Peter Hollands isn’t just a top-flight bar operator – he’s an ideas man. Like how a window shopper might curiously peruse clothing boutiques, Pete scopes out vacant venues for fun, hunting for potential homes for one of his many, many bar concepts.

He struck pay dirt last September when he inspected a space tucked away underneath 109 Edward Street. a history-laden building once home to Metro Arts. Accessed via a laneway leading to the rear of the building, the subterranean site – with its exposed timber beams, heritage brickwork and asymmetrical layout – is a one-of-a-kind find. One Pete saw a lot of potential in.

“There’s not many people in Brisbane who could pull off a laneway underground bar like this, but I’ve got the runs on the board there,” says Pete, who co-owns a number of venues including Frog’s Hollow Saloon, Alice and The Alliance Hotel. “There was some back and forth, but eventually [the landlord] came back to me and said okay.”

In late July the space will be reborn as Shaman, a cocktail bar that amalgamates two of Pete’s inspired notions. The first is a day club that only sells two things – beers and margaritas. The second? A rum bar. But not just any rum bar – one that pays the same level of attention to the spirit’s regional diversity as Frog’s Hollow does to whisky.

While these two concepts might seem like an unorthodox combo, Pete tells us that the idea for Shaman really gelled after turning to an unconventional inspirational source – the music of Carlos Santana, chiefly two of his most acclaimed albums, Abraxas and, you guessed it, Shaman.

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“It’s not themed after [Santana] – I just found a lot of inspiration in his musical direction and his creative vision,” explains Pete. “I asked myself, if I want rum and tequila, what does that mean? What am I representing here? The Santana connection, which covers all those regions, is how the rest of the concept came together.”

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“Abraxas is not good or evil – it’s about finding enlightenment through the combination of both those things. A shaman is a person who’s knowledgeable that you have to seek out, like a mystic. Both fit into the style of the venue really well and speak to exactly what I’m trying to achieve here.”

Alongside Shaman’s general manager Tim Pope – former co-owner of pioneering Melbourne bar, Par – Pete is looking to hone in on a sense of balance, both in regards to the drinks offering and service style. To achieve this, he’s crafting a stripped-back setup focusing on the absolute essentials.

“I want to get back to assessing and judging what we do and don’t need,” says Peter. “Things like a combination of table and bar service, juicing citrus to order, more fridge space for frozen glassware, a bigger range of vermouths, no beer taps and no block ice.”

Shaman’s back bar offering will include roughly 100 rums, a selection that will take guests on a journey through the famous rum regions – the Caribbean, Colombia, South America, Puerto Rico and Cuba.

“There’s great regionality [with rum],” says Pete. “Through this brutal period of the slave trade, you’ve got rums that are French and Spanish, you’ve got Portuguese rums and you’ve got English rums, all smashed up into this little area of the world. We’ll break down [the selection] into styles and regions and have some really clear directions.”

On the tequila front, expect approximately 50 options encompassing tequilas made for mixing and a few for sipping. When it comes to cocktails, Pete says margaritas and daiquiris will feature prominently alongside an expanding and contracting selection of thought-out classics.

“The menu could be six, it could be 20 classics – it depends what we have on that particular day,” Pete explains. “We’re going to have all of the ingredients in front of us, so if we want to make it, we’ll just put it on the menu.”

Shaman will only serve Estrella, with frosty bottles kept on ice in a number of easily accessible crates. There’ll also be a clutch of French vino on hand for the oenophiles, with the wine list likely to favour reds.

Aesthetically, Shaman will lean into its cloistered surroundings. Guests will enter via a new timber door into a shadowy space boasting timber furnishings, mirrored surfaces and splashes of red. Though the bar has its own conceptual underpinning, Pete is keen for the venue’s identity to be shaped by punters.

“It’s like that last scene out of Pulp Fiction, where they open the suitcase and they don’t show you what’s in it,” explains Pete. “So the viewer or, in this case the customer, can fill in the rest of the story.”

Shaman will open to the public in July – keep your eyes peeled for more info in the coming weeks.