and the walls are covered in framed pictures suggesting a rich history.
The drinks rely heavily on rum, cocktails and otherwise. Familiar rum cocktails like the Mojito ($10) and the Daiquiri ($16) are thrown in with others like the Nacional ($16) a mix of rum, apricot, pineapple and lemon and the Amor y Sabor a combination of kaffir lime leaf, guava, rum, campari and lime ($16). For those drinking wine sip a ‘Condes De Albarei’ Albarino from Spain ($11), a sparking Paul Louis Blanc De Blanc from France ($8) or a ‘Josef Chromy’ Pinot Noir from Tasmania ($11). The beer list plays in Cuba and more locally. Try a Cristal ($8) or a Bucanero Fuerte ($8) from Cuba or stick closer to home with a Hawthorn Pale Ale ($8).
The food situation is exciting. A Cuban food truck has permanently set up shop serving up the Cuban sandwich of your dreams along with lamb and goats cheese empanadas.
Casual fun setting with top-notch booze. Sign us up.
Los Barbudos
95 Smith Street, Fitzroy
03 9416 0079
Open Wed – Thurs 5pm – 12am, Fri 5pm – 1am, Sat 6pm – 1am, Sun 6pm – 11pm
losbarbudos.com.au
Edit: This bar is now closed.