As bars turn distillers across Europe and beyond, four standout venues are no longer just serving spirits but actively producing their own. Some are setting up stills in-house; others are partnering with regional producers to create bespoke bottlings. The result is a new generation of drinks that simply can’t be found anywhere else – and a house signature no back bar can replicate.
Why Bars Turn Distillers
The story goes well beyond novelty. By taking control of production, bars reduce their reliance on premium commercial brands and the pricing swings of the supply chain. They can tailor flavor profiles precisely to their cocktail menus rather than building drinks around what a brand happens to bottle. A house spirit can also reflect a venue’s own culture, concept, and guest experience in a way no off-the-shelf product can. And by working with nearby producers, bars cut down on transport-heavy sourcing, keeping the liquid rooted in its place of origin.
Four bars, four spirits, four very different expressions of the same idea.
The Sidecar at The Westbury, Dublin, and Its Bespoke Gin
Hand-distilled in collaboration with Stillgarden Distillery in Dublin, The Sidecar Gin draws its flavor from wild lemon verbena, nettles, and locally foraged herbs from Dublin parkland. Those herbal notes are balanced with spicy ginger, bitter orange, and a fresh lift of juniper.
The gin was created especially for The Sidecar at The Westbury, inspired by the exuberance of the 1920s and its penchant for excess and frivolity: an homage to a bygone era, reimagined with contemporary flair and a sense of place. It earns its place on the back bar too, featuring alongside an enviable showcase of prestige labels in the bar’s celebrated martini offering.
CopperBay’s Mauresco Pastis, Made in Marseille
CopperBay, the renowned independent Parisian cocktail bar with outposts in Marseille and at Hotel Lancaster, produces its own pastis, Mauresco, in collaboration with Distillerie de la Plaine in Marseille. Inspired by the traditional Mauresque aperitif of southern France, Mauresco is an artisanal, 100% Marseille-made bottling built on classic pastis botanicals of star anise, licorice, and fennel, then enhanced with tonka bean and orange blossom to evoke the flavors of orgeat.
At the bar, the team traditionally serves Mauresco over two ice cubes, diluted with water. It also stars in cocktails such as the eponymous Mauresco, a blend of the pastis with gin, lemon, orgeat, citron-dill cordial, and egg white. Available at all three CopperBay locations (Paris 10th, Hotel Lancaster, and Marseille), Mauresco is also sold as a take-home bottle, often finding its way into suitcases worldwide. More than a drink, it acts as an ambassador for CopperBay and for the rich French apéritif culture, embodying the spirit and soul of Marseille.
Advocatuur’s PrØvo Jenever, Distilled to Provoke
Within the intimate distillery room at Advocatuur, the bar inside Rosewood Amsterdam’s former Palace of Justice, the in-house jenever PrØvo is crafted by award-winning master distiller Alex Davies of The Kyoto Distillery, Japan’s first dedicated gin distillery.
The name comes from provoceren, meaning “to provoke,” in honor of the rebellious Provo movement of the mid-1960s. At a time when Amsterdam remained a strict and conservative city, its youth grew restless under the weight of consumerism, pollution, and government control, choosing playful resistance over violence. The jenever channels that spirit through three distinct distillation methods, traditional and modern, blending thoughtfully selected botanicals: ginger, tulsi, fresh pink grapefruit, dry lemon, bitter and sweet orange, rose, and milk oolong tea.
Himkok’s Aquavit Program and the Linie Collaboration
Opened in 2015 by Erk Potur, Himkok is a world-leading cocktail bar, known for championing Scandinavia’s cocktail culture and a regular on The World’s 50 Best Bars list. Under the stewardship of bar manager Maroš Dzurus and R&D manager Paul Aguilar Voza, it continues to be a place to discover a variety of Nordic ingredients through exciting drinks, many of them made using in-house produce.
The multi-story venue houses an on-site distillery producing aquavit, gin, and vodka, alongside a backyard cider garden, an upstairs bar pouring cocktails on tap for speedy service, and even a barbershop on the top floor.
In 2024, Himkok went a step further with a collaborative aquavit made with Linie. The bottling – Himkok’s first-ever aged aquavit – matured for months at sea in oloroso sherry casks, crossing the equator twice in Linie tradition, before landing back in Norway for its Oslo launch. The collaboration shines a light on Norway’s national spirit, bringing together Linie’s heritage and Himkok’s innovation and creativity.
From House Pour to House Production
What links a Dublin hotel bar, a Parisian apéritif specialist, an Amsterdam-rooted jenever project, and Himkok’s Nordic program is a shared conviction that the most distinctive liquid in the room should be the one you can’t buy anywhere else. As more venues invest in stills, partnerships, and production know-how, house-made spirits are increasingly becoming a defining signature of a venue, turning bartenders into distillers and bars into cultural producers in their own right.
