Sip, Smell, Repeat: Detroit’s Best-Kept Cocktail Secret. A Love Letter to Castalia.

It seems only fitting that my first blog post about the Detroit food scene doesn’t even involve food. What it does involve is my love for trying new things and stumbling upon a hidden gem that has turned into so much more. Let’s start with what Castalia at Sfumato is. Located in Midtown, Detroit, inside a renovated Victorian basement, is the most magical cocktail bar you will ever experience. From the Castalia website: “Focusing on the harmony between flavor and fragrance, each of our drinks is paired with a scent from our sister company, Sfumato. In search of multi-sensory harmony, Castalia serves cocktails inspired by Sfumato's entirely natural fragrances, alongside the scent itself.” The fragrances are unisex, and when they all mix, the scent of the bar is heavenly. The owners, Kevin and Jane, thought of every minute detail when they opened this place. From the light fixtures that make up the shape of the molecules of alcohol, to Einstein’s mathematical equation in Morse Code on the bar, there are Easter eggs everywhere you look.

It started in late March 2018. I had just seen an article about a cocktail bar that paired fragrance with their drinks, and I thought, well, that’s something I have never tried before! A friend and I stopped in, and immediately I was hooked. When you open the door to Castalia at Sfumato, you are hit with the incredible scent and even more incredible vibe. That night, my friend and I were the only two people there at this 18-seat bar, so we sat at the bar and began talking to the bartender, who turned out to be one of the owners, Kevin. We ended up sitting and talking (and drinking) for hours. It was an amazing night. Since then, I have become a regular at Castalia. I have done a few of their sensory experiences that take place outside the bar, such as a sensory dinner pairing with a new brand of whiskey being launched, a sensory sauna experience, and some cocktail-related classes. Castalia’s menu rotates and always has a theme, and a thing that I truly love about them is that every cocktail has a non-alcoholic mocktail partner. It is more about the flavor than the alcohol for them.

Over the years, I have watched Castalia grow and receive numerous well-deserved awards. I watched them struggle to keep themselves and their employees afloat during the COVID pandemic and the creative ways they did it. (This also included me purchasing numerous packs of samples of all of their scents and putting them into a spray bottle with alcohol so that I could make my own Castalia air freshener at home.) I’ve watched them bring on new partners and owners. I’ve watched Kevin, the owner, publish his book, Cocktail Theory: A Sensory Approach to Transcendent Cocktails. It has been an incredible journey to witness. Castalia has become my happy place in the city. I have tried drinks mixed with ingredients I never would have thought should go together, but if it is on their menu, I know that it does. I can’t recommend this place enough to everyone I talk to. They are innovative, imaginative, original, creative, warm, inviting, sophisticated, chic, and kind. Do not wait until the next time you are in Detroit to go there, go there for a special trip! Although I would recommend a reservation now, just don’t steal my seat!