Musiikki Cafe
73 Brock Street
Nobody really knows how it got there.
Okay, that’s not true. It opened in June 2014. There are records. There was presumably paperwork. Yet somehow, Musiikki has maintained the air of a place you don’t discover so much as accidentally unlock after completing a series of increasingly specific downtown Kingston side quests.
Inside, it’s cozy. Rustic. Refined.
There is local artwork.
There is carefully selected music.
There is whiskey.
There is a very real possibility that someone in the room knows more about bourbon than you do, and they are choosing to be gracious about it.
For now.
The upstairs stage is where the live music happens, and this tiny little whiskey bar manages to host music every single night. Folk, rock, blues, country and jazz have all found their way through the door.
And then there is the courtyard.
The courtyard is where things get suspiciously magical.
When the weather warms up, the music moves outside into a hidden little garden that feels less like downtown Kingston and more like you accidentally walked through the wrong door at a farmers’ market and ended up in a French film.
There are plants you can’t pronounce the name of.
Someone is drinking something in a short glass.
A musician is playing softly in the corner.
You suddenly have an opinion about natural wine despite never having had natural wine.
It’s beautiful.
It’s the kind of place that makes you want to say, “I really value intimate spaces,” even though five minutes earlier you were eating tacos over the kitchen sink.
Much like our friends over at BSE, Musiikki has mastered the hidden courtyard.
You know the type.
The kind of place where you enter through a completely normal looking door and emerge into a magical outdoor oasis, immediately wondering why your own backyard doesn’t have string lights, live jazz and a sophisticated atmosphere encouraging conversation and connection.
Your backyard has a broken lawn chair.
Musiikki has ambiance.
The whole place has been designed around the radical concept that people might actually enjoy sitting somewhere, listening to music and talking to each other.
Wild.
There are no giant screens screaming at you.
No 47 TVs showing twelve different sports.
No flourescent lighting making everyone look like they’re being questioned by the police.
Just music, drinks, friendly service and a room small enough that “community-oriented” isn’t just marketing copy. You are, in fact, part of the community whether you planned on it or not.
And Musiikki isn’t precious about it’s musical identity either.
Local jazz legends Spencer Evans and Oscar Evans can often be found playing here. Because, if you’re going to create a tiny hidden whiskey garden, you might as well make sure there is excellent jazz happening in it too.
During Spring Reverb 2026, the intimate little hideaway welcomed London, Ontario punk bank Mvll Crimes. The same place that can give you a warm summer evening of jazz in a secret garden can also accommodate several people making considerably more aggressive noises.
This is a bar with range.
It’s a place that somehow manages to feel both sophisticated and completely comfortable, like your cool friend who owns a record collection worth more than their car but will still let you eat chips on their couch. (Gary and Barb, I’m looking at you.)
Go for the whiskey.
Stay because someone has started playing jazz and you don’t want to be the asshole who leaves during the saxophone solo.
Artists appearing in this poster collection: Colin Richards, David Parker, DJ LK, Matt Dowling, and Slow Man Tofu.
For more on some of the artists featured in this collection, hit the tags at the bottom of the page. Follow the trail, pour yourself a whiskey, and let the jazz take you wherever the hell it wants to go.
