Who Are the Spirit-Level?

The Spirit-Level is a venture; born out of a long friendship and life-long love of cocktails. One of my happiest childhood memories is my grandad teaching four-year old me how to make a pink gin behind the bar of his tennis club. I loved the magic of swirling the dark bitters around the glass, and watching the gin turn bright pink when poured it on top. In my grandad’s defenc it was the 80’s and different rules applied to child-rearing. I later learnt that my great granny had been the land-lady of a famous (possibly infamous) Irish pub in Kilburn in the 20s and 30s, so serving drinks is obviously in my blood.

Somehow life took a different direction: I ended up as a history teacher and my endless mixology research and cocktail experimentation seemed destined only to benefit my grateful friends and family. This all changed one fateful night when I met up with and old friend Georgia, and after a few too many glasses of Negroni, she told me about the bloody Mary trailer of her dreams. Within weeks we were planning our first pop-up cocktail night at Tilt Kitchen (Fiveways), and we’ve never looked back.

Georgia is a talented vegan and vegetarian chef, and when it comes to the art mixology, she is part-magician, part-scientist. She makes all our bitters, liqueurs, syrups and even our own fresh vegan foamer. This, combined with my love of cocktail history and classic recipes is the foundation of our unique signature cocktail menus. We use seasonal ingredients, high-quality spirits and unrefined sugar sources. You will never find any commercial syrups or mixers behind our bar, and our customers keep coming back for more.

We currently have a regular pop-up bar at a range of venues across Brighton & Hove and offer bar and catering services for private parties and corporate events. Our nights offer fabulous drinks, fresh bar snacks and great music in a welcoming and social atmosphere.

The next pop up event is on the 14th October 2023.