Monkey Shoulder Selects is mapping the bars, listening spaces and neighbourhood hangouts shaping nights out in London, Glasgow and some of Europe’s most interesting cities.
The way we go out is changing.
For a growing number of bars, the music is no longer simply something playing in the background. Vinyl collections, carefully tuned sound systems and guest DJs are becoming as considered as the drinks list, with listening bars and music-led spaces creating a different kind of night out.
Monkey Shoulder Whisky has tapped into that shift with the launch of Monkey Shoulder Selects, a new digital city guide designed to uncover the bars, listening rooms and neighbourhood spots where music, cocktails and local culture come together.
The UK edition begins in London and Glasgow, with recommendations shaped by bartenders, DJs and local creatives rather than relying on a conventional best-bars list.
The idea is simple: ask the people who actually understand a city’s nightlife where they would go themselves.
London’s selections include the intimate Seed Library, while the wider European guide stretches from Paris and Berlin to Reykjavik, Milan, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Madrid, Athens, Vienna and beyond.
The result sits somewhere between a city guide and a cultural map, concentrating on venues where the experience is built as much around listening and atmosphere as it is around ordering a drink.
That might mean a carefully engineered sound system, shelves of vinyl, a DJ playing to a small room or simply a neighbourhood bar where music feels integral to its identity.
Monkey Shoulder describes the project as an attempt to celebrate the people and spaces shaping a more considered era of nightlife.
“Monkey Shoulder Selects is about recognising that some of the most exciting cultural spaces in Europe now are bars built around music,” says Joe Petch, Global Monkey Shoulder Ambassador.
“These venues aren’t just places to drink; they’re places to listen, connect and belong. Monkey Shoulder Selects is our way of supporting the people and communities shaping this new era of nightlife.”
From London to Europe
The guide launches as part of a wider European network, with city editions covering destinations including London, Glasgow, Paris, Berlin, Reykjavik, Milan, Zurich, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Lisbon, Madrid, Athens and Vienna, with further additions planned.
Among the venues highlighted outside the UK are Athens listening space Okupa, Copenhagen’s jazz-influenced Bird and Milan’s MOGO, where music sits alongside mid-century design, food and nightlife.
Rather than treating nightlife as something interchangeable from city to city, the project is intended to reflect the character of each place.
That approach extends to the drinks too, with participating venues creating their own interpretations of a Monkey Shoulder Old Fashioned, using ingredients and ideas inspired by their neighbourhood or city.
Taking the guide off the screen
Monkey Shoulder Selects will not exist solely as a digital directory.
A programme of Selector Swaps will see DJs and bartenders travel between cities to take over one another’s venues, bringing together different nightlife communities through guest sets, bartender takeovers and playlist exchanges.
Partner bars are also expected to host events and develop local versions of the Old Fashioned as the project continues.
It is an interesting reflection of where nightlife appears to be heading. The loudest or largest venue is not necessarily the one attracting the most attention anymore. Increasingly, people are looking for places with personality, considered music and enough atmosphere to make leaving the house worthwhile.
And in a city with as many places competing for an evening as London, knowing where the people behind the bar, decks and creative scenes actually choose to spend their own nights is probably not a bad place to start.
Monkey Shoulder Selects is available now, with city guides for London, Glasgow and destinations across Europe at monkeyshoulder.com/city-guides.
