Cocktail Bars in Chicago
Seven of Chicago's cocktail bars here made North America's 50 Best Bars 2026: four in the top 50, three on the 51-100 list. Kumiko won World's Best Bar at the 2025 Spirited Awards and North America's Art of Hospitality Award in 2026. Its dining room and bar both take reservations, and walk-ins are welcome at the bar. At Best Intentions in Logan Square, the Wondermint Malted is a modern Grasshopper, and every cocktail at Gus' Sip & Dip costs $12. Meadowlark hides behind an unmarked door near the back alley, and Queen Mary Tavern pours manzanilla on tap. These are the twenty-two we would start with.
★ TOP 1050 BESTCocktail BarKumiko
Julia Momosé, chef, creative director, and now executive chef following a December 2024 appointment, runs a Japanese dining bar that collected every major industry award in 2025: Best U.S. Restaurant Bar at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards, the James Beard Outstanding Bar Award, and a fourth consecutive year as Best Bar in the Midwest at No. 10 on North America's 50 Best Bars 2025. The program centers on shochu, Japanese whisky, and saké alongside spiritfrees, non-alcoholic cocktails built with equal complexity to their spirited counterparts. Kumiko operates at a level where the only meaningful comparison is to itself. It sits at No. 11 on North America's 50 Best Bars 2026.
630 W Lake St, Chicago, IL 60661Wed-Sun 5:30pm-11:30pm, Mon-Tue closedFull profile
★ TOP 10NORTH AMERICA'S 50 BESTCocktail BarBest Intentions
Calvin and Chris Marty reopened this Armitage Avenue bar in 2023 after a three-year hiatus and climbed to No. 25 on North America's 50 Best Bars by refusing to choose between craft and casual. The Wondermint Malted, a modern Grasshopper, headlines a program where cocktails average ten dollars and a smashburger costs six. Wood-panelled walls, quirky Wisconsin-childhood photographs, and a backbar beer fridge with a tongue-in-cheek "fancy cocktail bar" sign set a tone that treats hospitality as generosity rather than performance. Best Intentions is the neo-dive that every neighborhood deserves. It was a Top 4 finalist for Best U.S. Cocktail Bar at the 2026 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards.
3281 W Armitage Ave, Chicago, ILTue-Fri 5pm-2am, Sat 11am-3am, Sun 11am-2am, Mon closedFull profile
★ TOP 10NORTH AMERICA'S 50 BESTCocktail BarGus' Sip & Dip
Gus' Sip & Dip opened in River North in late 2024, taking its name from Gus' Good Food, which occupied the same Hubbard Street address from 1906 to 1966. The tavern-style barroom serves thirty cocktails at a single price alongside dipped sandwiches built on Wagyu top round. Beverage director Kevin Beary leads the bar, and it runs walk-in only.
51 W Hubbard St Suite 100, Chicago, IL 60654, United StatesSun-Thu 4pm-12am; Fri-Sat 12pm-1amFull profile
★ TOP 10NORTH AMERICA'S 50 BESTCocktail BarBisous
Peter Vestinos, twenty-plus years behind bars at Sepia, NoMI, The Betty, and Sparrow, opened this 1960s Parisian-inspired cocktail lounge in January 2024 and debuted at No. 39 on North America's 50 Best Bars within his first year. Fourteen seats at a marble-topped bar, four spacious half-circle booths in rust-colored velvet and paisley fabric, and a martini program that cycles through vintage iterations, Alaska, Gibson, Martinez, Vesper, with the same scholarly attention that sommelier culture applies to wine lists. Bisous arrived fully formed. The debut ranking merely confirmed what the room already knew. The latest lists place it at No. 30 on North America's 50 Best Bars 2026.
938 W Fulton Market, Chicago, IL 60607Mon 4pm-1am, Tue-Thu 4pm-2am, Fri 3pm-2am, Sat 3pm-3am, Sun 3pm-1amFull profile
★ TOP 10NORTH AMERICA'S 50 BESTSpeakeasyMeadowlark
Meadowlark builds its cocktail menus around deeply researched themes and treats each new list as a publishing project. Past menus have drawn on archives including the Newberry Library and the Chicago Historical Society, with drinks paired with illustrations and served with a hardcover booklet. The program won the 2024 Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu Award, and the bar holds No. 65 on the North America's 50 Best Bars 51-100 list in 2026.
2812 W Palmer St, Chicago, IL 60647Daily 5pm-1amFull profile
★ TOP 10NORTH AMERICA'S 50 BESTSpeakeasyNine Bar
Lily Wang and Joe Briglio opened Chinatown's first speakeasy-style cocktail bar behind Moon Palace restaurant in 2022, and the room, neon-tinged, Blade Runner-inspired, channelling Tokyo cocktail bar energy, reached No. 89 on the North America's 50 Best Bars 51-100 list in 2025. The drinks weave Chinese influences through balanced, technically assured constructions that treat cultural specificity as a strength rather than a gimmick. Nine Bar fills a gap that Chicago's Chinatown needed: a neighborhood bar that represents its community's drinking culture with the same seriousness that downtown bars apply to their own. The latest lists place it at No. 76 on the North America's 50 Best Bars 51-100 list in 2026.
216 W Cermak Road, Chicago, IL 60616Sun-Mon 5pm-12am, Wed-Thu 5pm-12am, Fri-Sat 5pm-1am, Tue closedFull profile
★ TOP 10NORTH AMERICA'S 50 BESTCocktail BarQueen Mary Tavern
Dan Smith and Mony Bunni built a maritime-spirits drinking culture inside a Division Street tavern that reached No. 63 on the North America's 50 Best Bars 51-100 list in 2025 by specializing in gin, rum, Scotch, sherry, and Madeira, the spirits that sailed the world's trade routes. The focused beverage program avoids the everything-to-everyone approach that most neighborhood bars default to, and the constraint produces a collection that reads like a curated library rather than a liquor store. Queen Mary Tavern operates on the conviction that a bar with a point of view serves better than a bar with everything. It sits at No. 80 on the North America's 50 Best Bars 51-100 list in 2026.
2125 W Division Street, Chicago, IL 60647Mon-Thu 5pm-1am, Fri-Sun 3pm-1amFull profile
★ TOP 10NORTH AMERICA'S 50 BESTCocktail BarLemon
Opened in December 2023 and awarded the Campari One to Watch for North America alongside a No. 62 placing on the North America's 50 Best Bars 51-100 list in 2025, Lemon combines a meticulously executed cocktail program with a back-room performance space that hosts folk, jazz, punk, rap, and dance. The zero-alcohol cocktail program runs with the same rigour as the spirited menu, no afterthoughts, no juice-and-soda shortcuts. Lemon channels the energy of a DIY art collective through the precision of a ranked cocktail bar, and the combination produces something that neither format achieves alone.
1600 W Grand Avenue, Chicago, IL 60622Mon-Thu 4pm-12am, Fri-Sat 4pm-2am, Sun closedFull profile- Three Dots and a Dash★ TOP 1050 BESTTiki Bar
Three Dots and a Dash
Beverage Director Kevin Beary runs a River North tiki bar that has sustained Spirited Awards recognition and an Esquire Best Bars in America nod across a decade-plus run. The Bamboo Room, an intimate rum experience within the main venue, earned its own Esquire recognition. Classic tropical drinks reimagined with fresh ingredients, the signature Three Dots and a Dash cocktail with aged Martinique rhum agricole, and a basement location that channels mid-century Polynesian escapism make this the most enduring tiki operation in the Midwest.
435 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60654, United StatesMon-Wed 4pm-12am, Thu-Fri 4pm-1am, Sat 2pm-1am, Sun 4pm-12amFull profile - Lazy Bird★ TOP 10Hotel Bar
Lazy Bird
The Hoxton hotel's cellar-level cocktail and music lounge holds a 2025 Spirited Awards regional honor for Best U.S. Hotel Bar, pours fifty-two signature cocktails and runs live music Thursday through Saturday. The Bird Cage, a private section with rope and stanchion, adds exclusivity to a space that already operates below street level in both location and lighting. Lazy Bird treats the hotel-bar format as a canvas for live entertainment rather than a convenience for overnight guests.
200 N Green St, Chicago, IL 60607, United StatesSun-Thu 5pm-1am, Fri-Sat 5pm-2amFull profile - The Aviary50 BESTCocktail Bar
The Aviary
A cocktail bar from chef Grant Achatz and The Alinea Group, serving a five-course cocktail menu that rotates seasonally and combines signature and experimental drinks with small plates. The program applies technique-driven methods to cocktail preparation, including a wide range of purpose-made ice formats. A separate bar, The Office, operates beneath the venue.
955 W Fulton Market, IL 60607Sun-Thu 5:00pm-12:00am; Fri 5:00pm-1:00am; Sat 4:30pm-1:00amFull profile 
Cocktail BarDouble Fun
Double Fun reimagines the corner bar in Chicago's Gold Coast, drawing on a warm memory of the west coast and the relaxed cool of 1970s Hollywood. Large windows give it a vantage on one of the city's most recognizable neighborhoods, and the list runs from frozen drinks through to the boozy end of the menu.
2 W Elm St, Chicago, IL 60610Mon-Thu 4pm-2am; Fri 2pm-2am; Sat 2pm-3am; Sun 2pm-2amFull profile
Cocktail BarFriends of Friends
Friends of Friends is a neighborhood cocktail bar in West Town with an emphasis on classic, distinct flavors. The room runs first come, first served with a patio alongside it, and small bar snacks are available.
2001 W Grand Ave, Chicago, IL 60612Sun-Thu 4pm-12am; Fri-Sat 2pm-2amFull profile- Bar Tre DitaHotel Bar
Bar Tre Dita
Bar Tre Dita is the bar room of Tre Dita on the second floor of The St. Regis Chicago, overlooking the meeting of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. Led by the chef Evan Funke, it celebrates Tuscan tradition, with its own cocktail list and an all-Italian wine program of more than seven hundred labels.
401 E Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60601Sun-Thu 4pm-12am; Fri-Sat 4pm-1amFull profile - Charis Listening BarCocktail Bar
Charis Listening Bar
Charis is a listening bar in Bridgeport, named for the owner's mother and built on the idea that music shared with a drink and good company is one of the best parts of life. The thirty-five-seat room is seated only, with no reservations, and its music is curated with a rotating monthly roster of vinyl selectors.
3317 S Morgan St, Chicago, IL 60608Mon-Tue closed; Wed-Sun 4pm-12amFull profile - DaisiesCocktail Bar
Daisies
Daisies is chef Joe Frillman's vegetable-focused pasta restaurant in Logan Square, open since June 2017, cooking with produce from his brother Tim Frillman's farm. Frillman worked at The Bristol, Perennial Virant and Balena before opening it, and Daisies now holds a Michelin Green Star for sustainability. Its bar area pours from a menu built on the same produce, such as a Beet Manhattan with Buffalo Trace, beets and dill, beside a low and no-alcohol list of fermented drinks. Daisies has since moved to a larger room on Milwaukee Avenue, and The Radicle now fills its original space. In 2026 it was a Spirited Awards Top 10 nominee for Best U.S. Restaurant Bar.
2375 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60647Mon 7am-3pm; Tue-Thu 7am-3pm and 5pm-10pm; Fri-Sat 7am-3pm and 5pm-11pm; Sun 7am-3pm and 5pm-10pmFull profile - Lilac TigerCocktail Bar
Lilac Tiger
Lilac Tiger pairs tropical cocktails with South Asian and Korean street food in a dark, low-lit storefront on Division Street in Wicker Park. Chef Zubair Mohajir opened it with partners Ty Fujimura and Won Kim in the space that once held his restaurant Wazwan, and his Coach House tasting-menu restaurant sits in the courtyard behind. Beverage director David Mor and head bartender Noah Kane run a bar of tropical cocktails, rare spirits, sake and international beers, and the Banana'groni leads the signature list. The room is small and usually busy, and happy hour runs from 5 to 7pm. In 2026 it was a Spirited Awards regional honoree for Best U.S. Restaurant Bar.
1742 W Division St, Chicago, IL 60622Thu 5pm-10pm, Fri 5pm-11pm, Sat 3pm-11pm, Sun 3pm-10pm, Mon-Wed closedFull profile - MONEYGUNCocktail Bar
MONEYGUN
MONEYGUN pours classic cocktails beneath the elevated Green and Pink Line tracks in Chicago, a neighborhood concept from 16” on Center with red mood lighting and neon accents. Its Essential 30 list of classics drives the Dirty Thirty Club: drinkers who work through all thirty on a punch card earn a plaque on the wall. A Monthlyguns list and a Liquor Book sit beside the classics. Seats go first come, first served, and the bar hosts full buyouts for up to 100 guests, semi-private nights in MONEYGUN West for 30 and groups of up to 14 in the Money Pit. MONEYGUN was a regional honoree for Best U.S. Bar Team at the 2026 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards.
660 W Lake St, Chicago, IL 60661Mon closed; Tue-Sun 5pm-closeFull profile - Sportsman's ClubCocktail Bar
Sportsman's Club
Sportsman's Club opened in December 2013 in Ukrainian Village, in a room that once served as a haven for Polish immigrants and still keeps its original art deco bar. It is built on the idea of the daily cocktail, a menu of four drinks that changes every day and is left entirely to whoever is working the bar that night, alongside an amaro machine and a carry-out liquor program.
948 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60622Full profile - TruceCocktail Bar
Truce
Truce, on Damen Avenue in Bucktown, runs on coffee all day and cocktails all night, and the cocktails can be ordered from the morning. It is 21 and over from 5pm, families are welcome earlier, and it takes walk-ins only. Its owners include David Mor, with partner Matthew Hunnel co-writing the menu. Signatures include the World's Best Bonsai Margarita Riff, the Truce Cocktail with cold brew bourbon, and an Absinthe Frappe topped with pandan whip. Truce was a 2025 James Beard Award semifinalist for Best New Bar and a 2025 Spirited Awards regional honoree for Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar.
1935 N Damen Ave, Chicago, IL 60647Mon-Tue 8am-3pm, Wed-Thu 8am-12am, Fri-Sat 8am-1am, Sun 8am-12amFull profile - Billy SundayCocktail Bar
Billy Sunday
Billy Sunday is the Logan Square cocktail bar from chef Matthias Merges' Folkart group, and it bills itself as Chicago's original amaro bar. The back bar holds one of North America's largest collections of vintage fernet and amaro alongside rare scotch, bourbon and rum, and the menu runs from house classics and seasonal cocktails to drinks built on vintage spirits. Non-drinkers get a Spirit Free list, led by the verjus-based Lupine Lady, and a range of house fermented sodas.
3143 W Logan Blvd, Chicago, IL 60647, United StatesMon-Tue 5pm-11pm, Wed-Thu 5pm-12am, Fri-Sat 5pm-2am, Sun 12pm-11pmFull profile - Nobody's DarlingCocktail Bar
Nobody's Darling
Nobody's Darling opened on Balmoral Avenue in Andersonville in 2021, a Black- and woman-owned, LGBTQIA+ cocktail bar run by Angela Barnes and Renauda Riddle. The menu pairs elevated classics with house cocktails such as La Isla Libre (mezcal, Amaro Nonino, papaya and pineapple), pours Black- and queer-owned spirits where it can, and keeps a Low and No Alcohol section with non-alcoholic drinks such as the Mai No Tai. It was a 2022 James Beard Award finalist for Outstanding Bar Program.
1744 W Balmoral Ave, Chicago, IL 60640, United StatesWed-Thu 5pm-11pm, Fri 4pm-12am, Sat 2pm-12am, Sun 2pm-11pm, closed Mon and TueFull profile
More of Chicago
These are the cocktail bars specifically. The full Chicago guide ranks the best bars of every style, and the directory lists all 30 with a map and filters.
