Santa Chupitos (permanently closed)

Address: Corner of Parr Street and Slater Street, Liverpool , L1 4BX, United Kingdom

Door: Open door/walk-ins
Style: Cocktail bar

Review

Arguably Liverpool's newest bartender's bar, Santa Chupitos is actually made up of three elements. There's the core bar, a small, dark one-room venue serving up unpredictable combinations of spirits, liqueurs and homemade infusions including fat-washes, drinks served in milk bottles and homemade ice chunks hacked from old Coke cans.

Then there's a separate back-room bar, with a separate menu and more original cocktails (Bakewell Tartini anyone?). Finally, below stairs and reached from next door, there's a specialist tequila bar, El Bandito, with imaginative twists on a variety of tequila classics (chipotle-infused grapefruit juice in a Paloma, or Beef Chilli Margarita - not a fat washed infusion but made using a beef consommé and spices). An antique dentist's chair maintains the fun-loving side of the category: we're sure they use it responsibly.

Only the main Santa Chupitos bar is open all week-long. The back-room and El Bandito are only operational later in the week and on weekends. Is it the most finessed place in Liverpool? No - there's an element of 'sticky floor' later on in the evenings, bartenders' technique is deliberately casual and drinks tend to the sweeter side. Is it a lot of fun, creative and does it push the city's cocktail boundaries? No doubt about it.