Time Out Melbourne Bar Awards: Past winners

An oustanding cocktail bar in every way.

For true late-night drinking and eating, it's the new New Orleans.

Port Melbourne's game-changing wine bar.

The beer barn and Thai eatery in Curtin House never fails to deliver.

We prefer to think of it as a diamond in the rough.

Also: Hot Talent Award (Will Sleeman).

Melbourne's best cocktail bar has done its homework.

Also: Best Bartender (Hayden Lambert)

Ribs, rum and a guaranteed good time, every time.

Freaky drinks, hidden nooks and a magical rooftop forest.

The formula is simple: great cocktails, good chat and a stellar iPod mix of doo-wop, bluegrass and 'Ride like the Wind' by Christopher Cross.

Also: Best Bartender (Evan Stanley)

You won't find better shaken or stirred drinks in Melbourne than at this Gertrude Street speakeasy.

South Melbourne, a suburb formerly known as the deadly desert, is now a destination for any fan of good wines and great times.

A bar custom-built for fun, Mr Wow's comes complete with a pool table, bocce, ping pong and popcorn.

It will come as a shock to nobody that Andrew McConnell, the chef-restauranteur behind Cutler and Co and Cumulus Inc, does good bar food.

Simon Denton's stunning Japanese cocktail bar has sophistication and grace, with just a hint of insanity as well.

Decadence was clearly a watchword for whoever designed the Carlton Club, with its superb tropical rooftop and abundance of stuffed animals lining the walls.

A very serious craft beer barn with a sprawling beer garden (perfect for spending balmy nights and sunny Sundays) and good food, too.

Brunswick Street may be ground zero for cocktails in Fitzroy, but lurking in the back streets is one of Melbourne’s finest establishments for getting in your cups on sunny days, freezing nights and boring Mondays.

This elegant bar has come to represent the pinnacle of sophisticated drinking in Melbourne.

This Japanese bar has more grace and charm in its toilets than most bars could ever hope to possess.

This tiny Italian-style bar has three seats, enough room for about ten more people to squash in, and some of the finest cocktails in Melbourne.

With its palm fronds, Hawaiian prints, skulls and tropical drinks, the LuWow is a lucid acid trip in The Temple of Doom.

Here is a bar where you can confidently pull up a perch and instruct the bartender to let her rip. You can't go wrong.

Part-apothecary, part-boudoir, this is the place to go if you want a ticket to the cocktail-making-as-science show.

Since its dramatic overhaul in mid 2009, the maritime-themed Grace Darling has become a hipster paradise with a band room, vintage fairs, rock trivia and a youthful, creative vibe.

The old Bridge used to be your typical no-nonsense boozer. But an extreme makeover in 2013 turned it into a veritable palace of fun, with an indoor cobblestone laneway, Banksy-style street art and an American diner.

Melbourne's bar scene continues to be the envy of the nation, and our late-night credentials only get stronger with every new opening. Here is Melbourne viewed through the bottom of a glass: from its world-beating cocktail lounges to its down-and-divey saloons.