Late one Saturday evening on a rugby tour to Bali, two team members of The Taipei Baboons were sitting in the Sari club talking about the possibility of opening a sports bar in Taiwan. The two friends, Peter Chworowsky, successful American entrepreneur and long time resident of Taiwan and Max Murphy a recent Australian arrival to Taiwan from Shanghai, talked into the night over a few Bintangs while the other team members danced and drank around them.
The date was October 12, 2002. Moments later two terrorist bombs ripped through Paddy’s Bar and the Sari Club killing 202 people and wounding hundreds more. Five members of the Taipei Baboons touring squad lost their lives.
Over two months later Max called and asked, “Peter, do you remember what we were talking about in the Sari Club?”
Peter: “Yeah”
Max: “Well let’s do it”.
Six longtime friends and Taipei residents from Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand and the USA, joined Max and Peter as partners in the project. They came from various walks of life, bringing different skills and contributions to the venture, and The Brass Monkey came to life on February 28, 2003.
We see the Brass Monkey as a tribute to those friends that lost their lives on that October evening and hope that it provides the people of Taipei and its visitors with a place to enjoy their favourite sports, party hard or just hang out with friends and our great staff.
