Indulge in the dark arts on Gilbert Place for World Gin Day, as your favourite backstreet bars team up for a massive midwinter party.

Gin was Hains & Co bar owner and Admiral, Marcus Motteram’s first white-spirit love.

It’s no wonder, then, that each year Hains & Co goes big to celebrate World Gin Day.

This year will be no exception, with the bar teaming up with its Gilbert Place neighbours for a night of dark debauchery.

With support from Fever-Tree, the event will see Hains, Memphis Slim’s, Shotgun Willie’s and High Spirits transform the backstreet bar hub with arts action spilling into the street.

Titled ‘Dark Arts Society’, the World Gin Day celebration will kick off from 4pm, with DJs Felicity Aukett and Adam Frawley on deck to soundtrack the evening. A collective of street artists will produce a mural, with other acts including live body painting and fire-breathers illuminating the street.

Marcus acknowledges midwinter is a strange time to celebrate such a summery imbibe (possibly a sign of World Gin Day’s Northern Hemisphere heritage), but he says there’ll be heated braziers scattered around and plenty of nighttime excitement to entice punters out.

“I think I’m most excited by working together with all our neighbours and all the fantastic ideas they are bringing to their venues,” Marcus says.

Taking inspiration from Tasmania’s Dark Mofo festival, each participating venue will showcase an element of the dark arts and set the scene for some eclectic bar hopping.

Supported by Bombay Sapphire, Shotgun Willie’s is transforming into a lush jungle landscape for an ‘Apocalypse Now’ theme. While Memphis Slim’s, also with support from Bombay Sapphire, will host ‘The Cabinet of Curiosities’, leaning into voodoo vibes with black lights, tarot reading and creative chaos.

There will also be music. Eric ‘Tooch’ Santucci will perform in Shotgun Willie’s, and Great Moose in Memphis Slim’s.

High Spirits, the fiery new addition to Gilbert Place, will present ‘Fire and Brimstone’ with a Netherworld setting, create cocktails in fun and fascinating ways.

Hains & Co’s venue transformation ties in with the launch of their brand-new Pink Pepper Gin with Never Never Distilling Co.

This collaboration has been years in the making. Hains & Co have long been huge Never Never supporters – and were the first venue to buy a case of their gin.

The Pink Pepper Gin features pink grapefruit, mandarin peel, poppyseed, gunpowder tea, Murray River salt and a hint of Sichuan pepper. To pay homage to all these ingredients, they’re putting on a Spice Den, entrance to which will be available in exchange for a token you get once you try the new gin over the Hains bar.

“It is about creating this kind of Chinese spice den feel, dark red lights. It’s a chance for people to come and experience all the wonderful aspects of what goes into that gin,” Marcus says.

Marcus describes the combination of botanicals and flavours as nice and punchy, with the gin itself sitting at 44% ABV.

While the Pink Pepper Gin works well as a Negroni, or a Tom Collins, Marcus explains it was designed to pair best with tonic. His suggestion comes as no surprise: Fever Tree Mediterranean.

“We really did design it to go with that,” Marcus says. “I think when you pair those two together it absolutely sings.”

Tickets are available to purchase for $20, which includes a drink token and access to the street and all venues.

The event will run until midnight on Gilbert Place and then the venues will keep the party going inside until 2am.