Bar Agricole, San Francisco Bar Agricole
Rhum agricole–lover Thad Vogler, who designed the menus for Beretta and the Slanted Door, co-owns this airy, rustic-industrial tavern.
Related: Cocktails for a healthy happy hour
Cure, New Orleans Cure
Bartenders at Cure use droppers to add house-made tinctures to their cocktails, which are served alongside tasty dishes like a duck & sweet potato hash.
Drink, Boston Drink
Star chef Barbara Lynch’s bar dispenses with menus; mixologist John Gertsen and his team custom-make drinks like the Golden State for each guest.
Holeman & Finch Public House, Atlanta Holeman & Finch
From the team behind Restaurant Eugene, this gastropub serves Southern-inspired cocktails such as the Spice Bandit by mixologist Greg Best.
PDT, New York CityPDT
Mixologist Jim Meehan, deputy editor of Food & Wine Cocktails, obsesses over obscure classic drinks at this excellent reservations-only lounge, whose name means Please Don’t Tell. The (unmarked) door is in a phone booth inside the hot dog joint Crif Dogs.

Todd Thrasher makes the cocktails at this chandelier-lit speakeasy (there’s no sign outside, just a blue light). It’s owned by the team behind the terrific Restaurant Eve.

You can order Anu Apte’s Ginger Persuasion or Zane Harris’s Aster Family Sour (pictured) at this cool, 1970s-inspired cocktail den.


A collaboration between cocktail magnates Sasha Petraske and Eric Alperin, The Varnish is accessed through a secret door at Cole’s, the destination French Dip restaurant.

With chandeliers and a fireplace, this lounge is modeled after early-19th-century English clubs and French salons. Floor-to-ceiling curtains define three rooms, where guests enjoy concoctions like Baron’s Brew (tea-infused gin, lemon juice, neroli-violet syrup and house-made tonic).