LatestBarsPeopleCocktailsAwardsBrandsEventsBar DirectoryList Your Bar

The 10 Best Bars in Asheville

Cocktails in Asheville come with a point of view, and the city's bars are made for settling in rather than hopping. The best bars in Asheville sit in four pockets: downtown, Haywood Road in West Asheville, Broadway on the edge of Montford, and the River Arts District. On Haywood Road, Character Study is a literary-themed cocktail bar whose shelves of books are for sale, and whose menu describes each drink by its Mood and its Character. The Golden Pineapple, bartender-owned, sits in the Baker Building, among the oldest in West Asheville. On Broadway, Little Jumbo sits in the old Jenkins grocery under tin ceilings, and DayTrip, queer-owned, mixes cocktails and mocktails in a retro lounge. Downtown, Sovereign Remedies keeps its menu changing, Rankin Vault mixes drinks inside the Imperial Life Insurance Building, and Top of the Monk pours classics, with a rooftop patio, on Patton Avenue. Crucible keeps its cocktail bar in the River Arts District. Character Study books its front table and parlor by phone. These are the ten we would start with.

Browse every Asheville barBest cocktail bars in Asheville
  1. Character Study
    Cocktail Bar

    Character Study

    A literary themed neighborhood cocktail bar in West Asheville, run with Bagatelle Books, where a shelf of used books sells for $8 each. Every cocktail on the menu comes with a Mood and a Character, and there is a daily $9 drink special. The room mixes booths, a parlor and library style nooks, and twice a month it hosts a quiet Reading Party.

    797 Haywood Rd #100, Asheville, NC 28806Sun-Thu 4pm-11pm Fri-Sat 4pm-12am
    Full profile
  2. Little Jumbo
    Cocktail Bar

    Little Jumbo

    A neighborhood cocktail bar in the old Jenkins grocery building in Five Points, on the edge of Montford and a short walk from downtown. The room has tin ceilings, green leather and a back bar the venue says holds a thousand recipes, with a house Old Fashioned as its top seller. Free live music plays on Mondays and Tuesdays, with trivia on Sundays and game night on Wednesdays, and each winter the bar turns into the Tropilachia Club pop up.

    241 Broadway St, Asheville, NC 28801Daily 4pm-11pm
    Full profile
  3. Potential New Boyfriend
    Wine Bar

    Potential New Boyfriend

    Potential New Boyfriend is a dessert and wine bar on Haywood Road in West Asheville, built around listening to records on its hi-fi. The main speakers are two 1986 Klipsch Cornwall II Heritage cabinets, backed by two 1978 Klipsch Heresy I Heritage speakers and a subwoofer, with acoustic treatment throughout so you can still hold a conversation. Daytime stays mellow and the music gets louder in the evening, mostly soul, R&B, disco and funk, with pop, rock, electronic and world music in the mix. Tuesday is BYOVinyl night, and the calendar adds DJ nights, Deep Listen sessions and movie nights screening films with iconic soundtracks. Everything served is made in-house, ice cream included, alongside wine, small plates and coffee.

    647 Haywood Road, Asheville, NC 28806Mon-Fri 5pm-11pm, Sat-Sun 2pm-11pm
    Full profile
  4. Crucible
    Cocktail Bar

    Crucible

    A cocktail bar in the River Arts District of Asheville. The bar sums itself up in four words: red room, nice people.

    140A Roberts St, Asheville, NC
    Full profile
  5. DayTrip
    Cocktail Bar

    DayTrip

    A cocktail and mocktail bar on Broadway that puts community at the center. It serves cocktails alongside a full mocktail list, and the space hosts a steady run of events. Entry is 21 and over.

    174 Broadway St, Asheville, NCSun-Thu 4pm-12am, Fri-Sat 3pm-2am
    Full profile
  1. Leo's House of Thirst
    Wine Bar

    Leo's House of Thirst

    Leo's House of Thirst is West Asheville's neighborhood wine bar, in a nine-hundred-square-foot cinderblock building that sits behind a giant tree on Haywood Road. It comes from Drew Wallace, who founded The Admiral and The Bull and Beggar, and the building spent two years being peeled back to its bones and rebuilt, keeping its quirks and letting the light pour in. Leo's calls itself a supernatural wine bar, choosing bottles from farmers and producers who care about place. Chef Austin Inselmann's seasonal menu suits anything from a sunny glass with a few bites to a long dinner with friends, with espresso and brunch earlier in the day. Guests spread across a front patio, a courtyard and a back porch.

    1055 Haywood Road, Asheville, NC 28806Mon 4pm-9:30pm, Tue-Thu 4pm-10pm, Fri 12pm-10pm, Sat 10am-10pm, Sun 10am-9:30pm
    Full profile
  2. Rankin Vault
    Cocktail Bar

    Rankin Vault

    Rankin Vault is a locally owned cocktail lounge on Rankin Avenue, set inside the Imperial Life Insurance Building. Since 2008 it has been a favorite local hangout and an early name in the city's craft cocktail movement, with a creative, seasonally rotating drinks list best known for its house Margarita and specialty Martinis. The room centers on a custom walnut bar, and the namesake bank vault, built by the Mosler Safe Company in the 1920s, makes a natural spot for groups. Local draft beer and patio seating fill out the picture, and the kitchen sends out farm-fresh plates, from salads and tacos to a grass-fed beef burger made with Hickory Nut Gap meat.

    7 Rankin Ave, Asheville, NC 28801Mon-Thu 12PM-12AM; Fri-Sat 12PM-2AM; Sun 12PM-11PM
    Full profile
  3. Sovereign Remedies
    Cocktail Bar

    Sovereign Remedies

    Sovereign Remedies is a craft cocktail bar and kitchen in the heart of downtown Asheville, on North Market Street. The bar draws on local produce and on the inventive streak of the Blue Ridge region, and its drinks list keeps changing. Cocktails lean on small-batch spirits, botanicals of the season and ingredients made in house; a recent list ran from a Mai Thai with lemongrass and kaffir lime to a mango lassi milk punch and a Japanese whisky drink laced with green curry. A curated wine list, local beer and a shelf of vermouths and aperitifs round things out, with seasonal plates from Western North Carolina farms. Warm lighting and curated playlists set the mood.

    29 N Market St, #105, Asheville, NC 28801Mon-Tue closed; Wed-Thu 4am-10:00 PM; Fri-Sat 4am-11:00 PM; Sun 2am-8:00 PM
    Full profile
  4. The Golden Pineapple
    Cocktail Bar

    The Golden Pineapple

    A bartender owned neighborhood cocktail bar and restaurant on Haywood Road in West Asheville, set in one of the area's oldest buildings. The drinks run from a shot and a beer or a glass of wine to craft cocktails, with non alcoholic options always on. Dinner is served too, and the menu changes weekly.

    503 Haywood Rd, Asheville, NC 28806Mon 5pm-11pm, Thu-Sat 5pm-11pm, Sun 5pm-10pm, Tue-Wed closed
    Full profile
  5. Top of the Monk
    Rooftop Bar

    Top of the Monk

    Top of the Monk is a rooftop cocktail bar on Patton Avenue and describes itself as the oldest cocktail bar in downtown Asheville. The focus is on well-made classics, with juice squeezed fresh and bitters, tinctures, infusions, shrubs and syrups produced in house, served over proper ice in the right glass, with no mixers from a soda gun. Guests can take a seat at the bar to watch the bartenders work, settle into a quiet corner, or head out to the rooftop patio for views of the mountains. It bills its drinks as foraged craft cocktails, and the bar also keeps a serious Belgian beer selection.

    92 Patton Avenue, Asheville, NC 28801
    Full profile

Best bars in nearby cities

Explore the whole Asheville scene

These 10 are the starting point. The full BarMagazine directory covers every listed bar in Asheville, with a map, filters by bar type, and new openings as we verify them.

All 11 bars in Asheville

Best bars in other cities

2,600+ bars294 cities
Bar Directory