For an off-duty glimpse of the nation's political players, this gentlemen's club-style bar is an ideal viewing platform. There are caricatures on the walls for when the originals aren't present.
Why are people drawn to Canberra? Is it the allure of being close to the wheeling and dealing of the nation's biggest cheeses? The aphrodisiac of power, perhaps? Cahoots Bar & Gallery offers both of the above, plus a little boozy lubrication to sweeten the deal.
Aside from being a convenient watering hole for hotel guests (the bar is situated inside the Rydges Hotel), Cahoots is a popular weekday haunt for power-broking suits and pollies. If you're lucky and keep your ears open, you might be able to catch the conversation of an indiscreet minister, or at least the drunken machinations of a braying corporate or two.
Drink-wise, the bar is well-stocked with a decent range of liquors and mostly Australian beers. There's also a humidor stuffed with cigars. Those who embrace the favoured habit of '80s-style executives and former presidents can pick out a fat cigar or a slender stogy to puff on.
The bar has a gentlemen's club look with wood panelling and luxe chairs, evoking an impression of a place where important decisions are made and deals brokered, where guards might be lowered - and subsequent indiscretions quickly covered up. Two of the walls are liberally hung with original drawings by
Canberra Times political cartoonist Geoff Pryor, destroying any politician's hope of anonymity, as drinkers can compare the caricatures with the originals.
Shelley Tustin
