Savour cocktail hour at these top-shelf bars
10 (mostly boozy) refreshments that are worth building an itinerary around.
Ambitious travellers tend to attack sightseeing with dogged diligence and intensity. Few antidotes counteract this habit better than a well-timed, well-placed and well-mixed cocktail. It can force the most intense holidaymakers to stop, sit and drink in their surroundings. Here, we highlight 10 refreshments (one alcohol-free) that pair exceptionally well with warm summer evenings, served by some of our favourite bars around the world. Many of the beverages call for ingredients you’d never find at your local grocery store (see: the speculaas-flavoured gum syrup featured in the Flying Dutchmen), but that’s the point. It’s how these drinks express their home turf that makes them memorable.
1. Tahiti Nui’s Mai Tai (Kauai, Hawaii)
In 1963, just four years after Hawaii became a state, “Aunty Louise” Marston and her husband Bruce opened Tahiti Nui in Hanalei, a beach town on Kauai’s north shore. Their Mai Tai has since become legend. The Marston family still runs the Nui, slinging the two-toned, pineapple-garnished rum drink – a concoction originally devised, it’s said, by “Trader Vic” Bergeron in Oakland, California – but here made according to Aunty Louise’s secret recipe.
Best seat in the house: You can make like George Clooney who, in the 2011 film The Descendants, sat at the bar, beneath the bamboo beams, or during daylight hours, enjoy a view of the mountains from a table on the lanai.
Prime time:Evenings feature live music, often traditional.
Sound bite: Let purists scoff at pineapple on pizza. Here it’s joined with ham or Kalua Pig on a garlic-butter-brushed pie. Just don’t ask for “a Hawaiian”. It’s called the Mainland.
2. Bar Ishinohana’s Reimagined Moscow Mule (Tokyo)
Beneath bustling Shibuya, in the basement of a nondescript office building, you’ll find Bar Ishinohana, a dim den of tranquillity. In bartender Shinobu Ishigaki’s Reimagined Moscow Mule, vodka is mixed with raspberries and orange juice, then gets a herbal touch from lemongrass syrup, before being topped with ginger beer.
Best seat in the house: While customers crave bar spots to watch the mixologists work, the benefits flow the other direction too, says Ishigaki. “My guests have always been a great influence on me, and I feel that my cocktails would not have evolved without them.”
Prime time: At least in Ishigaki’s view, it’s right when the bar opens (at 5pm on most nights). “There is a tense atmosphere where the customers and bartenders have not yet relaxed, and I always find it a pleasure to have that kind of atmosphere in my bar.”
Sound bite:Ishigaki recommends the bar’s Orangette, candied peels of Awaji Island oranges dipped in chocolate.
3. JG Skyhigh’s Ginger Margarita (Philadelphia)
Whatever the weather, the Ginger Margarita at this Philadelphia lounge atop the Four Seasons hotel will infuse you with a golden glow. Made with Arette reposado tequila, Cointreau, ginger and lime, it might, however, have trouble outshining the Foster and Partners-designed space: a 12m-tall glass-walled atrium high above the city.
Best seat in the house: For a premium view of the lounge and the city, general manager Adam Smith suggests a spot in the back right corner of the room, closest to the window.
Prime time:Come sunset, the light reflected from surrounding buildings fills the bar.
Sound bite: JG Skyhigh shares a kitchen with the Jean-Georges Philadelphia restaurant, which means cut-above bar snacks. Try eating the yellowfin tuna tartare with ginger soy sauce.
4 Topside’s Hummingbird (Baltimore)
As cities go, Baltimore has a disproportionate number of bird associations. Orioles inspired the name of the town’s baseball team. Ravens are forevermore associated with Baltimore’s favourite son, Edgar Allan Poe – and its football team. And at Topside, on the roof of Revival, a 14-storey hotel in the Mount Vernon neighbourhood, you’ll find the Hummingbird, an alcohol-free, flower-garnished cocktail. Made with Seedlip Grove 42, lemon, orange bitters, falernum and hibiscus rooibos tea, it offers the complexity and character of a boozy drink without the slowdown.
Best seat in the house: It’s hard to go wrong with any window spot that let’s you take in the (humming) bird’s-eye view of the Washington Monument, and even glimpses of the inner harbour.
Prime time: “Sunset time wins this one,” says Achraf Iraqui, the restaurant’s director of food and beverage. “Guests absolutely love it, and it captures the magic of Topside.”
Sound bite: Iraqui suggests yet another bird: duck breast, served with celery root puree and apricot jus.
5. Savas’s Moscow Mule (Madrid)
In Madrid’s Barrio de Lavapies neighbourhood, around the corner from the Teatro Valle-Inclan, is Savas, a snug space where red-painted pipes snake over art-adorned white walls. Its version of a Moscow Mule gets a splash of red, too, via a house-infused cranberry vodka, which also makes an appearance in the bar’s exquisite Negroni Nordico made with vermouth, Campari and a dash of Akvavit.
Best seat in the house: “A small table just by the window,” writes co-owner Gintautas Arlauskas. “You can see all that’s happening in the bar and outside.”
Prime time: Right when it opens at 6pm, if you want that window seat.
Sound bite: While only mini pretzels are currently on offer, they rival the drinks for intrigue: spiced with caraway seeds, smoked paprika and chilli flakes.
6. The Rooster’s Basil (Antiparos, Greece)
If you’re at the Rooster, a wellness resort on a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea, you’re already on the path to relaxation, but a cocktail like the Basil will nudge you further down that path. Anchored by pepper, basil and lemon-peel-infused vodka, with St Germain liqueur, local honey and juice from lemons grown on the hotel’s farm, it is a sippable distillation of summer.
Best seat in the house: For cushy views of the land and seascape, commandeer one of the couches at the outdoor bar.
Prime time: Just before twilight, according to the hotel’s owner Athanasia Comninos, when the bar plays “atmospheric sexy beats” to accompany beautiful sunset views.
Sound bite: Flatbread with prosciutto cotto, fresh tomatoes, artichokes, zucchini and fresh truffle – made with farm-plucked ingredients.
7. Fahri Konsolos’s Mardini (Istanbul)
The stroll from the Kadikoy ferry terminals on the Asian side of the Bosphorus through the neighbourhood’s narrow streets to cocktail bar Fahri Konsolos is just far enough to work up a thirst. The lounge’s name means “honorary consul”, which co-founder Burak Ayaz says is a nod to discerning drinkers curious to learn what it takes to make a fine cocktail. Consider the Mardini, made with gin, lemon, pomegranate molasses and a simple syrup flavoured with sumac.
Best seat in the house: Ayaz is quick to recommend a spot at the bar, where the team, himself included, “is really chatty”.
Prime time: Come early if you want the counsel of a voluble bartender, or the quiet to contemplate your drink.
Sound bite: Small dishes of pickles and olives come with cocktails.
8. Flying Dutchmen Cocktails’ signature mix (Amsterdam)
The backbar of more than 800 spirits at Amsterdam’s Flying Dutchmen Cocktails could nearly refill the Singel canal, right outside its door. Its namesake cocktail combines barrel-aged Bols Genever and orange bitters with flower water, lemon juice, and speculaas-flavoured gum syrup.
Best seat in the house: A no-brainer, given the wall full of bottles and the expert hands at work: “At the bar,” says co-owner Timo Janse.
Prime time: Though the bar opens at 5pm, “the coolest time to visit is after everything else in the city is closed. So during weekdays, after 2am,” says Janse, when the crowd includes “the night owls of the city, and drinks industry peeps looking for good drinks”.
Sound bite: Japanese-style nut mixes arrive with the drinks, but you’re not there to eat.
flyingdutchmencocktails.shop/bar
9. The Morse Bar’s Coeur de Lion (Oxford, England)
A favourite of author Colin Dexter’s, this bar at the Randolph Hotel in Oxford was named for Dexter’s Inspector Morse. Behold wood panelling, a vaulted ceiling and palpable history. Summon some courage for a Coeur de Lion, made with pineapple, ginger, apricot, dry vermouth and vodka.
Best seat in the house: Juan Tudela, the food and beverage director, recommends “grabbing one of the low, winged armchairs and hunkering down, facing outward to the lobby, and watching the world go by”.
Prime time: Aperitivo hour, says Tudela, when guests stop in for pre-dinner drinks. “There’s a sense of anticipation in the air.”
Sound bite: The freshness of the drinks finds its foil in rich, house-cured smoked salmon served with pickled cucumber and almonds.
10. The Cleat’s Farito Mojito (Key Biscayne, Florida)
With water views, salty breezes and toes-in-the-sand outdoor seating, right where No Name Harbor meets Biscayne Bay, the Cleat is Miami’s most lyrically located beach bar. Its Farito Mojito tweaks the Cuban classic with guava and coconut.
Best seat in the house: If a band is playing in the tiki hut, set up at one of the nearby barrels, where you can still chat without straining your voice while enjoying a clear view of the action.
Prime time: Though the sunsets are notable, Danny Gonzalez, who runs the bar with his family, says, “Call me crazy, but I also really like it when it’s completely overcast and gloomy. I think it’s almost just as nice as a killer sunset.”
Sound bite: The fresh, tart ceviche. Or get a charcuterie plate for a salty counterpoint to the sweet drink.
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