There comes a point in life when the bottle no longer satisfies, getting drunk passes into another level and you prefer to sit calmly with friends and enjoy well made drinks. Tranquility, taste, and taking your time in an elegant and comfortable atmosphere. Here we present a list of five cocktail bars that you don’t want to miss.
Recently honoured at FIBAR-Valladolid as the best cocktail bar of 2014, 1862 Dry Bar serves classic cocktails like the Old Fashioned, Dry Martini, Pisco Sour and the Gimlet. Here they believe that the recipes have worked for 150 years and there’s no reason to mess with them. They like to serve cocktails in a small glass with a lot of alcohol, and their obsession is that the customers read the menu, depart from “trendy” drinks and try something new.
Photo: Marcos Ortiz
Hours: Monday – Sunday 3:30pm-2am.
Average price: 8 €
In business for 23 years, Del Diego is a true cocktail temple in Madrid. Here they are constantly searching for the perfect cocktail, with skill and wisdom in balancing ingredients, densities and flavours. Classics like the Manhattan, Tom Collins, Dry Martini and Gin Fizz are included in their menu, but they’re also able to make whatever you ask for. Suggestions and requests like this fill a drawer, with recipes written on napkins, coasters and scrap pieces of paper.
Photo: Paula Móvil
Monday – Thursday: 7pm-3am.
Friday & Saturday: 7pm-3:30am.
Closed Sunday.
Average price: 10-12 €
Santa María (La Coctelería de al lado)
Impeccable cocktails, refreshing gin & tonics or exotic mojitos can make all the difference in a night of drinking, without hurting your wallet. According to the mixologists at Santamaría, ice is 70% of a cocktail, and for this reason they have a special Hoshizaki machine that makes compact and sturdy ice that’s -20ºC and doesn’t melt at room temperature.
Photo: Marcos Ortiz
Wednesday – Saturday: 7pm-3:30am.
Average price: 8-10 €
The most famous Dry Martini in Spain is that of Javier de las Muelas, without a doubt. Have a seat at this bar inside the Gran Melia Felix hotel and try their magnificent drinks. In addition to their star drink, you can find whatever cocktail that pleases you in their menu. The bartenders here are the finest in the city.
Photo: Alba Metzger
Hotel Gran Meliá Fénix.
Hermosilla, 2 / Plaza Colón
Average price: 15 €
The authenticity of Harvey’s lies in its inspiration: a classic cocktail bar and a Henry Koster movie from the 1950s in which James Stewart, accompanied by a large and imaginary Irish rabbit, drinks martinis all over the city. Harvey’s resembles “the cocktail bars that remain in Los Angeles, old and intact since 1940, like Musso & Frank Grill, a place that sells food but saw the golden age of Hollywood along Sunset Boulevard. Here you can eat and drink with this Hollywood glamour, sipping on a cocktail reminiscent of those made pre-prohibition.
Photo: Marcos Ortiz
Monday – Sunday: 11am-2:30am.
Average price: 10-20 €
Translation: Annie MacDonald
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