With rent being a huge chunk of any bar’s overheads, it makes sense to diversify the offering. Typically, this has meant running as a coffee shop during the day. The crew behind Dead Poets decided to run a barbershop instead. The drinks that make it worth returning once the scissors have been put away are largely the brainchild of Nikita Matveev, who also helms The Old Man and new listening room concept Aer. These three venues have positioned themselves as the “Aberdeen Arts Row”, and help explain Dead Poets’ newest menu, Liquid Gallery, which focuses on painters and visual artists. A wide range of artistic styles/flavour profiles are represented, from must-haves like the Off Wave – inspired by Katsushika Hokusai – which focuses on shochu and ube, to more underrated painters such as Russian artist Ivan Shishkin, whose Pine Forest Morning comprises pine honey, Jim Beam redistilled with moss and pine, Branca Menta and Sagan Dalya Vermouth.

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