Bars
All the best Boston bars, including bar reviews and editors' picks
Where to go for cocktails
Backbar
This hidden bar is best found by looking for the disoriented would-be patrons wandering the parking lot between neighbors Bronwyn and the Independent. Once you find yourself inside, you’ll be treated to outstanding service and meticulously crafted cocktails while seated at low-key wooden block tables. Show up early or make reservations—the staff will make people wait rather than letting them crowd the space.
Drink
This underground bar has been firmly planted at the top of local and national cocktail-enthusiasts' must-see lists for its personal approach to mixology. Master bartenders present patrons not with a menu but with an ear to listen to each imbiber's preferences, crafting artisinal tipples from their stock of premium spirits and mixers.
The Baldwin Bar
One of the city’s most exciting mixologists can be found a short 30-minute drive outside the city, in Woburn. Ran Duan took over the drink menu at his parents’ suburban Chinese restaurant—a revelation in its own right—and turned it into an experimental bar program that draws cocktail connoisseurs from all over. Classic drinks like pisco punches get bracing updates (pineapple vinegar?); Duan even won an award at the Bacardi Legacy Global Cocktail Competition for his Father’s Advice (rum, amaro, vermouth, sherry, creme de banana). In Baldwin & Sons Trading Company, the bar within the bar within the restaurant, things get downright kitschy, with tiki glassware and dry-ice effects. Photograph: Courtesy Yelp/Ran D.
The Hawthorne
The Hawthorne is a swanky lounge spread over several subterranean rooms in the Hotel Commonwealth. It can be difficult to find a free space on one of the spot’s many couches, but the classic cocktails and variety of small plates are worth the wait. The soft pretzel with bourbon mustard pairs well with nearly everything.
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Best bars for beer
The Haven
It’s the only Scottish bar in the city, and the only place you can get Kelpie with your Haggis. Kelpie blends seaweed and chocolate flavors, and is as dark as the blackest porter. But it’s got a brisk, light taste, tinged with ocean salt. Other Haven perks include Brew Dog on tap and deep-fried chocolate bars. The atmosphere is immersive: Belle & Sebastian on the soundtrack, tartan curtains, antler chandeliers and a bathroom plastered with obscure Scottish comics. Signature brew: Skull Splitter, a strong 8.5% wee heavy.
Lord Hobo
Enter through dark curtains and your attention is immediately drawn to the bar, with its 40 taps raised up in the center like an altar to the god of hops. Here, the bartenders are more than happy to introduce you to the delicious and obscure—such as a pale ale lovingly brewed by a Belgian father and son in their spare time away from their day job at a big brewery. Signature brew: Cantillon Vigneronne, aged with Italian Muscat grapes, smooth yet lightly bubbly.
Bukowski Tavern
Named for the booze-loving author, the Bukowski is all attitude. The style reflects the interests of the beer-slinging crew: Sex Pistols on the jukebox and a beer menu that lists “Ales,” “Lagers” and “Funky Shit”—which includes a Brooklyn Chocolate Stout and a Blanche De Bruxelles Wit from Belgium. The usual local suspects, such as Pretty Things and Magic Hat, are also on tap. Signature brew: Deus De Flanders, aged for 2 years, and clocking in at a hefty $45 a bottle.
Cambridge Brewing Company
CBC is a veteran of the Boston beer scene. It certainly has the merchandising down: hats, T-shirts and pint glasses are all for sale. Founded in 1989, it’s the oldest brewery-restaurant in the city, and the first in the country to produce a Belgian-style beer: the Triple Threat. The room itself is spacious and comfortable, with lots of long, shiny pine surfaces. The brewing tanks are visible from every seat in the house, but the best tables are to be found on the front patio. Signature brew: Cerise Cassee, a tart, barrel-fermented ale made from sour cherries.
