We found Our New Favourite Auckland Rooftop Bar
If we have learnt anything from Hangover 2, it is that a cool rooftop bar makes everything okay. I’m not sure that is the main takeaway, but it is an important one. There’s just something about the combination of altitude, open air, views, good cocktails and a hint of ungrounded detachment that can make for a very special experience.
It’s no wonder then that over the last few years, Auckland’s rooftop scene has ramped up with a number of great options. One of the top spots, though (literally) is Bar Albert, New Zealand’s highest hotel rooftop bar.
The building itself is a fairly serious piece of Auckland’s recent skyline boom: a dual-branded tower combining voco and Holiday Inn Express, completed in May 2022 and sitting at about 135 metres tall. Bar Albert first opened late winter 2022, when hospitality trade press not only celebrated its height but also its cool Art Deco-meets-speakeasy positioning with velvet curtain entry and sunken leather lounges.
Now the new bit: Bar Albert Gin, a bespoke London Dry–style gin made with Waiheke Distilling Co. It’s exclusive to Bar Albert, bottled at 38% ABV (nice symmetry), built around eight botanicals, and designed to taste clean and classic. The official tasting notes land on pronounced citrus with a gentle liquorice edge on the nose, then bright citrus on the palate and a crisp finish.
Waiheke Distilling Co is led by husband-and-wife owners Liz Scott (Managing Director) and Glen Cadwallader (Chief Distiller/co-owner). They’ve positioned the partnership as “garden to glass” craft, with Bar Albert’s team framing it as a literal bridge between Waiheke views and Auckland’s skyline.
Bar Albert gives the gin its own Signature G&T, Bar Albert Gin, rosemary, Fever Tree Mediterranean tonic, and it also pops up in at least one house cocktail, “The Tāmaki” (gin, mānuka honey mead, orange liqueur, syrah syrup, grape juice, foam). Bar Albert’s broader drinks list mixes classics (Southside, Gin Martini, Paloma, Old Fashioned, Aviation) with signatures named after what you can literally see from up there, Silo Park, Victoria Park, Mount Eden, Rangitoto Island, Ponsonby and the rest. And, quietly respectable: Bar Albert runs a “Sip & Support” tie-in where $1 from every cocktail goes to Pro-invest Group’s RISE scholarship (AUT partnership) for hospitality/tourism students.
Food-wise, you’re not being asked to commit to a full restaurant relationship. It’s rooftop-appropriate grazing: half-dozen oysters (including a serve with tomato, vanilla & gin salsa), Waiheke gin & beetroot-cured salmon, dry-rubbed beef short ribs with tom yum mayo, burrata, grilled saganaki, flammkuchen, plus antipasto and cheese platters, and a pistachio cannoli situation for people who pretend they “don’t really do dessert”.
As for voco: it’s IHG’s “reliably different” upscale brand, voco comes from Latin for “to invite/call together”, and the Auckland property plays the brief with 201 rooms and suites, eco-conscious rain showers, and Antipodes bathroom amenities, plus the ground-floor Italian trattoria Mozzarella & Co for a more grounded experience.