In Melbourne, there are plenty of places to drink if you want your cocktail served with a side of fun. We’ve embraced the introduction of booze to otherwise wholesome activities like bowling, video games and even escape rooms – and now, mini golf has entered the mix.
But if you’re picturing Holey Moley as a bar with a couple of putting courses tacked on, you need to turn your expectations up several notches. The huge, multi-level CBD space – which was once raging nightclub Sorry Grandma – is a colourful fun house of 27 wacky themed holes, neon lights, pizza and pumping pop music.
The formula works. When Holey Moley’s owners (Fun Lab, the same team behind Strike Bowling) announced their expansion from the original Brisbane venue to Melbourne and Sydney, bookings came in thick and fast. On our visit, teenage birthday parties teed up alongside young couples and groups of friends – some of them putting their way through the melting clock madness of ‘Sorry Ms Jackson (I Am Surreal), others taking selfies at a Game of Thrones Iron Throne made entirely from golf clubs.
Puns are par for the course at Holey Moley, and once you’re in the golfing spirit (the visor helps) you won't think twice before ordering a Teeyoncé Holes cocktail from the upstairs bar – an instant sugar high of citron vodka, Cointreau, cranberry juice, sour mix, lemonade and soda. Kids-at-heart will jump at the chance to try liquid dessert Happy Gilmoreo, a dangerously drinkable blend of raspberry liqueur, vodka, Bailey’s, milk, chocolate sauce, crushed oreos and whipped cream. More of a purist? The bartenders will stir up a decent Negroni or Old Fashioned. Food-wise, Holey Moley are keeping it simple with your choice of either a Margherita or pepperoni pizza.
Our tip: finish your course before you hit the bar in a big way.
