The 10 Best Bars in Austin
Austin holds 9 of our curated Top 10 picks, drawn from the 11 bars we list across the city. Every listing below is verified by BarMagazine, with addresses, opening hours and the signature drinks worth ordering.
- Daydreamer★ TOP 10Cocktail Bar
Daydreamer
A 2025 Spirited Awards Regional Top 10 honoree for Best U.S. Bar Team (Central), Daydreamer builds its program around champagne, caviar, and martinis, a combination that sounds more Mayfair than East Austin, but the execution carries the city's trademark informality. A dedicated ramos gin fizz machine handles the labour-intensive classic with mechanical efficiency, freeing bartenders to focus on the creative cocktails, zero-proof options, and wine list that round out a program designed for long evenings rather than quick stops.
1708 East 6th Street, Austin, TX 78702Mon-Fri 3pm-12am, Sat-Sun 12pm-2amFull profile - DrinkWell★ TOP 10Cocktail Bar
DrinkWell
Jessica and Michael Sanders have spent over a decade turning a North Loop neighborhood address into one of Austin’s most consistently awarded cocktail bars, Bar and Restaurant Expo Cocktail Bar of the Year in 2022 and a Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards Top 10 finalist the same year. The program emphasizes approachability without sacrificing technique, with a menu that balances seasonal originals alongside crowd-pleasing classics. Regular Libation Bible School classes reinforce the bar’s educational bent, and a friendly, knowledgeable team keeps the atmosphere decidedly neighborhood over nightlife. DrinkWell proves that a great cocktail bar can also be the place you go on a Tuesday.
207 E 53rd Street, Austin, TX 78751Mon-Thu 4pm-12am, Fri-Sat 3pm-12am, Sun closedFull profile 
★ TOP 10Hotel BarEquipment Room
A Japanese-inspired listening bar in the basement of Hotel Magdalena, Equipment Room channels Tokyo's jazz kissa tradition through a custom vintage hi-fi system, over ten thousand vinyl records, and a dedicated DJ who curates rather than performs. The cocktail program leans Japanese, sake, Japanese-inspired bites, classic cocktails with Eastern inflections, and ninety-minute seatings enforce the attentive atmosphere that the format demands. Equipment Room treats sound as the primary experience and cocktails as its essential companion. The basement location amplifies both.
1101 Music Lane, Austin, TX 78704Tue-Thu 5pm-12am, Fri-Sat 5pm-2am, Mon & Sun closedFull profile- La Mezca★ TOP 10Cocktail Bar
La Mezca
Reyna and Maritza Vázquez, the sisters behind Veracruz All Natural, opened this mezcalería in autumn 2025 with a curated selection of artisanal mezcals and ancestral agave spirits sourced from family producers in Oaxaca, Guerrero, Durango, and San Luis Potosí, with particular emphasis on maestras and maestros mezcaleros who preserve traditional distillation methods. The program honors the cultural lineage of agave spirits in a way that trendy mezcal bars rarely achieve: through sourcing relationships, producer stories, and a refusal to treat mezcal as a cocktail modifier rather than a category. La Mezca brings Oaxacan reverence to Mueller.
1905 Aldrich Street, Austin, TX 78723Wed-Thu 5pm-12am, Fri-Sat 5pm-2am, Sun 5pm-12am, Mon-Tue closedFull profile - Midnight Cowboy★ TOP 10Speakeasy
Midnight Cowboy
A tarot-themed menu of fifteen-plus cocktails built with culinary ingredients behind an unmarked door with a doorbell labelled "Harry Craddock" on East Sixth Street. Forty-four seats inside, a patio that opens Thursday through Sunday, and a program that integrates food products into cocktail construction with a chef's eye for ingredient pairing. The speakeasy format, reservation required for the interior, walk-ins at the patio, creates an experience that rewards planning. Midnight Cowboy takes the Sixth Street address and inverts everything the strip is known for: quietude, precision, and intent.
313 E 6th Street, Austin, TX 78701Wed-Sat 5pm-11:45pm, Sun-Tue closedFull profile - Murray's Tavern★ TOP 10Cocktail Bar
Murray's Tavern
Travis Tober, who also runs Nickel City, named this tavern after his grandmother's maiden name and built the menu around modernised versions of her favorite cocktails: the Rob Roy, the Brandy Alexander, and the drinks that defined mid-century American entertaining. A 2025 Spirited Awards Regional Top 10 honoree for Best U.S. Cocktail Bar (Central) and a 2024 Top 10 nominee for Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar, Murray's channels family memory into a program that feels personal without becoming private. The grandmother's name on the door is not a gimmick; it is the mission statement. Austin's bar scene thrives on the same creative independence that built its music reputation, bartenders who care more about the drink than the ranking, venues that reflect their neighborhood rather than a formula, and a city that treats every evening as an opportunity to discover something new. Keep Austin weird, sure. Keep Austin drinking well, absolutely.
2316 Webberville Road, Austin, TX 78702Mon-Sat 12pm-12am, Sun 11am-12amFull profile - Nickel City★ TOP 10Cocktail Bar
Nickel City
Travis Tober’s sports bar, inspired by his Buffalo, New York roots, earned a position at No. 70 on North America’s 50 Best Bars by serving cold beer, boilermakers, whisky, and frozen Irish coffees with zero gimmickry. An attached food truck delivers Detroit-style Coney dogs and wings. The program operates on the conviction that a neighborhood bar achieves greatness through consistency and hospitality rather than technique and theater. Nickel City has expanded to Fort Worth and Houston, but the Austin original carries the rankings. The sports bar elevated to its purest form. The bar holds No. 96 on North America's 50 Best Bars 2026.
1133 E 11th St, Austin, TXDaily 12pm-2amFull profile - Papercut★ TOP 10Cocktail Bar
Papercut
A 2025 Spirited Awards Top 10 New Cocktail Bars in America honoree, Papercut pairs a rotating art gallery, exhibitions change every two to three months, with a cocktail program that draws direct inspiration from the current artist's work. The "waste nothing" philosophy transforms pineapple rinds and tomatillo skins into ferments, cordials, and garnishes. The November 2025 addition of Konbini, a late-night sushi concept operating inside the bar, extends the experience into the small hours. Papercut treats every menu cycle as both a cocktail program and a gallery opening.
908 E 5th Street, Austin, TX 78702Wed-Thu 5pm-12am, Fri-Sat 5pm-1am, Sun 5pm-10pm, Mon 5pm-12am, Tue closedFull profile 
★ TOP 10Cocktail BarThe Roosevelt Room
Austin's most decorated cocktail bar occupies a 1929 railroad warehouse with 3,750 square feet, eighty-plus cocktails spanning classic, signature, non-alcoholic, and large-format categories, and a 2025 Spirited Awards Regional Top 10 honor. Seated table service with knowledgeable staff guidance distinguishes the experience from Austin's predominantly bar-stool culture. The upstairs lounge adds intimacy to a venue that treats the cocktail menu as an encyclopedia rather than a pamphlet. The Roosevelt Room set the standard that every Austin bar that followed has been measured against.
307 W 5th Street, Austin, TX 78701Monday-Wednesday from 3pm-12am Thursday-Saturday from 3pm-2am Sunday from 3pm-12amFull profile- Whisler's★ TOP 10Rooftop Bar
Whisler's
A century-old warehouse on East Sixth houses two full bars and a rooftop mezcalería, Mezcaleria Tobala, that provides one of the best open-air drinking positions in Austin. Whisler’s handcrafted cocktail program runs alongside rustic-chic interiors and a sprawling patio that transitions from after-work drinks to late-night sessions without a seam. The venue functions as a micro-neighborhood: bar, mezcalería, patio, and rotating food vendors, all operating under one address with an energy that intensifies as the evening deepens.
1816 E 6th Street, Austin, TX 78702Mon-Fri 4pm-2am, Sat-Sun 2pm-2amFull profile
Explore the whole Austin scene
These 10 are the starting point. The full BarMagazine directory covers every listed bar in Austin, with a map, filters by bar type, and new openings as we verify them.
All bars in Austin