The best bars in Boston

This hidden sister bar to popular restaurant Journeyman 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—staff will make people wait rather than letting them crowd the space.

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 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.

One of the city’s most exciting mixologists… is 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 outré 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.

Jackson Cannon really was the man who started it all. When the Balthazar-like Eastern Standard opened in 2005, Cannon helmed a bar program committed to a higher level of mixology, from top-shelf spirits to freshly squeezed mixing juices. Suddenly Red Sox fans started drinking Sazeracs instead of Bud Lights, and other area bartenders took notice. While Cannon has since left the day-to-day operations to head up The Hawthorne, subsequent managers have only deepened the bar’s commitment to quality and creativity.

Brick & Mortar is still just as hard to find as its predecessor, the Enormous Room, but once you head through the nondescript door and up the stairs, the similarities end. A giant horseshoe-shaped bar and ample bar stool seating have replaced the low, rug-clad seating platforms and hybrid drink/bathroom line. The cocktails shine and the bar snacks (which include bacon-wrapped dates and deep fried house made pickles) are done just right.

The wine phoenix (oenophoenix?) has risen again. After a devastating fire in 2015, Belly Wine Bar and its sister restaurant Blue Room (from the Central Bottle folks) underwent a year of construction to get back up and running. And up and running Belly is, with its same selection of lesser known but thrilling pours (orange wine, anybody?). The cozy, low-slung spot also offers a menu of oysters, cheese and charcuterie—in addition to its underrated cocktail selection.

Serious Boston drinkers know Todd Maul. The bartender built his rep at Clio before taking his rightful place behind the modernistic Cafe ArtScience bar. Maul and his team blind you with science: flavored smokes and ice cubes, vapor garnishes, candied flowers and liquor-infused paints. Quirky, sure, but it’s all in the name of revelatory imbibing. The other revelation? All cocktails, regardless of high-falutin’ conceit, are $12.

The long narrow bar area becomes a pile of people and high tops at peak hours—show up for last call or on school nights for optimal results. The menu's cocktail list has plenty to choose from, but if you’re not overwhelmed by options, ask the bartender for the “special” cocktail binder for hundreds of more options.

This downtown bar was the victim of a brutal flooding in early 2016 and took months to reopen (damn those wintertime burst pipes), which means it’s your drinking duty to patronize it frequently. You’ll hardly suffer: JM Curley is cocktail nirvana. Concoctions both new-fangled (the Cinnablunt, made up of cinnamon-infused mezcal, cynar and coffee liqueur) and classic (the whiskey smash is to die for) get blended up in front of you by hipster-mustachioed mixologists. For lower-key types, there’s a potent beer list, but when cocktails this great start at nine bucks, why play it safe?