St. Petersburg Distillery has opened a 45-seat cocktail lounge on the upper floor of its production facility at 800 31st St S in the Warehouse Arts District. Called 31 South, the lounge officially opened May 1 and currently operates Thursday through Saturday evenings, per the operator's Instagram.
The upstairs space was redesigned into what the operator describes as a modern speakeasy: art deco detailing, green and gold accents, plush seating, and vintage glassware under dim lighting with a jazz soundtrack. The room's defining spatial feature is its floor-level view onto active production equipment below — guests in 31 South can watch distillation underway in real time while drinking the spirits it produces. That relationship between the bar and the working still room runs through the entire program.
The cocktail menu is built around the distillery's house-made portfolio. Per the operator's Instagram, current offerings include a Maple Old Fashioned, coconut daiquiris, elderflower lemon drops, and espresso martinis made with locally roasted coffee. Tasting flights covering the distillery's vodka, gin, rum, and whiskey offer a way to move through the full production lineup at the source — a format that gives the lounge a tasting-room dimension alongside its bar program. Elevated small plates are also on the menu, though specific dishes weren't detailed in the source material.
The Warehouse Arts District occupies the blocks along 31st Street South, south of Central Avenue, and has drawn steadily increasing operator interest in recent years. St. Petersburg Distillery's decision to activate the building's upper floor for a separate hospitality program adds a new dimension to the address at 800 31st St S: production on the ground floor, a cocktail lounge above — two distinct functions running simultaneously in the same envelope.
With 45 seats and a three-night operating window, 31 South is paced for deliberate growth rather than immediate volume. The limited schedule gives the operator room to build an audience before any expansion of hours. How the lounge performs in its first summer — and whether it draws from the broader St. Pete bar scene or converts primarily from distillery visitors — will likely determine whether the Warehouse Arts District gains another consistent evening destination along the 31st Street corridor.
