Seattle Police have shut down an underground bar and blues club being run out of a house in Maple Leaf.

On February 28th, Police stopped by a house in the 7600 block of 5th ave NE after receiving reports about an unlicensed bar. According to a police report, officers found a group of about 25 men and women drinking. "The group was well behaved and none displayed signs of obvious intoxication," the report says.

Police contacted a 20-year-old man who was pouring drinks and asked him if he was running the operation for profit. The man told police he'd been running the bar for a few months with his roommates but was only doing it so he could practice his bartending skills.

"It wasn’t really about the money at all," says 20-year-old Nick. "People would donate their own liquor. Adults would bring their own liquor and I would make drinks."

Nick says he's been fascinated by bartending ever since he worked as a server at the Spaghetti Factory a few years ago and began pouring drinks at house parties in January, which often featured live blues bands or DJs spinning old blues albums on vinyl. It’s not something where I’m trying to get people wasted or get minors drunk," Nick says, adding that his specialty drink is the Bluesnick, a mixture of dark rum, pineapple, cranberry and grapefruit juices with a splash of 151.

Following the police bust, officers made Nick pour out 12 bottles of liquor but he says he hasn't received notification about any charges. "I’m an eagle scout, I’m not trying to do anything wrong," Nick says. "[The officers] said the court just might drop it, which is what I’m hoping for."

According to Washington State Liquor Control spokeswoman Anne Radford, the penalty for selling liquor without a license is $5,000 fine and/or a year in jail.