Get to know Gorge Camorra: bartender and bar owner extraordinaire
Slipping away from the crowd of the Brunswick Street Festival years ago, Gorge Camorra entered the Black Pearl – a bar recently labelled as #22 in the World’s 50 Best Bar Awards in London.
At the time Gorge had recently left his air-conditioner business to run the nightclub Static in Geelong, but it was what he witnessed at the award-winning Melbourne bar that changed his approach to the nightlife industry.
“I sat at the bar and watched the guys and thought, ‘Wow’. It was just a turning point,” he says.
Working at Static at the time, Gorge started following his passions and added cocktails to the menu. His love for the craft quickly grew and Gorge left Static to open Geelong’s first designated cocktail bar – Cloud 9.
“When I opened Cloud 9 it was the same sort of reception as what the 18th Amendment Bar has had. It was really new for Geelong and everyone would say, ‘Oh wow, it’s like Melbourne’. Looking back at the cocktail menus I didn’t know what I was doing,” he says with a laugh.
While Gorge had come a long way from attending a mixing course at Buckley’s for Static, he longed to hone his craft as a bartender and began looking for any opportunities to improve his skills and learn from the best.
“I craved to work with someone better than me and to learn from someone better than me. Because everything was trial and error and learnt from YouTube and Google. I would go up to venues in Melbourne and ask, 'Can I work one shift a week for free?' and no one would give me a chance,” Gorge says.
Unsuccessful on his venture for trialling at bars in Melbourne, Gorge decided to brand himself and begun entering bartending competitions around Australia and the world.
“I entered for about five years, and then in 2005 to 2011 I entered in every bartender competition. In 2011 I got into the Jaegermeister national final... and I won it," he says.
"So from then I made myself the challenge of winning one national title every year - I have every year and I have represented Australia four times in the past five years”
While Gorge is a familiar face mixing drinks in Geelong, his efforts have garnered him attention worldwide, often labelled as “Australia’s most-recognisable bartender” amongst the industry.
In his travels competing around the world, Gorge was exposed to the world of speak-easys and the calibre of bars and bartending around the globe. It quickly became his dream to not only bring this to Australia, but specifically to Geelong.
Over six years, Gorge began collecting relics from the 20s and 30s, all with his grander vision in mind of creating a prohibition bar in Geelong.
“As well as the alcohol I had three rooms full of boxes, chairs and couches and all that stuff. It was like Christmas, because when we opened it up I was opening boxes I’d forgotten I’d bought. I opened up the gramophone and opened another one because I forgot I’d bought it,” he says.
“No matter where you sit, whenever you come in there’s always something new to look at and discover.”
Opening in late 2017, the 18th Amendment Bar fulfilled everyone’s dreams for where Geelong’s hospitality scene was heading. Secretly opening on a Friday night, Gorge hoped they’d serve 20, maybe 30 people, and iron out any kinks before the big official day. By 6 o’clock they had 100 people in the small space all vying for Geelong’s newest attraction and experience.
“I never imagined it would be as busy as it would be. I keep waiting for that busy period to end, but we keep breaking records every week,” he says.
When the doors swung open to Geelong, it introduced the town to what a concept bar looks like, table-service and the theatrical side of bartending previously unseen, with drinks hidden in treasure chests, smoking from nitrogen oxide and generally delicious.
With more than 500 liquors and spirits, Gorge is confident on the ability to make a drink to suit all tastes. He was recently challenged by customers to make a drink from the nostalgic treats of sour coca cola lollies.
“That’s what I get a kick out of. They loved it,” he says grinning.
Even if it’s something as simple as an espresso martini or daiquiri, Gorge wants to eliminate the pretentiousness occasionally seen in the industry: “If the customer wants that, then that’s what we make”.
Since opening, the 18th Amendment Bar has flipped the industry on its head, with bar-lovers are coming from Melbourne to visit our bayside town. Gorge credits his team for helping make it happen.
With numerous other projects on the go, including another bar in the same precinct and an exclusive liquor, Gorge is putting Geelong on the map when it comes to hospitality experiences.
