The best cocktail bars in Sanlitun and Gulou

These swanky joints will thrill with top-notch mixed drinks

SANLITUN

Janes and Hooch

A heavyweight in the cocktail scene right out the gate since opening in 2012, this classy two-floor dive keeps raising the bar.

Co-owner Warren Pang continues to be one of the more brilliant minds in the city’s cocktail scene, supported by a strong team of the next generation. Glamorously tricked out in wood panelling, leather banquettes and polished concrete floors, it certainly isn’t a bad place to sip on an Old Fashioned.

4 Gongti Bei Lu, Chaoyang district

The Black Moth

Billed as a museum of liquid art, you'll be hard-pressed to take your eyes off the walls at The Black Moth. The owners spent over two years putting this project together, and from the collection of prints, photography and mixed media pieces – including a mural running the entire rear wall courtesy of Beijing-based designers Plastered 8 – the museum party vibe rings through loud and clear. The liquid art is no less impressive. The menu focuses on refined simplicity, ignoring gimmicks and focusing on top-shelf spirits paired with distinctive and innovative flavour profiles.

Fourth Floor, Nali Patio, 81 Sanlitun Lu, Chaoyang district

Botany

We tend to be skeptical of apartment bars. They usually pop up red-hot then quietly disappear the moment interest dips below the tolerance of the owner: a temporary novelty that lacks the tenacity to make it as a proper bar. Let us be clear, Botany is not this sort of apartment bar.

The menu at Botany sports the full gamut of big-boy scotches, whiskies, bourbons, ryes and other brown stuff discerning drinkers love to argue over the proper designations thereof. Still, Botany is a cocktail bar, not a spirit bar (even if you could happily burn through a couple of hours in the comfort of the plush, leather armchairs in the private cigar room).

1209, Unit 2, Yonglee Plaza, Gongti Bei Lu, Chaoyang district

Infusion Room

If you've had just about all you can take of exclusive watering holes that opt for dress codes, membership fees and secret passcodes to keep out the hoi polloi and purport a reputation they have done nothing to earn, you’re not alone. On the surface, Infusion Room seems to fit the bill for just that sort of black-waistcoated baloney. Yet what we've found is a different story.

The menu is short but shows off an expertly curated selection of spirits, from the commonplace to collectable, but the real name of the game are the house signature cocktails. The drinks are excellent, bordering on extraordinary, and the presentation is playful while contributing another level of sensory complexity.

Second Floor, D Lounge Courtyard, 4 Gongti Bei Lu, Chaoyang district

Red Dog

Over the last decade, one trend has dominated Beijing cocktail bars: the speakeasy. It's a term that's lost most, if not all, of its meaning at this point. Red Dog is one of the semi-recent openings to buck the speakeasy trend. It's vibrant, colourful and more than capable at taking on the mother of all nightlife black holes: Sanlitun Soho.

As explained by a bubbly manager, Red Dog i 50 29942 50 14989 0 0 4657 0 0:00:06 0:00:03 0:00:03 4656s all about being happy, having fun and not taking things too seriously. We couldn't agree more about the interior, but the drinks programme is definitely no laughing matter.

B1-538, Tower 12, Sanlitun Soho, 8 Gongti Bei Lu, Chaoyang district

GULOU

Capital Spirits and The Distillery

Two of Beijing’s finest cocktail spots, always under the same management, have merged into one hutong bar that’s even more hidden away than The Distillery was, in a courtyard just across the alleyway. The new venture is just as cosy-but-still-classy as its late mama and papa bars, with excellent cocktails to boot. The focus is on baijiu, with creative cocktails that are distinctive, but subtle enough to coax even the staunchest of baijiu avoiders.

There are also plenty of non-baijiu drinks here to keep everyone happy, but it’s worth trying the baijiu flights, which offer a range of tasters starting at just 30RMB (going up to 180RMB).

16 Xinsi Hutong, Dongcheng district

Nina

A casualty of the capital's ongoing urban do-over, Fangjia shoebox Jiao's endearing brand of rowdy, economical mirth is becoming harder to find in Beijing. Thankfully, the team that brought you bargain negronis and the community that loves to drink them returned last year to Beiluoxiang with a fresh nook.

It's a new and triumphant foray into food, however, that will come to define Nina’s importance on Beiluoguxiang. A groovy sharing menu of small pizzas, brilliant mix 'n' match arancini and croquettes, and some seriously well-priced charcuterie options pair with the community-forward atmosphere for which its predecessor Jiao was so fondly known.

66 Beiluoguxiang, Dongcheng district

For more watering holes to wet your whistle at, hit 'Read more'.

More from Time Out Beijing