Chef Ian Curley and ex-Maybe Sammy bartender team up on Melbourne CBD bar Amphlett House

Melbourne's CBD will soon be home to a new bar from a hospitality A-team, who will deliver sophisticated cocktails in a relaxed pub-like atmosphere.

Amphlett House, led by chef Ian Curley and bar wiz Andrea Gualdi (co-founder of Sydney's Maybe Sammy), calls itself a taphouse in acknowledgment of the line it will walk between cocktail bar and everyday watering hole.

Gualdi, whose drinks at Maybe Sammy helped it achieve Best Bar in Australasia in The World's 50 Best Bars awards last year, says he is exploring cutting-edge methods of making drinks. Serving them in a more casual atmosphere is a challenge he's thrilled by.

Amphlett's cocktails have been fine-tuned by a food scientist, who Gualdi worked with to ensure that every drink is consistent. The pair have made their own distillations so that "the same cocktail created somewhere else is not going to have the same flavour," says Gualdi.

He's created a finger lime daiquiri, wattleseed negroni, smoked eucalyptus martini and more for the launch. Amphlett House will have 18 taps pouring batched cocktails plus beer and wine.

Curley, co-owner of Little Bourke Street venues Kirk's Wine Bar and Kirk's Cellar, says he will provide a menu of "elevated pub classics" featuring plenty of Victorian produce.

"I've loved this part of Melbourne for many years and am looking forward to serving up humble fare with big flavours in the Paris end of town," says Curley.

Part of the Ovolo Laneways hotel, Amphlett House has been designed by Luchetti Krelle, the same firm responsible for Ovolo's Lona Misa restaurant in South Yarra.

It will open in late October at 19 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne, amphletthouse.com.au.