If standing in a packed venue, angrily staring at the bartenders and willing them to serve you next doesn’t appeal, you’ll love this new bar.
Liquorette, which has just opened in Fitzrovia, claims to be London’s first-ever self-service cocktail bar.
Before you get too excited about finally getting the chance to test out your flaring skills, there are some limits to the do-it-yourself drink pouring.
Guests will not be able to mix their own drinks (that would be illegal) but rather, will be able to choose from pre-mixed fresh bottled cocktails, beers and wine from a special deli counter, as well as pour their own drinks from six taps.
After selecting your cocktail, take it to your table and simply settle up when you leave.
Team members will also circulate throughout the venue to clear tables and offer their assistance if needed.
While Liquorette might be the first cocktail bar of this kind, it’s not the first venue to introduce it within the drinks industry.
Vagabond Wines offered a similar option in 2010, where guests could choose from six barrels of wine.
If cocktails are more your thing, there’s plenty to choose from – and you don’t just get to decide the flavour, but also the type of glass, garnish and any further accessories.
Another area that often frustrates cocktail aficionados is how much ice is put into their drink. No problem – at Liquorette, you’re in charge.
If you want to improve your bartending skills, there are also master classes available to book.
As for what you can drink, the fresh cocktails are changed on a daily basis and feature tasty tipples such as Rhubarb Negroni and a Blood Orange Cosmo.
Meanwhile, the tap options will be swapped out every four months and currently include quirky choices like Glazed and Confused, Emico2, Vetiver + Ting, Nordic Spritz, Room 1 and Monkey See.
‘The idea of true access at a bar (self-serve alcohol being one of the programming pieces to support that idea) started in New York as an experimental version of Liquorette,’ said Kristina O’Neal, the founding partner of AvroKO, the design company behind Liquorette.
‘Our goal was to make a public space feel more like being at a house party rather than at a bar.
‘People really latched on to it as a concept because it felt like the bar was theirs; that the place was free for them to own.
‘What would happen if we turned traditional cocktail culture on its head – doing away with the long waits for bespoke cocktails from white jacketed-bartenders with perfectly quaffed-moustaches and moving to a more democratic drinking culture where alcohol was directly accessible to the guest?’
Liquorette is open seven days per week, from noon each day.
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