GQ's Top 25 American Cocktail Bars

Some lucky writers at GQ spent the past year traveling throughout the country visiting cocktail bars in order to find the very best American cocktail bars. The top 25 made it on their list, which is full of hidden nooks and trendy shrines to bourbon and bitters that all have one thing in common: masterminds handling the bottles. The number one spot goes to Seattle's Zig Zag Café, a small bar by Pike Place Market where bartender Murray Stenson plays "a medieval organ powered by Dubonnet, kirsch, and Tuaca."

1: Zig Zag Café – Seattle
2: Angel’s Share – New York
3: The Violet Hour – Chicago
4: Clover Club – Brooklyn
5: The Alembic – San Francisco
6: Death & Co – New York
7: PDT – New York
8: PX – Alexandria, VA
9: Comstock Saloon – San Francisco
10: Holeman & Finch – Atlanta
11: Tiki-ti – Los Angeles
12: The Patterson House – Nashville
13: Eastern Standard – Boston
14: Rickhouse – San Francisco
15: Anvil – Houston
16: Arnaud’s French 75 – New Orleans
17: Elixir – San Francisco
18: Columbia Room – Washington, D.C.
19: Cole’s – Los Angeles
20: The Whistler – Chicago
21: Drink – Boston
22: Pegu Club – New York
23: The Edison – Los Angeles
24: The Franklin Mortgage & Investment Co. – Philadelphia
25: Needle and Thread – Seattle

· The 25 Best Cocktail Bars in America [GQ]
· All Cocktails Coverage on Eater [-E-]

Zig Zag Café, Seattle. [Photo: WhatDaveSees / Flickr]