There are many factors that make for agreat drinking city– solid happy hours , well-disposed locals , high - end cocktail , and down - oddment dives among them . And behind every great imbibing city is a host of bartenders . Which led us to wonder : what do the mixologist creditworthy for some of America ’s dependable crapulence consider to be the best drinking cities ( aside from the single they call home ) ? There ’s some passion for Portland here . But not the more obvious one . These are the honest drinking city , harmonize to some of America ’s top bartender .
LOUISVILLE, KY
Morgan Schick , originative director , The Bon Vivants / deception Dog(address and info)San Francisco , CA"Three of my favorite bar in the earth go on to be in Louisville , KY . There ’s a gross ton of whiskey that I do n’t get to drink anywhere else , which is fun , and there are a couple of bartenders in town who I enjoy drinking with . Louisville is a endearing crapulence Ithiel Town especially for its chance and unpretentious air . One of my pet bars there is this tiny neighborhood place in one of the onetime bowling alleys in the res publica – and they have a tremendous whisky list . You just get to go bowl and toast a gang of great whiskey . "
Silas Axtell , bar manager , Townsman(address and info)Boston , MA"I have some great memories drinking in Louisville , KY . I intend the bars in that Ithiel Town are really straight . There is a great marriage of the foxiness of cocktail , quality of spirits , and amusement . "
SAN DIEGO, CA
Jeffrey Morgenthaler , bar manager , Clyde Common & Pépé le Moko(address and info)Portland , OR"you’re able to get a delicious pitcher of crappy margaritas at lunch , switch to kick - fanny beer , and then suddenly you ’re toast a really well - made cocktail . San Diego has it all , plus sunshine . "
MEXICO CITY
Alba Huerta , owner & operator , Julep(address and info)Houston , TX"Currently , my favorite drinking city is Mexico City . The bar scene is animated and implausibly diverse . There ’s great cocktail bars like Limantour and Bang Bang , but also small mezcalerias , night clubs , pulquerias , and supper clubs like Puebla 109 . Some of the best eating place in the man can be encounter in near propinquity . "
NEW YORK CITY
Justin Elliott , theater director of hospitality , The Townsend(address and info)Austin , TX"NYC has always been and will always be the nifty drinking city in the world – and it ’s not just as a part of some variety of contemporaneous , cocktological rebirth - inspired pilgrimage , but because every individual neighborhood in NYC still deeply cherishes the ' local ' in ways that nearly every other city has either abandoned or never ever find out to love . I check to drink in New York ; I learned to tend bar there , at Dominie ’s Hoek , a region post in Long Island City , Queens . I did n’t take much about cocktail , but after most a decade there , I learned about biotic community and the essential part of the streak and bartender in that residential district .
" Sure , go to New York and pay your respects to Employees Only and Death & Co. and chart the large Sasha Petraske ’s family Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . This is required . But find the time to explore the different neighborhoods through the eyes of the local bar and the denizens therein , as well . "
Max Seaman , handler , The Varnish(address and info)Los Angeles , CA"NYC … as long as someone else is paying . There are cocktail barroom on every corner , mythical wine plan at every restaurant , and tardy nights . "
San Diego, CA | Courtesy of The Nolen
Ezra Star , general handler , Drink(address and info)Boston , MA"My preferred metropolis to imbibe in the US is still New York . The community there is very welcoming and always seems to be growing . There is always a new barroom with someone trying to make something cool and unique . After New York , I ’d have to say Paris ; the imbibition scene is very informal and has become more integrated into unremarkable culture . "
HOUSTON, TX
Antonio Matta , bartender , Firehouse Lounge(address and info)Austin , TX"I always have a great prison term when I go to Houston . There are some truly glorious bars that cover all of your drinking needs . Maybe I like it because it ’s so unexpected – when you go to San Francisco , Portland , Seattle , Chicago , or New York … you bear greatness . And with Houston , there is n’t as much of a reputation but there are these total gems . "
NEW ORLEANS, LA
Jim Kearns , co - owner & head bartender , The Happiest Hour & Slowly Shirley(address and info)New York , NY"I love the mode all scene of the metropolis ’s finish , from food and drinking to euphony , seem to just grow out of the land of course , completely unstrained . It ’s a city that has continuously embraced its alone refinement and foster its growing for centuries . "
Robby Haynes , beverage director , Analogue(address and info)Chicago , IL"Hands down , my favorite city to drink in is New Orleans . There is so much to see and do in the Crescent City and unless you are going to church , you could check just about everything off your travel list with an ice - cold potable in your manus . "
Manisse Davison , beverage coach / bartender , Boiler House(address and info)San Antonio , TX"So much culture and full-bodied history surrounds and wrap the city ; so many cocktail develop in the heart of the Gallic Quarter . The laissez - faire attitude ( and the crapulence laws ) does n’t limit drink minute so you always feel like ‘ hey , it ’s five o’clock somewhere . ’ ”
Louisville, KY | Haymarket Whiskey Bar
PORTLAND, ME
Andrew Pierce , saloon manager , Toro(address and info)Boston , MA"There are some really nerdy multitude behind the legal community who care talking about what they do . "
VENICE, ITALY
Christian Daly , head bartender , The Third Man(address and info)New York , NY"Venice , Italy – where you could buy bottleful of great wine for three or four euro . ”
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Mexico City | Limantour
New York City | Gabi Porter/Employees Only
Houston, TX | Grand Prize Bar
New Orleans, LA | Scott Gold/Thrillist
Portland, ME | Courtesy of Meredith Perdue
