Tucked away down a city lane, an underground cocktail venue offers an intimate approach to Adelaide's small bar scene.

The subterranean cocktail bar hidden a few steps behind Cry Baby prides itself on a small clientele. It seats only 12 people, has six curated cocktails and four friendly staff.

“It’s quite small, it’s underground,” Trap. owner Lachlan Gunner says.

“When people walk in, it’s hard for them to leave because it’s such a welcoming, powerful experience.”

The idea behind Trap. was to have an intimate but friendly drinking experience, with “a lot of direct communication between the bartender and the guests”.

“Have you heard of Stockholm Syndrome?” Lachlan asks.

“So that idea reminds us of hospitality, good hospitality, where you walk into a space, you give up a lot purposefully to be guided on a certain experience — that’s where Trap. comes from.”

Lachlan making magic

Lachlan loves Adelaide’s small bar scene and appreciates the stronger attraction it has with its customers, despite having to sacrifice “bums on seats”.

“As you get a little bit larger, it’s very easy to lose the direct connection and communication with the guests and they turn from guests to more customer,” he says.

“But having experienced really small bars, you can garner a little bit more honest communication with the guests specifically, connect with them on a different level as an operator and as a bartender specifically.

“We’ve had so many instances here where we’ve had one group sitting in that corner, one group sitting here, and the conversations start interweaving, and they start talking to each other.”

Lachlan also wants guests to have “different ways to connect and make memories”, so has left the coasters blank with Sharpies next to them, so people can draw and write notes as they please.

“People have a lot of fun with the coasters,” Lachlan says. “We originally were going to write the cocktail names on them.

“One of our first services, people just started wanting to draw on them, so we let it go and people started putting really funny things on there so we just rolled with it and people are absolutely loving it.”

Trap. core is also leaving a message on the fridge to make the venue feel like you are pre-ing at a friend’s house before hitting the town.

Eat, sleep, rave, repeat

The bar’s minimalistic design lets the focus rest on the alcohol offering. There are only six cocktails to choose from, each with a story behind them.

“It’s an intimate space, that’s why we’ve got an intimate menu,” Lachlan says.

Lachlan’s top pick is the ‘In the Skye’ cocktail, filled with scotch, hibiscus and anise.

“I was in the top five for World Class [Cocktail Festival],” Lachlan says. “We had half an hour to design it — that was the challenge.

“It’s a stirred-down, boozy drink. It’s got a lot of light delicate, fruit, floral flavours that mean that a lot of people enjoy it – despite it being quite boozy.”

Another popular choice from the current Trap. cocktail menu, which will rotate as the seasons pass, is the ‘Spiced Rum Pome’ topped with Barcardi, cinnamon, apple and pear.

The ‘In the Skye’ cocktail

Lachlan acknowledges the struggles of owning a small bar, despite his love for his first venture.

“You sacrifice a lot for [a small venue],” Lachlan says.

“We think in the long run it’s going to give us a good challenge at hanging around and having a strong guest face, and making a lot of friends as well.”

Trap. is located at Cold Chisel Lane off of Currie St and is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 4pm until late.

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