The Best Cocktail Bars in North America

Mexico City and Guadalajara

Form + Matter sits in Mexico City's Roma Norte neighbourhood, with a lab at the back where drinks are prepared. Its menu uses flavour science, including nitrogen foams and fat washes, and the bartenders explain each drink. Handshake Speakeasy is hidden in a Mexico City hotel and reached by a staircase from the lobby. Its drinks are theatrical, but some cocktails are premade. El Gallo Altanero, a small bar in Guadalajara, focuses on Mexican spirits, and its entrance is unassuming and leads to an upstairs bar.

Rum and tiki bars

Strong Water is a tiki bar in the Anaheim Packing District, set in a dark room styled as a capsized ship. Its drinks are freshly made, and it has a large rum list. False Idol is a tiki bar and speakeasy at the back of Craft & Commerce in San Diego's Little Italy, reached through the restaurant. Swizzle Rum Bar & Drinkery sits downstairs from La Cubanita in Miami Beach, and the bar serves a deconstructed piña colada.

Speakeasy rooms and small bars

Hop Sing Laundromat is a Philadelphia bar in Chinatown, behind an unmarked metal door. Its owner Lê runs a strict entry routine with ID checks, and the rules are explained in the foyer. BarChef, on Queen West in Toronto, is known for smoke, dry ice and elaborate garnishes. In Nashville, Attaboy and The Patterson House both build drinks to suit each customer's tastes, and Grandpa Bar is a small vintage room that serves coffee drinks by day. Idlewild in Charlotte and Death & Co in New York's East Village also make custom drinks, in dim rooms.