Atlanta drinking starts with JoJo's Beloved Cocktail Lounge, Best U.S. Bar Team (Regional Honoree) at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards 2026, and the bench behind it runs deep: we list 16 active bars across the city. The 12 below are our pick of them. 4 of them hold verified international recognition, from the 50 Best lists to the Spirited Awards. Every listing below is verified by BarMagazine, with addresses, opening hours and the signature drinks worth ordering.
Bar ANA is a late-night dessert and cocktail bar in Poncey-Highland led by pastry chef Claudia Martínez, a 2026 James Beard semifinalist, with a beverage program by Mayim Williams rooted in Afro-Latin and Caribbean traditions. The name joins three family members and the anatomy of a great bar, and the list runs from an ANA Daiquiri with yuzu curaçao and lemongrass to a Sandía of charanda, watermelon and peach vinegar, with a dozen fernets and amari to finish.
JoJo's Beloved hides inside the Politan Row food hall at Colony Square, past a neon sun sign and down a hallway into a disco-era lounge with cathedral ceilings and an all-vinyl soundtrack. It opened in July 2021 and prints its menu with each signature cocktail credited to the bartender who created it, which is how a room wins Best U.S. Bar Team honors from the Spirited Awards two years running.
Kimball House has run an oyster-forward restaurant and one of the South's most serious absinthe programs on East Howard Avenue in Decatur since 2013, with a house cocktail of Murrell's Row gin, French vermouth and Cocchi Americano, a traditionally prepared Sazerac, and a four-ounce cocktail beer offered as a drink for your drink. The Spirited Awards named it a U.S. East honoree for Best U.S. Restaurant Bar in 2026 and advanced it to the national top ten.
A cocktail bar and restaurant located in Krog Street Market in Atlanta, serving cocktails alongside a food menu. It is open Friday through Tuesday evenings. It currently stands at No. 85 on North America's 50 Best Bars 2026.
Anansi Cocktail Lounge occupies a ground-floor space on East College Avenue in Avondale Estates and opens at 6pm six nights a week, running to 2am on Fridays and Saturdays. The bar describes itself as a place where love is poured into every detail for you to come and fill your glass, an ode to the storyteller, the one who finds adventure in the possibility. House rules set the tone: the room is smoke-free and strictly 21 and over, physical identification only, and flash photography and ring lights are not permitted so the curated atmosphere stays intact. No reservation is needed, and the team also books private parties by phone.
BoccaLupo is a neighborhood restaurant on Edgewood Avenue in Inman Park, where chef Bruce Logue and his team explore what Italian American cooking can be. Handmade pasta anchors a seasonally driven kitchen, and the room is run with what the restaurant calls a casual vibe, genuine service and a talented bar team. That bar team keeps its own drinks menu alongside the food, so a seat here works for a cocktail as much as for a plate of pasta. Service runs Wednesday through Saturday, with doors at 5:30pm and a final seating at 9:15pm, and reservations are the way in.
Buddy Buddy sits in the Midtown Promenade shopping center and calls itself a cocktail bar and Greek restaurant, a place where you hang with buddies. The team describes the room as working like a restaurant, like a bar, and like a Mom and Pop, and the informality is the point: seating is first come, first served, and no reservation is needed. The cocktail list runs to house originals such as Adelita's Song, built on agave gin and reposado and described as unconventional yet familiar, dry and voluptuous, and Aging Partiers #3, an americano riff using house aperitivo and Greek vermouth. Free parking is available by scanning a QR code at the entrance.
Little Spirit opened in June 2018 on North Highland Avenue, tucked between VinoTeca and Char, and owner Randy credits the bar's existence to the kindness of friends and family. The room runs late, six nights a week until 2am, and it takes no reservations, so seating is first come, first served. The cocktail list is split between refreshing and stirred builds, among them the Hugo Frost with elderflower and prosecco and the Watermelon Man with gin and Campari. Two happy hours bookend the night, one running until 8pm and a late one from midnight to last call. Wine by the glass, craft beer and non-alcoholic options are also poured.
Lucky Star runs as a Taiwanese cafe by day and a cocktail bar by night from the Star Metals building on Howell Mill Road in West Midtown. The bar leans on precision lab equipment for what the team calls scientific mixology, building innovative drinks alongside a kitchen that celebrates bold, savory and comforting Taiwanese flavors. Pastries arrive from the group's sister restaurant, the Michelin-starred Brush Sushi. Coffee service begins at 9am midweek and 10am at weekends, lunch runs Wednesday to Friday, brunch lands Saturday and Sunday, and the dinner and cocktail service takes over from 5pm, stretching to midnight on Friday and Saturday.
Redacted Basement Drink Parlor keeps to its name: the bar sits below street level on Georgia Avenue in Summerhill, and the door is around the side of the building on Reed Street. The venue bills itself simply as a Basement Drink Parlor, and the drinks list is built around house cocktails with deadpan names. Mistaken For A Regular combines lemongrass shochu, cantaloupe, coconut, cucumber and lime; Participation Trophy uses gin, strawberry syrup, balsamic and elderflower tonic; the 7 Amaro Sazerac stacks seven amari with Peychaud's and orange bitters plus an absinthe rinse. Beer, wine and a charcuterie board round out the offer. Closing times are posted as midnight-ish and 1am-ish.
The James Room hides behind a cafe at Studioplex on Auburn Avenue, reached from the Beltline side of the building. The team calls it a gathering place meant to galvanize our need for social interaction, connection and positive energy, and they are blunt that this is not a quiet speakeasy: music runs louder here, with curated mixes of pop, hip hop, r&b, reggaeton and soul. The cocktail menu follows a less is more mantra, each drink pairing a thoughtfully sourced spirit with just one or two other flavors. The cafe trades from 8am daily, while the bar opens at 5pm Tuesday through Sunday and runs to 2am at weekends.
The Rooftop at Hotel Clermont sits on top of the Poncey-Highland hotel on Ponce de Leon Avenue, and the hotel calls it a casual atmosphere of astroturf, twinkle lights and endless nights. The draw is the outlook: panoramic views take in Downtown, Midtown and Buckhead from one terrace. Seasonal cocktails change through the year, and the bar also runs soccer watch parties with Stella steins at five dollars and pitchers at twenty. Hours stretch from 4pm Monday through Friday and from noon on Saturday and Sunday, with last call at midnight early in the week, 1am on Friday and Saturday, and 10pm on Sunday.
These 12 are the starting point. The full BarMagazine directory covers every listed bar in Atlanta, with a map, filters by bar type, and new openings as we verify them.
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