A scented cocktail bar has opened in a fragrance store in Detroit

If fragrance is your thing, you may be interested in a scented cocktail bar that has just opened in Detroit. The novel concept is set in fragrance store, Sfumato Fragrances, which transfers by night into an 18-seat craft cocktail bar, Castalia Cocktails. The premise is that customers are served cocktails that mirror ingredients or aspects of the store’s signature scents.

Kevin Peterson and his wife, Jane Larson, are the founders of both enterprises. They grew up in Minnesota, but have lived in Michigan for the past ten years. Kevin’s background is in the culinary world, physics and engineering, and he creates the scents and tastes for the company. Jane’s is in studio art, event planning and design and she crafts the visual aesthetic. The idea was hatched when they created a dinner for some friends and paired the fragrances with food and drink.

Kevin believes the concept is a unique one, and says the bar will offer “fragrant cocktails” based on the brand’s eight signature perfumes. He and Jane started the natural scent company several years ago, and have since become involved in numerous projects connecting scent to music, art and theatre. Their ultimate goal is to create a “sanctuary for the senses” that will blend flavour, fragrance and ambience together.

“Our space is designed to transform from one function to the other,” Kevin tells Lonely Planet. “By day, we sell our line of all-natural fragrances, along with essential oils, books and cocktail bitters. At 6pm, we close our fragrance displays, dim the lights and fold the tables and benches out of the walls where they hide by day. Our menu is structured so that each of our signature scents is paired with a cocktail mirroring ingredients or aspects of the fragrance. The cocktail and scent are then presented simultaneously to be experienced as a duo.”

Sfumato Fragrances and Castalia Cocktails are both located at 3980 Second Avenue, Detroit. Castalia opens from 6pm to midnight Wednesday through Saturday. For further information, see here.