Go to the Alembic and order classic cocktails. They UNDERSTAND. The mac & cheese is something special too.
Order a "Le Bon Vie" (Gin, not vodka) - ask for extra Basil to be muddled and garnished with basil instead of lemon.
Billed as a detective agency set inside Bourbon & Branch, it’s really a reservations-only cocktail bar with only a few tables & a prix fixe menu, where $30 gets you 3 cocktails. Read more.
The Interval is a good place to sit and think about time. Glass beakers of small production spirits float above the bar, and the menu is split into categories that allow exploration of one drink. Read more.
Trou Normand is a mecca for French spirits and charcuterie, much of which is plucked straight from the source and cured in the back, respectively. Read more.
Prizefighter, a bar with zero pretension, makes some of the best drinks in the Bay Area. With a stellar spirits collection, you can nerd out with the bartenders or just sit back and let them drive. Read more.
Holy Water is a low-key bar that happens to make great drinks. The religious undertones can skew schtick-y (a baptism mural, holy water bottles), but the 3-4 ingredient drinks are solid and evergreen. Read more.
Forgery mixes old & new school in looks & drinks—the latter created by two of SF’s finest bartenders, Ken Luciano and Jacques Bezuidenhout. Expect balanced cocktails in a swanky yet friendly setting. Read more.
Comstock was formerly a real saloon, and still has the pisser trough to prove it. More notably, it was one of the first SF bars to counter the fetishized cocktail movement with a laidback vibe. Read more.
There’s nothing groundbreaking about Fauna’s cocktails, but you can count on a solid Gold Rush on the Flora menu, or classic riffs on the Fauna menu. As expected, décor reflects the respective names. Read more.
With a solid classic cocktail list as well as a number of playful riffs, 15 Romolo has established itself as one of the most consistent and enduring craft cocktail bars in San Francisco. Read more.
