The 25 Best Cocktail Bars in America
Photo: Courtesy of Zig Zag Cafe1/431. Zig Zag Cafe
Seattle
Like anything worthwhile, a night at Zig Zag Café must be earned. From the fish merchants at Pike Place Market, you'll take stairs, worn wooden ramps, a skybridge, more stairs. Its location renders Google Maps useless. Still, people find it. By 5 p.m. the dozen barstools are almost always filled. Patrons come for the easy conversation and the drink-all-day coziness. Above all, though, they come for the cocktails of Murray Stenson. The man is effortlessly talented, a bartender superhero. In fact, he may be the country's best.
It's not obvious. Murray is not theatrical. He does not wear arm garters or shake things above his head. His endless energy is more about efficiency. Speed. Simplicity. We've seen him glance at a long recipe brought in by a guest, then leave. Did he blow that guy off? After forty-five seconds, he returned with the drink. "Good find!" he said. There is no way he memorized that recipe. There is no way he found the ingredients so quickly. There is no way the cocktail is any good. But thenyou sip. And you understand. Each drink Murray pours is a mini-revelation, an introduction to rare spirits and a bold use of common ones. Behold the Sayonara, whose slow, intense pepper-infused-tequila burn can only be soothed by the sourness from a sip of the same drink: fire and extinguisher in a single glass.
Still, if you ever have doubts about Murray's talents, do this: Sit near the end of the crescent bar. Peek behind it. Look closely at his workstation. Five drink racks. About twelve bottles in each. Artfully tiered from floor to torso, like a medieval organ powered by Dubonnet, kirsch, and Tuaca. If you think any ordinary bartender could play such an instrument, you'd be wrong.
1501 Western Avenue
206-625-1146
Photo: Randy Reddig2/432. Angel's Share
New York
This is the closest you'll get to a Japanese cocktail experience without crossing the Pacific. The hushed conversation. The hand-carved ice. The drinks poured with an assertive snap of the wrist. There are a dozen temples like this in Tokyo, but only one Stateside.
6 Stuyvesant St. 2nd Floor
New York, NY
212-777-5415
Photo: Chris Guillen3/433. The Violet Hour
Chicago
Wrigley Field may be Chicago's best bar, but Violet Hour mis the best cocktails in town. Out of the three dozen drinks, there's always a worthwhile variation on the sidecar, the Negroni, and the old-fashioned. The bartenders utilize five shapes of ice, and as the line grows outside this elegant haunt, their attention to detail remains the same; mint is carefully placed atop drinks, bitters dropped with painterly precision.
1520 North Damen Avenue
Chicago, IL
Photo: Zach Desart4/434. Clover Club
Brooklyn
They got the old-timey part down. The étoile wallpaper, the pressed-tin ceilings, the astute devotion to classics like the Atholl Brose (a whiskey drink from 1475). But what makes Clover Club better than other turn-of-the-century-style joints is that all of that oldness never overshadows a Brooklyn-style casualness, which feels just right for right now.
210 Smith Street
718-855-7939
Photo: Joshua Lutz/Redux5/437. PDT
New York
It's easy to focus on the gimmicks: The entrance is a phone booth inside a hot-dog joint; they serve Tater Tots. But bartender Jim Meehan is a master at updating classic cocktails and inventing new ones. The Benton's old-fashioned uses bourbon infused with bacon. It's one of the only constants on the menu. The other, God bless, is Tots.
113 St. Marks Pl.
212-614-0386
Photo: Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times/Redux6/436. Death Co.
New York
Death Co. should be flattered: Their drinks are the most widely imitated in the country. Our pick, the Oaxaca old-fashioned, is a south-of-the-border version of what many consider the original cocktail, but with mescal and tequila instead of bourbon or rye, and agave nectar instead of sugar. Why did it take a century for someone to invent this?
422 East 6th St.
212-388-0882
Photo: Jennifer Yin/jenntakespictures.com7/435. The Alembic
San Francisco
There's a kind of poetic humor to the drinks at this pubby cocktail bar on the Haight, where the minimum tattoo requirement for employees must be five, maybe six. The smoky and sweet Vasco da Gama, our favorite whiskey drink in the country, is served on the rocks with global ingredients: Buffalo Trace bourbon, masala-spiced apple syrup, Islay scotch. The Gilded Lily is a sparkling Chartreuse-and-gin cocktail topped with edible gold dust. It's perfect for Dubai, and perfectly ironic on a street where the homeless mumble Ginsberg's "Howl."
1725 Haight Street
415-666-0822
Photo: Courtesy of PX8/438. PX
Alexandria, Virginia
It's a shame more people from D.C. don't come here—something about Alexandria being in the suburbs. Oh, well. Their loss. PX is the finest farm-to-glass bar in the country. Put another way no one uses fresh berries, herbs, and roots quite so expertly. So don't be fooled by what looks like the most ho-hum drink on the menu, the gin-and-tonic. It includes a housemade tonic infused with lavender and lemongrass. You won't find a better one anywhere.
728 King St
703-299-8358
Photo: Courtesy of Tiki Ti9/4311. Tiki-Ti
Los Angeles
The menu lists fifty-two rum drinks, most of them potent and delicious. The best include mysterious homemade syrups far better than the high-fructose nonsense that gave tiki drinks a bad name. There are also two beers available. Literally two cans—one cold, one warm. They cost $20 each.
4427 Sunset Blvd.
323-669-9381
Photo: Liza Gershman10/439. Comstock Saloon
San Francisco
Only months old, Comstock feels like it's been here since the gold rush. The delft tiles. The antique glassware. The vintage bamboo ceiling fans, slowly cutting the air like primitive steamboat paddles. As worn-in as this place appears, it really is the next phase of the American cocktail bar. An evolution. A quality spot that's less about ice and bitters and more about why we come to bars in the first place: hospitality and conversation. The vintage drinks (try the pisco punch, the John Collins, and the Martinez), superbly made and without fuss, are a bonus.
155 Columbus Ave
415-617-0071
Photo: Andrea Wyner11/4310. Holeman Finch
Atlanta
Co-owner Greg Best is either nuts, a genius, or both. Consider the Pig-Pik Sour, a drink made with bourbon, bacon sugar, and smoked egg whites. It's one thing to smoke brisket; it's another to smoke something that is dangerously just a few degrees away from turning into a gallon of quiche. There is a cocktail on the menu that uses "beet soda." Beets are as juicy as potatoes. Set in Buckhead, where former frat boys live, the bar has a manly workshop vibe. On one visit, a bro grabbed the menu from us, tossed it aside, and said, "That's not what it's about, man. Just tell them what you like. Trust them." We do completely.
2277 Peachtree Road
404-948-1175
Photo: Taylor Mathis12/4312. The Patterson House
Nashville
More than any dive or honky-tonk, the Patterson House reminds drinkers that when you're in the South, you're on sacred ground: America's Bourbon Belt. The library-themed haunt is named after the saintly governor who fought Prohibition. Shame he never got to try Vincent's Ruin, made with Bulleit bourbon, elderflower liqueur, lemon, and an absinthe rinse, or the Reelfoot, a Manhattan variant using both sweet and dry vermouth.
1171 Division St.
615-636-7724
Photo: Courtesy of Eastern Standard Kitchen and Drinks13/4313. Eastern Standard
Boston
A few blocks from Fenway, this is (perhaps unintentionally) the most elegant sports bar in the country. A bit of Paris by the Citgo sign. Around midnight, a waitress gracefully hops atop a marble bar to write the specials. Look for the whiskey smash: Its crushed ice and mint sprig make even foam-fingered fans look sophisticated.
528 Commonwealth Ave
617-532-9100
Photo: Shaun Roberts14/4314. Rickhouse
San Francisco
First words you'll utter at Rickhouse: "Give me a minute." The menu is twenty-eight pages long. It opens with a table of contents. Skip it and try our favorite: the Laphroaig Project, a strange yet pleasant mix of tropical flavors, herbaceousness, and peat.
246 Kearny St.
415-398-2827
Photo: Morgan Weber15/4315. Anvil
Houston
The list of classics at this converted tire store is two dozen drinks long—all of them well ecuted. But Anvil's culinary high jinks are even better. We sampled an experimental concoction labeled "bzzz." Rum infused with chilies, it numbed our senses for a minute. What's on the menu is tamer and tastier. One suggestion: the Garden Variety, a margarita that mis tequila, mustard, and coriander and has the refreshing properties of cucumber.
1424 Westheimer Rd. Ste. B
Houston, TX 77006
713-523-1622
Photo: Jenn Farrington16/4316. Arnaud's French 75
New Orleans
New Orleans is a great drinking town with terrible drinks (Hurricanes, Hand Grenades). French 75 is the exception: a historical bar (monkey lamps, varnished wood, 1920s French music) with perfect cocktails. Our favorite, the rum-based Bywater cocktail, is off-menu. But this is the Big Easy—they'll oblige.
813 Rue Bienville
504-523-5433
Photo: Darren Edwards17/4317. Elixir
San Francisco
The lineup at San Francisco's second-oldest saloon (est. 1858) changes faster than a Mission District microclimate. This being California, you can always count on something fresh getting smashed in a glass. Elixir also hand-selects a barrel of Buffalo Trace bourbon. Makes a killer Manhattan.
16th & Guerrero
415-552-1633
Photo: Jim Webb18/4318. Columbia Room
Washington, D.C.
Derek Brown honed his craft in Japan, home of the world's most precise bartenders. Using a cleaver, he breaks down large chunks of ice and stores the cubes in a basket, where they melt as slowly as glaciers. Ask him nicely and he might carve one into a diamond. The private, narrow space is open just three nights a week. Your reward for getting in: the best martini in America. The process entails gin stored in a medical freezer, a crystal glass, and a thermometer (thirty-one degrees is optimal). It's an expensive privilege to drink here. But just like in Tokyo, the receipt is prettier than a college diploma.
202-393-0336
Photo: Tujillopaumier/Courtesy of Coles19/4319. Cole's
Los Angeles
Cole's looks a lot like it did when it served the first French dip, in 1908—the mahogany bar, the penny-tile floors. Even its old kitchen, where Prohibition-era patrons would sneak a nip of hooch, is now a speakeasy, the Varnish. Excellent drinks back there, but we prefer the casualness of Cole's proper, with its small TV screens for Lakers games.
118 East 6th Street
213-622-4090
Photo: Neil Burger20/4320. The Whistler
Chicago
It's a music venue, sure, but it's an evolved music venue. A place where skinny-jeaned hipsters put down PBRs and pick up boozy rye drinks like the Blue-Collar Cocktail.
2421 N. Milwaukee Ave
773-227-3530
Photo: Dina Rudick/Boston Globe/Landov21/4321. Drink
Boston
Don't cringe when the bartenders at this dark, narrow hideout in Boston's Fort Point hood ask for your "flavor profile." They mean no harm. And, well, no one is better at nailing what you think you'll like. We asked for something molasses-y. The gentleman made a 1919, a cocktail of Old Monk rum and Rittenhouse rye named after the historic molasses flood of North Boston. It was spot-on.
348 Congress St
617-695-1806
Photo: Courtesy of Pegu Club22/4322. Pegu Club
New York
This East Asian-styled bar helped reintroduce drinking to New Yorkers at a time when most thought a night out involved bottle service. Today, Pegu is still an ambassador for the cocktail, converting vodka drinkers to gin and pouring anyone a solid Gin Gin Mule (it was invented by the owner) and endless Manhattan variations.
77 West Houston
212-473-7348
Photo: Courtesy of The Edison23/4323. The Edison
Los Angeles
In an old subterranean power plant, the Edison is the largest bar on this list. It's also, in a way, the most impressive—because even when the place is filled to capacity, which is often, its bartenders manage to churn out cocktails like the classic Brown Derby (bourbon, clover-honey syrup, grapefruit) that rival those poured at twelve-seat speakeasies. Even better, the cocktails come with a show: Regulars arrive in trench coats and aviation goggles like characters in an Alan Moore comic. Women dressed as fairies serve vials of absinthe drinks from pushcarts. The pixies look as real as the defunct turbines in the back corner. Or maybe that's the absinthe talking.
108 W 2nd Street, #101
213-613-0000
Photo: Aileen Bannon/Courtesy of philly2philly.com24/4324. The Franklin Mortgage Investment Co.
Philadelphia
So railcar-narrow that the bar itself can seat only four people, Franklin has an ambitious menu divided into odd categories like Required Reading, Rebellious Spirits, and most direct of all—Booze in a Glass. They all provoke curiosity, and they're all good. The European Oils was a favorite, though our notes are gibberish. (It has rum, apparently). This one was from the Booze in a Glass category.
112 S. 18th Street
267-467-3277
Photo: Bob Peterson/Courtesy of Needle & Thread25/4325. Needle and Thread
Seattle
"I spend all day on a tractor. Make me a drink that reminds me of the farm. You know, of dirt and diesel." This is how an organic farmer from Portland ordered his drink here, because that is how they encourage drinks to be ordered. Get poetic about it; you'll wind up with something like the Dirt 'n' Diesel. The bartender at this hidden room above Tavern Law (enter through the bank vault) wrote its ingredients on a coaster: 2 ounces Cruzan Black Strap Rum, ½ ounce Fernet-Branca, ½ ounce demerara-sugar syrup, ¼ ounce Cynar, and ¼ ounce lime juice. We make it at home.
1406 12th Ave
206-322-9734
Photo: Courtesy of Mayahuel26/43The Best Spirit-Specific Cocktail Bars
1. Mayahuel
New York City
Scarred by bad tequila? Never had mescal? These guys can help.
Photo: Jennifer Yin27/432. Smuggler's Cove
San Francisco
Home to the country's best rum selection. Ignore the fake waterfall and enjoy the serious Caribbean drinks.
Photo: Rob Takata and Elina Shatkin28/433. La Descarga
Los Angeles
You'll drink enough rum cocktails here to be fooled into thinking you're in Havana.
Photo: Neil Burger29/43The Anatomy of a $15 Cocktail
Expensive, but in the hands of the right bartender, worth it.
The Booze
A drink can call for two types of Chartreuse, a single-malt, a French vermouth, and an Italian liqueur. That's about $200 of booze you'd need to make a single drink.
The Bitters
Many bars make their own, which require high-proof spirits plus a blend of things like squaw vine, prickly-ash berries, and tree bark. You can't pick any of that up at the supermarket.
The Fruit
Real cherries, not the neon-glow kind, cost twenty-five cents each. Fresh berries, citrus, and mint also add up.
The Labor
You pay for quality. In the time a bartender makes a well-crafted cocktail, the dive bar next door could have made a dozen vodka sodas.
Photo: Courtesy of Cyrus30/43The Best Restaurant Cocktail Bars
1. Cyrus
Healdsburg, California
Bartender Scott Beattie is credited with starting the farm-to-glass movement (i.e., fresh stuff in your drink). Good idea.
Photo: Courtesy of Iris31/432. Iris
New Orleans
Don't come to this place and order a Vieux Carré. Iris makes the bravest, most untraditional cocktails in New Orleans.
Photo: Jody Horton32/434. Fino
_Austin, Texas _
The only spot in Austin where you can consistently get a proper cocktail.
Photo: Courtesy of heavensdog.com33/433. Heaven's Dog
San Francisco
Slanted Door's Charles Phan brings you a Chinese restaurant specializing in pre-Prohibition cocktails. Try the Biarritz Monk Buck.
Photo: Courtesy of Prime Meats34/435. Prime Meats
Brooklyn
The Manhattan flavored with housemade Buddha's-hand bitters is the perfect starter to the porterhouse.
35/43
Recipe courtesy of Jim Meehan36/43Negroni
A classic kickoff for Italian grub
1.25 oz. Beefeater Gin
1.25 oz. Campari
1.25 oz. Martini Sweet Vermouth
Stir with ice and strain into a chilled coupe or over ice in a chilled rocks glass
Garnish with an orange twist
Recipe courtesy of Jim Meehan37/43Gibson
A briny, savory martini
3 oz. Plymouth Gin
1 oz. Dolin Dry Vermouth
Stir with ice and strain into a chilled coupe
Garnish with three cocktail onions on a pick
38/43Whiskey Smash
The only whiskey drink girls and guys can agree on
By Dale DeGroff
2 oz. Rittenhouse Bonded Rye Whiskey
3 Lemon Wedges
.75 oz. Simple Syrup
6 Mint Leaves (plus 1 sprig for garnish)
Muddle the lemon wedges and simple syrup then add the rye
Shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass filled with ice
Garnish with a mint sprig
By Dale DeGroff
Recipe courtesy of Jim Meehan39/43**El Diablo **
Try it instead of a margarita
2 oz. Siembra Azul Blanco Tequila
1 oz. House Ginger Beer
.75 oz. Theuriet Crème de Cassis
.75 oz. Lemon Juice
Shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass filled with ice
Garnish with a lemon wheel and candied ginger
40/43**Rust Belt **
An easy-drinking vanilla-y cocktail (an instant classic)
By John deBary of PDT
1.5 oz. Barbancourt 8 Year Old Rum
.5 oz. Navan Vanilla Liqueur
.5 oz. Lemon Juice
.5 oz. Lime Juice
.25 oz. Kassatly Chtaura Oregat
1 Organic Egg White
Dry shake (no ice) then shake with ice and strain into a chilled coupe
Garnish with 2 spritzes of Angostura Bitters
Recipe courtesy of Jim Meehan41/43**Old Fashioned **
Sugar, bitters, whiskey—simple
2 oz. bourbon
2 dashes bitters
1 splash water
1 teaspoon sugar
1 maraschino cherry
1 orange wedge
Mix sugar, water and bitters
Muddle orange wedge and cherry
Pour in bourbon and ice, and stir
Recipe courtesy of Jim Meehan42/43Last Word
An intro to Green Chartreuse
.75 oz. Tanqueray Gin
.75 oz. Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
.75 oz. Green Chartreuse
.75 oz. Lime Juice
Shake with ice and strain into a chilled coupe
Serve without a garnish
Recipe courtesy of Jim Meehan43/43Ramos Gin Fizz
Rivals Bloody Mary for best breakfast drink
2 oz. Beefeater Gin
.5 oz. Lime Juice
.5 oz. Lemon Juice
.75 oz. Simple Syrup
.75 oz. Heavy Cream
1 Egg White
5 drops of Marivani Orange Flower Water
Dry shake, then shake with ice and strain into a chilled collins glass
Top with 1 oz. Club Soda
No garnish