Laboratorio Distilita

«Laboratorio Distilita» occupies a space in the «Bertgold-tsentr» art cluster at 13–15 Grazhdanskaya Street, and it hardly fits into familiar formats. It's something between a new-style shot bar and a cocktail bar, where the main focus is strong craft spirits, though the menu also includes wine, beer from AF Brew, and drinks from other interesting producers. Behind the project is an experienced team: Konstantin Lyalin from AF Brew, distiller and pathologist Mikhail Mikhelson, designer Sergei Semich, entrepreneur Vladimir Ignatovich, and manager Maxim Ustinov. The main feature of the place is its own brand of grain distillates, wheat and rye, produced under contract at the oldest distillery in the Estonian village of Moe. The bar's shelves also hold rare bottles from small European distilleries, along with house-made infusions and liqueurs based on those same Estonian distillates — for example, a Chaliapin-style tea infusion or an egg-based drink called "Notarius." The food here matches the drinks: eel and guacamole sandwiches, mushroom soup with a spruce branch, and green buckwheat risotto with chicken giblets. On weekends, «Laboratorio Distilita» hosts musical evenings — from jazz pianists and full ensembles to solo harmonica performances. The interior was designed by Sergei Semich and Anastasia Artemyeva: in the spacious hall with a large display window, an alchemical laboratory, the atmosphere of "The Knick" TV series, a Bauhaus school teacher's apartment, and a colonial house all come together. The place can be reached from Sennaya Ploshchad, Spasskaya, or Sadovaya metro stations, and the average check is 1,000–3,000 rubles.