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The 12 Best Bars in Phoenix

Phoenix's cocktail bars reach well beyond downtown. The best bars in Phoenix run from downtown and Roosevelt Street to Arcadia, with Old Town Scottsdale, north Scottsdale and Paradise Valley on the same list. Century Grand in Arcadia keeps three bars under one roof, among them Platform 18, a ninety-minute journey in a 1920s Pullman train car setting. Century Grand and its Platform 18 have each made North America's 50 Best Bars, and Century Grand won Best U.S. Cocktail Bar at the 2023 Spirited Awards. Little Rituals, four floors up downtown, won Best U.S. Hotel Bar at the 2025 Spirited Awards, and Highball was a Spirited Awards top 10 nominee for Best U.S. Bar Team in 2026. Bitter & Twisted pours in the historic Luhrs Building, once the Arizona Prohibition Headquarters, and Carry On recreates a 1970s first-class jumbo jet lounge on Central Avenue. AZ88 has poured at the Scottsdale Civic Center since 1988. Carry On sells its seats as tickets in weekly releases and admits guests 21 and over. These are the eleven we would start with.

Browse every Phoenix barBest cocktail bars in Phoenix
  1. Little Rituals
    SPIRITEDCocktail Bar

    Little Rituals

    Little Rituals is a seated cocktail bar on the fourth floor of the Residence Inn and Courtyard by Marriott at 132 South Central Avenue in downtown Phoenix. Tales of the Cocktail named it Best U.S. Hotel Bar in its 2025 Spirited Awards, the James Beard Foundation listed it as an Outstanding Bar semifinalist in 2025, and The Pinnacle Guide gave it one Pin in 2024. The team squeezes citrus daily and makes its own syrups, infusions, foams and ice. The Crisp Martini carries a kimchi-spiced pearl onion and a house pickled grape, the Golden Sgroppino sets mango miso sorbet in a cucumber glass, and the Ballpark Highball pairs Suntory Toki with barley tea sherry and Japanese-style peanuts.

    132 S Central Ave, 4th Floor, Phoenix, AZ 85004Mon closed; Sun + Tue-Thu 5pm-12am; Fri-Sat 5pm-1am
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  2. Century Grand
    SPIRITEDCocktail Bar

    Century Grand

    Century Grand is Barter & Shake's immersive cocktail destination in Arcadia, three rooms under one roof. Platform 18 stages a ninety-minute cocktail journey aboard a replica 1927 Presidential Pullman train car, UnderTow pours tiki in the cargo hold of a nineteenth-century ship, and the Grey Hen Rx serves Southern-inspired drinks through rotating residencies. Platform 18 made North America's 50 Best Bars list in 2023, and Century Grand made it in 2024.

    3626 E Indian School Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85018Mon closed; Tue-Thu 4pm-12am; Fri-Sun 2:30pm-12am
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  3. Highball
    NORTH AMERICA'S 50 BESTCocktail Bar

    Highball

    Highball is downtown Phoenix's cozy, elevated neighborhood cocktail bar and lounge, celebrated for its deep spirits collection, invigorating cocktails, and standout hospitality.

    1514 N 7th Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85007
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  4. Pretty Penny
    Cocktail Bar

    Pretty Penny

    Pretty Penny is a neighborhood restaurant and cocktail bar on Roosevelt Street serving internationally inspired small plates from regularly changing menus, with seasonal sourcing and hospitality at the center.

    509 E Roosevelt St, Phoenix, AZ 85004Wed-Sun 4pm-10pm
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  5. Bitter & Twisted Cocktail Parlour
    NORTH AMERICA'S 50 BESTCocktail Bar

    Bitter & Twisted Cocktail Parlour

    Bitter & Twisted pours award-winning cocktails inside downtown's historic Luhrs Building, once home to the Arizona Prohibition Headquarters, a fittingly ironic setting the bar wears proudly. It has been a fixture of the Phoenix cocktail scene for a decade.

    1 W Jefferson St, Phoenix, AZ 85003Sun-Mon closed; Tue-Thu 4pm-12am; Fri-Sat 4pm-1am
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  1. Carry On
    Cocktail Bar

    Carry On

    Carry On is a 90-minute cocktail experience set inside a 1970s-inspired first-class jumbo jet lounge, as it puts it, on Central Avenue in downtown Phoenix. Seats are sold as tickets in weekly releases, with the flight schedule and drop links posted on the site and Instagram, and the room is 21 and over. The 2025 Spirited Awards placed it in the U.S. top ten for Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar.

    2 N Central Avenue, Suite 101, Phoenix, AZ 85004
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  2. Killer Whale Sex Club
    Cocktail Bar

    Killer Whale Sex Club

    Killer Whale Sex Club was the first bar opened by Those Pour Bastards, the Phoenix hospitality partnership of Sam Olguin and Brenon Stuart. The two came up through the Ritz-Carlton and Binkley's before working with the Barter & Shake team behind Counter Intuitive, Century Grand and Undertow. Their bar occupies a very small house at 922 North 6th Street, picked out by teal and magenta mandalas, and its motto is all killer, no filler. The room fills fast, so the bar recommends reserving, though walk-ins are always welcome. The same partners went on to open Pretty Penny, a small-plates restaurant with international influences, and its brutalist offshoot, Legends Never Die.

    922 N 6th St, Phoenix, AZ 85004Fri-Sat 6pm-2am; Sun-Thu 7pm-2am
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  3. Jamie's Bottle Shop
    Wine Bar

    Jamie's Bottle Shop

    Jamie's Bottle Shop is a wine shop and bar in Old Town Scottsdale, opened in March 2025 by Jamie Hormel, owner of the Wrigley Mansion in Phoenix. More than 700 labels fill the wooden shelves, priced from about $15 to $15,000, and the curved bar pours a seasonal by-the-glass list and flights with cheese, charcuterie and small plates. A separate Champagne Room hosts tastings and wine classes led by the in-house sommelier.

    7033 E Main St, Suite 102, Scottsdale, AZ 85251, United StatesTue-Sat 11am-9pm, closed Sun-Mon
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  4. AZ88
    Cocktail Bar

    AZ88

    AZ88 has stood at the Scottsdale Civic Center since 1988, a bar and kitchen known for its martinis and for large art installations that change through the year. Co-owner and general manager Paul Martinez has worked the room for more than two decades. The drinks list is built around martinis and classics, served from late morning to midnight with burgers, salads and sandwiches.

    7353 E Scottsdale Mall, Scottsdale, AZ 85251, United StatesMon-Sun 11am-12am
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  5. Filthy
    Cocktail Bar

    Filthy

    Some bars pour drinks, Filthy says; Filthy pours atmosphere: gold light, live piano and martinis that mean business, in a velvet-draped room beside the Cleaverman steakhouse at the Arizona Center. Tini Time runs five to seven on Sunday to Thursday and five to six on Friday, with ten-dollar signature martinis and small plates, and a last-chance-for-romance deal closes the night. Open from five every evening.

    455 N 3rd Street, Phoenix, AZ 85004Sun-Thu 5pm-11pm, Fri-Sat 5pm-12am
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  6. Jade Bar
    Hotel Bar

    Jade Bar

    Jade Bar is the cocktail lounge of Sanctuary Camelback Mountain, the resort on the north slope of Camelback in Paradise Valley. Floor-to-ceiling windows and a shaded patio look out across the valley to the mountains, and the bar is known locally as one of the first in the Phoenix area to build its list on fresh ingredients and hand-selected spirits. Happy hour runs daily from 3pm to 6pm, sushi is served from 3pm, and seating is walk-in only.

    Sanctuary Camelback Mountain, 5700 E McDonald Dr, Paradise Valley, AZ 85253, United StatesDaily 11am-10pm
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  7. Tell Your Friends
    Speakeasy

    Tell Your Friends

    Tell Your Friends is a speakeasy and live music lounge beneath The Americano in north Scottsdale, reached by a hidden staircase and a red mirrored hallway. It comes from Creation Hospitality, the group of chef Beau MacMillan, and beverage director Ashley Cibor runs a list of classics alongside savory and sweet house drinks. The Art Deco room has velvet drapes, a gold ceiling and a long black stone bar facing a small stage, with musicians Thursday to Sunday.

    17797 N Scottsdale Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85255, United StatesWed-Thu 5pm-11pm, Fri-Sat 5pm-1am, Sun 5pm-11pm, closed Mon-Tue
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These 12 are the starting point. The full BarMagazine directory covers every listed bar in Phoenix, with a map, filters by bar type, and new openings as we verify them.

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