With a feeling not unlike the restaurant Absinthe in San Francisco, Flora has one of the best cocktail menus in Oakland.
really, seriously made of all ice
Hey, at least the drinks are always cold.
The HiDive bar on the San Francisco waterfront, just south of the Bay Bridge. Kind of divey on the outside; kind of schwank on the inside.
Rye is consistently mentioned in the relatively short list of great bars that are pushing the art of the cocktail in the bay area right now. They use freshly picked ingredients and some of the more unusual liquors and locally made spirits to create some pretty original drinks.
While often times tiki bars are not known for their quality of drinks, Forbidden island is the exception. The drinks here are some of the finest in the bay area, and that is saying a lot because the bay area is in the middle of a renaissance right now for true mixology.
In the 1920s when Prohibition in America took hold many American expats took solace at the opulent bar at the Savoy Hotel in London. This also happened to be around the time that one of the patron saints of cocktail time, Harry Craddock was running the bar there.
The Hotel Hannong is a 3 star historic hotel in the heart of the capital of Europe, Strasbourg, France. I spent one night there and we quickly found out that the main attraction of the hotel is its wine bar with an extensive selection of Alsatian wines.