10 Places to Get Your Cocktail on in Beijing
It’s no secret that we enjoy imbibing, so it’s a good thing that Beijing is home to a really great bar scene. We recently highlighted some of the capital’s best craft beer spots. This time around we’re turning our attention to Beijing’s best cocktail bars – and there are a bunch. If you don’t have any plans this weekend, perhaps this will inspire you to get out of the house and relish one of the excellent cocktails that are served up in Beijing.
1. Palms L.A. Kitchen & Bar
Few places blur the lines between restaurant and party spot as well as Palms L.A. Kitchen & Bar. But then again, few places blur the lines between being a dining and drinking destination as well as the city of L.A. Yes, Palms offers all the Korean-Mexican classics you love – miso hot dogs, cheese fries with dried seaweed. But, most importantly, they mix up dope-ass cocktails. Think tamarind margaritas, coconut margaritas and El Imigrantes (or as they put it, “house vodka Red Bull”). Read our full review here.
Ground floor, 66 Xiaguangli Building D, Yuanyang Xinganxian, Chaoyang 朝阳区霞光里66号远洋新干线D座底商（8446 7565）
2. Janes + Hooch
Janes + Hooch marries the concept of a favorite dive bar with a chic urban hangout. It's an institution in Sanlitun and is known for mixing up Asian-inspired beverages accentuated with local ingredients – a touch that we love. Seasonal ingredients help dictate their monthly rotating menu, which always serves to innovate.
4 Gongti Bei Lu (diagonally across from Q Mex), Chaoyang 朝阳区工体北路4号（6503 2757）
3. Mao Mao Chong
The cocktails at Mao’s – such as their sublime ‘Mala’ Mule, a Sichuan peppercorn-infused vodka drink that’s a long way from Moscow – are unique infusions using local ingredients and know-how. Grungey without being grimey, Mao’s eschews flash while still keeping it real. And those pizzas...
12 Banchang Hutong, Jiaodaokou, Dongcheng 东城区交道口南大街板厂胡同12号（6405 5718）
4. Mai Bar
The folks over at Mai Bar are dedicated to making the best cocktails in Gulou. And they do a damn fine job if you ask us. Notice that their name sounds like “My Bar.” Well, that’s exactly how they want their guests to feel: at home. There is a fridge full of beer outside, so you can grab your own drinks. There is also an extensive whisky menu. It's the stuff dreams are made of.
40 Bei Luo Gu Xiang, opposite Nan Luo Gu Xiang, Dongcheng 东城区北锣鼓巷40号,南锣鼓巷对面（138 1125 2641）
5. The Tiki Bungalow
It’s always island time at The Tiki Bungalow. Their expert bartenders mix up some killer cocktails by combining all manner of unlikely ingredients to create delicious, fruity and rum-infused treats. Make sure to try one of our favorites, the Jet Pilot (click here for the full recipe).
34 Jiaodaokou Bei Santiao, Dongcheng 东城区交道口三条34号
6. Bottle, Boot & Cigar (BBC)
BBC is all about providing premium cocktails to the most discerning and refined of drinkers. Within the teeny tiny – yet impeccably decorated – space, patrons will find an impressive selection of premium spirits, homemade bitters and rare vermouths. Drinks are served up in the front room by BBC’s seriously talented bartenders.
1 Taipingzhuang Nanli, Chaoyang 朝阳区太平庄南里1号（186 1405 7407）
7. Parlor
As the name might suggest, it’s a slick-backed, pinstriped, brogue-wearing cat of a 1920s cocktail lounge. The spot-lit entrance is tucked away on a shadowy alley, well-hidden and the perfect spot for roughing up a stinking rat. There isn’t a door policy, but if there were, it would read: “no riffraff”. We recommend the Mala Old Fashioned, the classic whisky cocktail with added Sichuan spice, and the sugary sweet Rose Tango, mixing creamy egg white with a floral zest.
Daily 6pm-2am, 39-8 Xingfuercun, Dongcheng
东城区幸福二寸39-8号 (8444 4135)
8. Infusion Room
Infusion Room’s keypad-lock-and-no-sign combo either ensures that IR is the coolest bar IRL, or that its customers have to flail their arms at the window to get someone to let them in. We fell into the latter camp, but once inside, no matter – the osmanthus-infused Aged Negroni (get it? Infusion Room) is one of the city’s few RMB100 cocktails that’s genuinely worth the price.
Just above D Lounge, Gongti Beilu, Courtyard 4, Chaoyang 朝阳区工体北路4号机电院内滚石西门对面(6415 9837)
9. Fang Bar
Fang Bar offers “serious cocktails for not so serious people” says owner Zak, and yeah, we just copy-and-pasted that description from his WeChat because that sums it up so well. Fang is surrounded by the budget bottle shops of its Fangjia Hutong neighbors, but has serious cocktail clout: the Journey West blends Xinjiang grapes, dark rum and sugar for a caramelly sweet, yet highly drinkable effect.
61 Fangjia Hutong, by Gulou Dong Dajie, Dongcheng 东城区方家胡同59号
10. The Distillery
Nestled in a quiet hutong and decorated elegantly, The Distillery epitomizes craft. Everything is dripping with the piney, bearded essence of that word, from the beautiful hardwood surfaces, to the old-timey framed artwork and the shelves upon shelves of fine liquors.
20 Xinsi Hutong, Dongcheng 东城区辛寺胡同20号
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