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.
ABV’s cocktail game is tight, but simple; you wont find dozen-ingredient drinks, just no-frills cocktails organized by spirit. The bar snacks are stellar, from mini fish & chips to potpie empanadas. Read more.
With its beautifully editorialized cocktail list, Alembic is the Haight’s de-facto cocktail joint. Whiskey is a serious subject here, as is the gin and tequila collection. Read more.
Bar Agricole embodies the West Coast drinks style—seasonal, simple and ingredient-driven. Herbs and farmer’s market fruit are usual suspects, as are housemade tinctures. 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.
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.
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.
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.
Hotsy Totsy Club has been going strong since 1939. Bartenders mix classics and newfangled drinks for regulars and visitors while the jukebox plays above the scratchy murmur of the shuffleboard. 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.
“Rickhouse” references buildings that store aging bourbon. In keeping, the place is constructed from salvaged wood that has served as a barrel stave in Kentucky. Read more.
Smuggler’s Cove has all the trappings of Polynesian paradise: rum, skulls, & a babbling brook. It’s one of the few tiki bars that perfects the traditional formula while establishing its own style. 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.
Trick Dog is the superstar of SF’s cocktail scene. With ever-changing, always quirky menu concepts and rockabilly bartenders, Trick Dog is sure to go down in history alongside other SF classics. 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.
