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Our Shots: How Literature, Stories, and Small Glasses Became a Big Part of Our Bars
We didn’t start making signature shots because it was trendy.
Actually, when we began, it wasn’t trendy at all.
The whole idea started very simply. Milan once noticed, while visiting Kraków, that some bars there offered small mixed shots — simple, playful, clearly listed, all for the same price. Nothing complicated. No pressure. Just fun. At that time, this wasn’t really a thing in Bratislava.
And because our bar was already named after Charles Bukowski — a writer, a bohemian, a drinker — it felt natural to connect shots with stories rather than just alcohol.
So we asked ourselves a question:
If Bukowski has his bar, who else should have their shot?
Writers, Alcohol, and Small Glasses
From the beginning, we decided that every shot would be named after a writer — preferably one whose life, personality, or habits somehow connected with alcohol. Not in a glorifying way, but honestly, with a bit of irony and respect.
Each shot is built so that:
the base alcohol fits the writer
the flavour profile matches the story
and the name actually means something, not just decoration
Over time, these shots became what we’re probably best known for in Bratislava. People don’t just order “a shot”. They order their writer.
And yes — our shots are basically mini cocktails. That’s why they take time to develop, test, and sometimes painfully remove from the menu.
Painfully… because whenever we remove one, we usually hear complaints like:
“Why did you remove my favourite writer?”
or
“That was MY shot, please bring it back.”
Which is honestly the best kind of problem to have.
Why It’s Hard to Copy (And Why That’s Okay)
Some bars tried to do something similar. That’s normal.
But what people often underestimate is that the devil is in the details.
For us, shots aren’t a standalone gimmick. They’re part of a much bigger picture:
bars named Bukowski, Bukowski 2.0, and Baudelaire
cocktails built around stories and characters
interiors filled with small literary references and props
menus written like fragments of short stories, not just ingredient lists
The shots work because they belong to a world that makes sense.
Without that context, they’re just mixed alcohol in a small glass.
A Few Writers in a Glass
We won’t list all our shots here — part of the fun is discovering them — but these examples explain how we think about them.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Beefeater gin / grapefruit syrup / champagne acid
Fitzgerald, the author of The Great Gatsby, went through eight treatments for alcoholism and far more nights in detox centers. His bohemian mentor, the painter Gerald Murphy, introduced him to the Bailey drink — a mix of gin, grapefruit, lime, and herbs. We chose basil as our herbal note. Elegant, bright, and deceptively easy to drink.
Oscar Wilde
Jameson whiskey / apricot–ginger syrup / champagne acid
Wilde was famous not only for The Picture of Dorian Gray, but also for scandal, wit, and excess. A Victorian fashion icon, later imprisoned for “immorality”, he lived by his own quote:
“I can resist everything except temptation.”
Alcohol, naturally, was part of that temptation.
Gabriel García Márquez
Havana 3YO rum / almond syrup / champagne acid
While writing One Hundred Years of Solitude, Márquez would sit in bars with his friend Álvaro Mutis, telling him what he had written that day. When the book was published, Mutis was shocked — Márquez had told him a completely different story over drinks. One can only guess what stories he shared with Fidel Castro over rum.
Janko Kráľ
Spišská borovička / passion fruit & mandarin syrup / mint
The Štúrovci publicly preached against hard liquor — but not all of them could resist it. Slovak poet and revolutionary Janko Kráľ drowned anger and sorrow in alcohol and was nicknamed “the strange Janko”. This shot may sound strange too, but don’t be fooled — both his poetry and this combination are worth it.
Jane Austen
Beefeater Dry gin / elderflower / cucumber
What is the founder of the family novel doing here? Austen didn’t write memoirs, and many of her letters were burned — but not all. In one discovered letter, she wrote:
“My handwriting is shaky because I drank too much yesterday.”
She loved dancing, younger men, and — as an Englishwoman — probably gin.
Taras Shevchenko
Absolut vodka / passion fruit / vanilla / lemon juice
The founder of modern Ukrainian literature preferred tea with rum, but never refused the popular drinks of his time — vodka included. Besides being part of a secret reformist society, he once led a tongue-in-cheek group of drinking intellectuals. A revolutionary, in more ways than one.
Why We Still Do It This Way
For us, these shots were never about getting drunk faster.
They’re about starting conversations.
People ask questions.
They read.
They argue about writers.
They order another one — not because it’s cheap, but because it’s theirs.
And that’s probably why these small glasses became such a big part of our bars.
If you’re visiting Bratislava and looking for something a bit different than a standard bar experience, this is one of the ways we like to tell our stories.
One writer at a time.