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Gold Bar

From taprooms and speakeasies to dives and wine bars, the best places to drink in Seattle are all right here.

Seattle

Seattle’s bars have led the push for safety requirements in the current phase of the pandemic, producing amazing outdoor spaces on short notice, banding together to require proof of vaccination or negative Covid tests when the authorities wouldn’t do it, and making sure that both their staff and their customers feel welcomed back as people adjust to the new world. And they did it all while making kick-ass creative cocktails, curating stellar wine lists, and pouring the perfect pints. For locals and visitors looking to see what a city full of smart, committed bar owners can do, this list will direct everyone to where they should drink right now—from a New Orleans-style speakeasy to a place where you can order Jell-O shots and dumplings.

Seattle’s bars have led the push for safety requirements in the current phase of the pandemic, producing amazing outdoor spaces on short notice, banding together to require proof of vaccination or negative Covid tests when the authorities wouldn’t do it, and making sure that both their staff and their customers feel welcomed back as people adjust to the new world. And they did it all while making kick-ass creative cocktails, curating stellar wine lists, and pouring the perfect pints. For locals and visitors looking to see what a city full of smart, committed bar owners can do, this list will direct everyone to where they should drink right now—from a New Orleans-style speakeasy to a place where you can order Jell-O shots and dumplings.

Replacing No Anchor, the highly acclaimed beer bar from the same owners, this spot tones down the formality in favor of a casual neighborhood feel with a lightly ironic retro vibe. Marrying the fun of neighboring Navy Strength with more straightforward cocktails and the same commitment to good food as No Anchor, it offers prickly pear frozen margaritas in plastic novelty cups and Amaro Meletti on tap. Orange wine, draft craft beer, and cans of White Claw share the menu, along with a smash patty burger, cheesesteak wontons, and an oyster po boy.

Trade Winds Tavern

This tiny, elegant spot with just twelve total seats between the bar and tables is all about bringing the best spirits from around the world to Seattle sippers. That includes Japanese whisky, vintage amari, rum, and mezcal. The cocktails lean toward classics, but heavily tested and designed to bring out the best in the star spirit. A separate street-facing window serves the food program of skewered and grilled meats and vegetables.

Photo courtesy of The Doctor's Office

The Doctor's Office

THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE

Tucked inside the Lika Love boutique, owner Malika Siddiq runs a speakeasy bar (enter through the alley) inspired by her hometown of New Orleans. In the Heart employs the excellent sense of style that originally took her out of the restaurant industry and into fashion—rich colors and soft seating meet shiny gold furniture and sparkling chandeliers to give a swanky but welcoming feel. Snack on Creole-seasoned popcorn or seafood dip or get a hearty portion of mac n cheese or jambalaya as you sip on NOLA’s classic drinks: Ramos gin fizz, milk punch, French 75, Sazerac, and Vieaux Carre.

Photo courtesy of In the Heart

In The Heart

In The Heart Speakeasy Bar

Step out of Seattle and into Marseille at this old world-style wine bar featuring a carefully curated selection of French wines by the glass and the bottle. While serious about wine—and a great place to taste your way into serious knowledge about it—people come as much for the smart, unpretentious service and spreads of charcuterie, cheese, and beloved steak tartare as they do the drinks.

Photo courtesy of Le Caviste

Le Caviste

A fun bar within a bar, patrons enter this Northwest “tropical immersion” bar through Rumba and walk into a fantastical room with an octopus overhead (its name is Kiki). The creative drinks from Rumba’s excellent bar staff all arrive in wild glasswear—the I Believe comes in a camera lens, the four boys in a crockpot, the Ambazombie on an Amazon box, and the Mohai-Tai in a Rainier can. The food menu leans more toward its tropical roots, as does the tropical classics section of the menu, but the Seattle-centric nods to history and culture spin this unique bar into its own category.

Inside Passage-Seattle

Inside Passage

This "low-lit, gilded refuge" north of Denny Park serves up creative Caribbean-inspired cocktails and Latin American snacks in a space with whimsical character inside and out: think pool party and slip-n-slide, plus individual "living rooms" where small groups can try the Pisco Punch with Gifford Pineapple Liquor &amp; "sparkles," or their line of bottled carbonated cocktails.

This whimsical drinks destination in an old house on 36th is run by a Reno native who spent years working in some of Seattle's best bars, and is designed to attract industry folks with its stylish and colorful (yet cozy) interior, sprawling patio, and a focus on killer cocktails with great names like the Mezcal-based How to Kill a Friend and the Desert Poetry made with tequila, passionfruit, and pineapple—each with creative stories woven around them. In addition to cocktails and such, they also serve dumplings and Jell-O shots, a surprising and intriguing pairing.

Stampede Cocktail Club 

Sprawling rooms filled with games, televisions, and cozy corners combined with a seemingly infinite number of taps make this beer bar one of our favorites. Comfortable and gently worn, much like the couches scattered around the space, the homey setting and tavern license (that’s no hard alcohol, just beer and wine) means that you can bring in your own food (and your dog).

COURTESY OF MARK B. BAUSCHKE

Beveridge Place Pub

The veteran crew behind Fremont’s Manolin took inspiration from their time in Sri Lanka when they opened this tiny Ballard space late last year. The dark wood and pink and blue paint on the walls are as rich as the short, precise cocktail menu, where ghee comes in gin form in the curry leaf gimlet, and not just brushed onto their pillowy naan. You’ll want to tell all your friends about the crispy tender Kerala fried chicken, but just don’t bring them: There’s really no room for groups larger than four.

 COURTESY OF NOAH FORBES

Rupee Bar

Mutsuko Soma gained fame for her subtle soba noodles at Kamonegi, but at her next-door bar, there’s no such understatement: This is a place for guests to explore sake and for Soma to experiment. The small bar carries dozens of varieties of sake and servers are always up to walk rookies or experts through the offerings and help you find one (or four) to try—and guide you through the wildly creative menu, recently returned from its pandemic hiatus. Look for snacks like duck fat Chex mix and sake kasu marinated cheese, plus “light dinners” such as Spam and chicken liver mousse with ramen furikake and an okonomiyaki dog.

HANNYATOU

Hannyatou

While everyone was waiting... and waiting... to see what former Zig Zag bartender Erik Hakkinen would do with the old Lusty Lady spot he went ahead and opened an elegant addition to Belltown cocktail row. The drinks lean French, but ultimately this is a bartender’s bar, and thus includes agave spirits, rums, and Japanese whisky, along with the brandies, cognacs, and gins. Food, like the decor, is effortlessly simple but sophisticated -- tinned seafood, charcuterie, and snacks -- with a playful note, like the “Horns of Plenty:” caviar served with creme fraiche and Bugles. That said the menu is currently limited as they reopen.&nbsp; How to order: You'll need a reservation if you hope to score a seat at one of their five tables.

Roquette

When beloved local radio DJ John Richards announced he would open a vegan bar featuring music on vinyl, Seattleites were torn: As much as everyone loves John in the Morning, it sounded like a magnet for the kind of aloof judgement reputed to come from folks who insist their ears need analog. With thousands of records to grab from the shelves and an intriguing cocktail menu that features bold flavors (and descriptions like “cool Icelandic menthol joy”), nobody needed to worry. Community comes first here, followed by a touchingly pure love for great music.

Life on Mars Seattle

Life On Mars

Linda’s is the platonic ideal of a Northwest bar, with good music, a vaguely woodsy vibe (provided in part by a taxidermied buffalo head above the bar), and plenty of Rainier tall boys. With more than two decades under its belt, this bar has laid out the welcome mat for Seattle’s most famous celebrities -- it is supposedly the last place Kurt Cobain was seen alive -- and its newest citizens alike, all without fanfare. Just a drink and a dark corner from which to watch the world go by. Also, their bathrooms are really nice. Just kidding, but the Cobain thing is true.

Linda's Tavern

It’s just like your home, only you don't have to do the cleaning, someone's in the kitchen whipping-up a variety of sandwiches and charcuterie, and suddenly, the living room shelves are lined with bottles of excellent wine. Seriously, this converted house brings all the comforts of home (with a lovely patio to boot) together with a well-curated wine bar. Taste through what’s open, have a glass and relax, or pay a small corkage to open any of the bottles in the store.

COURTESY OF BOTTLEHOUSE

Bottlehouse

Once a place to pick up cigarettes and malt liquor, this old corner store has undergone a slow but complete transformation into one of Seattle's leading beer bars (and spawned a second location in the Central District). Inside, 49 taps spill over with brews of all styles -- though the focus is on IPAs -- and they still sell a few snacks held over from the shop's previous incarnation, while outside you'll find a small patio and a rotating selection of Seattle's most popular food trucks.

Chuck's Hop Shop

When it opened a decade ago, on what was then an out-of-the-way block on Olive Way, KHSC was at the cutting edge of a speakeasy resurgence. But now it trailblazes again, rolling out its expanded Filipino-inspired menu when the bar itself added a subterranean space with rich wallpaper and a crystal chandelier. This effort has more than doubled the room. One thing that hasn't changed: There's still almost no way to tell there's a bar there from the street. Text to reserve a table: 206-979-7049

Knee High Stocking Co.

One of the best beer bars in America (seriously, it’s good), the PB is located in a stunning old funeral home with a vaulted ceiling and tons of dark polished wood. It also takes an appropriately worshipful approach to the 30+ brews on tap, some of which they even pour through a flavor-infusing filter, giving them a... killer flavor. Thank you, thank you.

Pine Box 

The Pine Box

It's easier to find than ever thanks to the new outdoor seating area near it's still largely unmarked entrance off an alleyway, but the secret's been out on this speakeasy-style bar for more than a decade. It makes some of the best cocktails in the city (like the bourbon/fig &amp; maple syrup/lemon juice Death Star), all in a tiny, two-level space with a tin ceiling, and, surprise, an actual bathtub in the middle of the floor.

Bathtub Gin & Co. 

We once named it Seattle’s best cocktail bar, thanks to a smart and mature drink menu centered around Italian amari (aperitifs, digestifs, and fernets, etc.) and one of the most beautiful bars in the city. It’s in a spectacular space, with a dark tin ceiling, a beautiful chandelier, and an oversized patio with a retractable roof that might be one of Seattle's best outdoor drinking spots.

Herb & Bitter Public House

Nominated for a 2020 James Beard award, and named the Best New American Bar in 2018, this funky drinking establishment from the people behind Rob Roy and the new next-door Trade Winds Tavern, calls itself a Tropical Cocktail Bar. But really, the beachy feel comes with cocktail inspiration from all over the world—like the Japanese-inspired Space Crush, or the incredibly strong 1934 Zombie (limit two per guest).

Navy Strength 

Opened by a pair of industry vets, TBC focuses on fresh, local food, and on whiskey that is the opposite of local. Their spirits menus feature hundreds of choices from around the world—particularly Japan—all of which they'll be happy to share with you and help pair with dinner options that include dry-brined steak, Dungeness crab linguine carbonara, and more.

The Ballard Cut

This irreverent, moody cocktail spot a block or so from Broadway somehow manages to be seriously good without taking anything seriously. The drink menu is packed with boozy slushies, boilermakers, "trashcans", and other ironic booze options, while the food menu is highlighted by their version of fast food-style combos, including one with an upscale version of a Seattle Dog, cheesy fries &amp; bar nuts. Oh, and if that's not enough, they promise the "weekends turn up", presumably with a not-so-straight face.

Rose Temple Bar 

Rose Temple

<a href="https://www.thrillist.com/authors/naomi-tomky" target="_blank">Naomi Tomky</a> is a contributor for Thrillist.

<a href="https://www.thrillist.com/authors/bradley-foster" target="_blank">Bradley Foster</a> is a former Thrillist editor.

Beverage Director

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From a New Orleans-style speakeasy to a Jell-O shots & dumplings spot.

Seattle’s bars have led the push for safety requirements in the current phase of the pandemic, producing amazing outdoor spaces on short notice, banding together to require proof of vaccination or negative Covid tests when the authorities wouldn’t do it, and making sure that both their staff and their customers feel welcomed back as people adjust to the new world.

Gold Bar

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