Best Cocktails: The New Classic Cocktails

By Paul Clarke and Jake Kosseff with Lorna Yee and Allison Austin Scheff

We spend a lot of time gushing about our glorious restaurants and Washington wines in the pages of Seattle magazine, but there’s another dimension to our dining scene we haven’t yet explored: the cocktail hour. Cocktails—BUT THANKFULLY NOT THOSE OF THE FROU-FROU COSMOPOLITAN VARIETY—have hit our gastronomic city hard, ushering in a flurry of upscale watering holes, secret speakeasies, gourmet happy hours and a legion of bartenders—rather, bar chefs and mixologists—who have developed cult-like followings by adding their own artisanal twists to classic recipes. Our top-shelf team of writers has sipped through the cocktail menus to find the best of the mixes and the best bars in which to imbibe. To add to the clandestine speakeasy fun, some of the cocktails you’ll read about aren’t on the menu—but the bartenders will make them upon request. Just tell ‘em Seattle magazine sent you.

The links below are to our features on all things cocktail-related. Check 'em out!

Pick Your Poison
The 5 Best Happy Hours
Bars with the Best Ambience
Trends We Love and Hate
The New Speakeasies
Specialties of the Bars
The Bar Directory