The best cocktail bars in New York City

Say hello to your new favourite neighbourhood cocktail bar: The Wayland. This modest watering hole combines innovative cocktails with American comfort food served nightly until 4 am. House ingredients like apple-spice bitters and tarragon-white peppercorn syrup shine through, promising quality drinks in an unpretentious, friendly atmosphere. Regular live music and performances keep things fresh.

Tucked away in The Standard East Village, NO BAR is a vibrant gay bar where anyone and everyone is welcome. It’s also one of the first queer bars inside a major hotel chain. The name is a reference to No Holds Barred, setting the tone for the atmosphere of inclusivity inside. Come for everything from after-work happy hour to late-night dance parties and drag shows.

For one of NYC’s hippest cocktail experiences, Pouring Ribbons is a bright, second-story lounge with a small but smart menu. The owners double as award-winning mixologists, so expect new and creative concoctions. Don’t be intimidated by the unique offerings, though; each cocktail includes descriptions on how refreshing, spirituous, comforting and/or adventurous it is, promising a perfect match to your mood.

Caffe Dante first opened in 1915 as an espresso bar and cafe, popular with the South Village’s Italian community. The cosy cafe quickly became a neighbourhood institution, seeing the likes of Hemingway, Al Pacino, and Alec Baldwin pass through its doors. Today, the storied cafe is known simply as Dante and, as a homage to its roots, features Italian aperitivi and cocktails. One sip of their draught negronis and you’ll quickly understand why Dante is regularly dubbed one of the world’s best bars.

This daring NYC cocktail bar gets its name from a seed, aptly setting the tone for its spice-driven drink menu. Expect unlikely combinations of infused liquors, exotic spices and—in some cocktails—even pork and dairy additions. Mace’s namesake drink is a stunning mix of Aperol, aquavit, beet juice, orange acid, young Thai coconut cordial and mace mist. It all sounds very unusual and experimental (it’s supposed to), yet somehow it works.

Need a tropical respite on a Monday night? Hop over to BlackTail, a Cuban-inspired cantina recently dubbed the ‘Best New Cocktail bar in America.’ Influenced by the prohibition-era flying boats that delivered Americans into the embrace of Cuba’s booze-friendly shores, BlackTail brings the romance of 1920s Havana to Battery Park City. A theme that could easily be overly campy is instead executed to perfection, so grab that boozy rum drink and indulge beneath the palm fronds.

As the name suggests, Amor y Amargo gives tribute to an oft-overlooked yet oh-so-necessary drink component: bitters. Famed chef Ravi DeRossi and Bittermans are the creative forces behind the Amari + craft bitters-focused menu, where imbibers can find a bitters tasting room and Italian specialty cocktails in a retro, no-frills East Village establishment.

New York has its fair share of rooftop bars promising spectacular city vistas, but our favourite is located 65 stories above Rockefeller Center: Bar SixtyFive. New York’s highest cocktail lounge quite literally towers above the rest, boasting an outdoor terrace bar and views of nearly all of Manhattan. Make a reservation for sunset, then stay to watch the sparkling NYC skyline as it lights up before you.

Leyenda is a queer-owned Latin cocktail bar and restaurant bringing Central and South American flavours to a chic, cathedral pew-lined Brooklyn space. The outdoor patio is one of the city’s best spots to sip on pisco or mezcal during New York’s gorgeous summer months. Expect fantastic flavour combinations like La Sonambula, a smart mixture of Jalapeño-infused blanco tequila, lemon, chamomile, mole & Peychaud’s bitters.

No list of cocktail bars in New York City is complete without Death & Co, an intimate East Village bar famed for fueling a revived interest in cocktail culture. Here you’ll find some of NYC’s best bartenders donning bow ties and suspenders, expertly serving exquisite “modern classics.” The menu is extensive (in 2010 Death & Co achieved the award for world’s best cocktail list); we can’t get enough of the Crazy Diamond, a mix of cognac, hazelnut eau de vie, strawberry, and sparkling wine.

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