First Look: Doom Juice Transforms an Inner West Warehouse Into a Cellar Door

In 2022, the short-lived, much-loved wine bar from Doom Juice’s Zac Godbolt and Sebastian Keys took over the garage and courtyard out the back of St Peters pub House of Music & Booze. Now, it’s back – permanently this time, inside the old Poor Toms warehouse. And they’ve gone big on the fit-out.

Forget the paired-back plant-filled vibe – it’s been swapped for the boys’ trademark maximalist approach: glowing neon sign out the front, big tiled bar and indoor-outdoor seating spanning bar stools, church pews and plush booths. There’s a custom Doom Juice claw machine at the front (for you to try your luck fishing out the wine label’s merch), a large-scale oil painting by local artist Shane Salvador across one wall, Alex Marie ceramics and, currently, a curation of works by artist Harry Phillips. Shane Godbolt and Jezza Bryan, Zac’s carpenter father and plumber father-in-law, did a lot of the brunt work, too.

“We’re pretty bloody lucky, we’ve had a lot of people help out,” Zac says.

There’s no denying that, backdropped by the devil iconography and red velvet curtains, creative Taz Mackay’s spiked skull-shaped disco ball is the space’s centrepiece – which, after being professionally rigged to the roof above the bar, oversees the party.

“She has made multiple larger disco balls in her time – notably there was a giant octopus disco ball,” Zac says. “And, as all good ideas come, we were having a few drinks and chatting about the cellar. I’ve always had such a big love for Scooby Doo, the live-action film. I said, ‘Imagine that, seeing that disco ball in real life’.” Well, now you can, while you work your way through the Doom Juice rainbow.

The team want you to treat the space just like a cellar door – try the house wines (fizz, white, orange, pink and red), and maybe the special new vermouth too, which Keys developed with Felix Clark of nearby Ester Spirits.

“What are you going to do when you have a distillery nearby and you make wine, right? Vermouth was the very obvious answer to that,” Zac says. The drop leans sweet, made with Doom Juice’s shiraz and grenache blend. It adds a nice local touch to the tradition of only having one hard liquor (it was Jägermeister shooters poured at the original cellar door).

“It’s bloody delicious, we’re serving it as a shooter or as a spritz or on ice,” Zac says. “Goes down a treat.” You’ll also find Reschs, Grifter and Young Henrys on tap, and both Heaps Normal and Doom Juice’s Zzvino if you want alc-free. “It is still a cellar door, and we want the wine to be the focus.”

While the food’s not the main event, it’s exactly what you’re looking for when you’re drinking: salty, briny, shareable. “We’re not going to pretend like we’re doing a chef-led kitchen, but it’s bloody delicious. We’d prefer to just work with things that taste nice, good produce, that are on the cured or pickled side – that allows us to fill bellies without us trying to do something too extravagant.” For opening, that means tins of nice sardines with chippies, a “flat salad” (a selection of charcuterie from nearby Black Forest Smokehouse) and chips laden with zingy guindilla peppers, Manchego and prosciutto.

Doom Juice Cellar Door
66/6 Chalder Street, Marrickville

Hours:
Thu 4pm–10pm
Fri 4pm–midnight
Sat midday–midnight
Sun midday–10pm

@doomjuicecellardoor