First Look: Devil You Don’t

Posted on 17 February, 2026

Taking over the subterranean space that once housed High Jinks, new cocktail bar Devil You Don’t is shaking up the nightlife in NewActon.

Officially opening to the public from Tuesday 24 February, the bar – which retains the intimate, speakeasy-style that made High Jinks so popular – comes from the team behind award-winning speakeasy Volstead Repeal and popular cowboy bar, Peacemaker Saloon.

But while Volstead is dedicated to whisky and Peacemaker has a focus on bourbon, Devil You Don’t is all about classic cocktails.

It’s why owner Stu Inger brought the space in the first place.

“Before Volstead showed up, High Jinks was winning the Best Cocktail Bar in the ACT. They won it for two years straight, then Volstead won it for two years straight,” he explains.

“We wanted to continue that legacy of a destination cocktail bar.”

Drawn to the intimate feel of High Jinks, Stu says that he and his business partners, Allen Chen, Paul Heylin, and Gus Burns, always loved what the original bar brought to the area.

The four jumped at the chance to buy the space when the business was sold in 2025, and while the original layout remains, the duo has given it a complete revamp, playing on the drama of the new name. Where there were green leather banquettes and marble walls filled with vintage photos, blood red and black finishes have completely transformed the space.

Moody and luxe with velvet and brass elements, the fresh interiors are also a nod to the new concept – classics, made modern.

“It really suited our style of a small, intimate cocktail bar,” says Stu.

“The name came from the saying ‘Better the devil you know, than the devil you don’t’. Our concept was to take classic cocktails and make them more elevated using modern techniques.”

Believing that modern cocktails can be “overwhelming” or “alienating” when ordering them at a bar, Stu says that Devil You Don’t will be linking contemporary cocktails with classics “so that people have a way to form an expectation of what the drink will be like.”

“For example, one of our drinks is a take on an Espresso Martini – we have a milk punch rum blend with vodka,” he explains.

“So, you curdle some milk, mix it in with the drink, and you end up with this lovely textural drink…You might not know what rum punch is, but you know it’s based off an Espresso Martini, so you’ll have an expectation of what it will be like.”

It’s this experimental take on cocktails that promise to make Devil You Don’t stand out amongst the other bars in Canberra – the team plans to change the drinks menu every three months and come up with some “crazy, wacky stuff”.

For those curious about what they can nibble on, Stu says when it comes to food, Peacemaker will be curating a small menu, making the most of their house-smoked meat.

“We’ll probably do something like pork sliders,” says Stu. “We’ll have a charcuterie and cheeseboard offering as well.”

Marking their third venue opening in four years, the team has taken the local and national bar scene by storm, gaining a slew of gongs for Volstead and being awarded the 2025 Australian Small Business Champion Award for Peacemaker. And it’s already looking like Devil You Don’t will join its siblings as one of Canberra’s coolest bars.

While the original saying advises it’s better to stick with the familiar, in this case, the Devil You Don’t sounds like a refreshing – and exciting – change.

Photography: Ashley St George, Pew Pew Studio