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 Read more...

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. Read more...

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? Read more...

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 Read more...

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. Read more...

This seriously sexy space at the Regent Hotel in Singapore almost single-handedly made the city state’s hotel bars cool again. The low-lit New York vibe, stellar drinks based on classics and, above all, fantastic hospitality have put Manhattan repeatedly at the top of several awards lists and in people’s minds. Recently appointed head bartender Sophia Kang and her team continue Read more...

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 Read more...

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. Read more...

No matter the workings of the cocktail world around it, the Connaught Bar stays true to its principles – artful drinks and graceful service in a stylish setting. Under the watchful gaze of Ago Perrone, the hotel’s director of mixology, the bar moves forward with an effortless glide. Last year marked 10 years since designer David Collins unveiled the bar’s Read more...

he evergreen Employees Only, beloved by almost everyone who visits, is the only venue to have appeared on all 11 lists of The World’s 50 Best Bars. Over the years it has come to occupy a hallowed place in industry hearts, centrally because of its operators’ forensic understanding of how to deliver a fun bar experience. EO, as it’s known Read more...