London is renowned for its deep history of communal drinking. Some pubs in the city date back centuries, and while a solid pint is an inextricable part of British drinking culture, London is now home to one of the most vibrant, innovative cocktail scenes on the planet.
Whereas some cities’ best cocktails are found inside unmarked bars (easy to miss if it weren’t for the long lines outside), a lot of London’s most exciting cocktails are made in hotel bars—longstanding institutions. The Connaught Bar, The American Bar at The Savoy, and The NoMad’s Side Hustle have well-earned reputations for impressively mixed drinks in luxe environs.
Independent bars, which are sprinkled across London, are building cocktail programs around house-made distillates, tonics, and mercurial, often-changing menus. You won’t find flashy cocktails lit on fire here. Instead, cocktails in London’s best bars are restrained, precise, and undoubtedly delicious. Here are seven spots in London to find an incredible cocktail (or three).
Ryan Chetiyawardana, a certified cocktail genius and a fixture in the London cocktail scene, has created what is very possibly the perfect hotel bar. On the ground floor of the South Bank’s Sea Containers, overlooking the Thames sits Lyaness. Its glossy, baby blue walls, blue velvet couches, anchored by an uplit, golden bar almost look like a sun rising into a clear blue sky. The bar serves unconventional cocktails each with their own extensive backstory. If you’re curious (I’m looking at you, fellow cocktail geeks), your bartender will happily explain your cocktails origin story—fermentation, distillates, house-made liqueurs and all. But if all you’re looking for is a well-mixed drink, order away—it’s hard to go wrong here.
You should try: The Unfiltered Martini. The idea here is to think about the microbiomes in our bodies, and how they influence the flavors and foods we crave. To that end potatoes are steamed, and quickly fermented with a “full spectrum microbiome” which mirrors that of our guts. It gets blended, strained, and combined with Boatyard vodka for a martini that’s silky, floral, and slightly lactic.
The magic of Dram, London’s Soho, is that it’s actually three bars in one—plus a coffee shop during its daytime hours. On the ground floor, you’ll find a well-stocked whiskey bar which also serves cocktails on tap. Down a level, things get more serious with cocktails served on a bar of polished concrete. In the back area you’ll find a pool table with a vending machine stocked with Dram’s own canned cocktails. The cocktails here are a study in balance; the harsh edges of spirits are expertly rounded down by cordials, fruit wines, and other ferments (all of which are made in-house) without sacrificing complexity. It’s hard to imagine not enjoying a night at Dram.
You should try: Cucumber, a cocktail on tap that’s served in both bar spaces. Gin combines with a palo santo distillate and bruised cucumber for a smooth, lightly smokey, and refreshingly crisp sip.
So many London-based bartenders recommended Satan’s Whiskers, I lost count; this is truly your favorite bartender's favorite bar. While other bars are lacto-fermenting, clarifying, and rotovapping their cocktails together, Satan’s Whiskers’ sticks to the vast cocktail canon, executing each drink with surgical accuracy. The menu here changes not every month, not every week, but every day. If you don’t see something you like, you’re welcome to request any classic cocktail, no matter how obscure, and watch as your bartender whips it up from memory.
You should try: Whatever your bartender recommends—with a rotating menu that changes every day, it’s not possible to recommend a cocktail. If there’s an off-the-beaten-path cocktail you’ve been dying to try—a Ramos Fizz, A Firing Squad, or a Brandy Alexander, for instance—Satan’s is the place to order it.
What do you get when you combine an art historian, a philosopher, and an expert bartender? The answer is Remy Savage, whose bar, 🔶🟥🔵, styled as A Bar with Shapes for a Name is built on Bauhaus principles of functional minimalism. Drinks in the ruby-walled bar are pared down to their essential flavors—a thought-experiment in a cocktail that results in some fascinatingly unexpected drinks.
You should try: The Kazimir. Named for Kazimir Malevich’s White on White, the Kazimir uses clarified peach yogurt, vodka, and a dash of absinthe to create a lightly floral, velvety cocktail that’s absurdly easy to finish.
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Located in the historic Brown’s hotel, The Donovan Bar swings big conceptually with a menu by Salvatore Calabrese and Frederico Pavan. The menu, called Happily Ever After, pays homage to fairytales with cocktails Peter Punch, a strikingly pink fizzy cocktail with tequila and mezcal, and Little Red, a sour flipped on its head, with a float of red Amaro Lucano on top.
You should try: Calabrese’s signature drink, The Breakfast Martini. A small dollop of orange marmalade lends its trademark bittersweetness to gin, cointreau, and lemon juice—yes, it’s technically a sour, but the Breakfast Martini is a classic for a reason.
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Yes, you’ll have to brave the crowds. No, there aren’t any reservations. But if you find yourself sat at the low-lit subterranean art deco cocktail lounge, you’re in for a treat. Bar Américain presents two menus—one is made up of classic cocktails dating back to the 19th century, while the other pays homage to Golden Age Hollywood movies. Whatever you order, it’ll be mixed perfectly by your white-coated bartender as you admire the early 20th century prints that adorn the wood-paneled walls.
You should try: Signature menus are fun, but there’s something about the jazz age environs that begs for a classic. Try a classic you might not know, like a light and floral Army & Navy.
Don’t be fooled by the combination bottle shop and cocktails-on-tap bar, Elementary, in the front—though, they are spectacular—you’ll want to push through the thin curtain towards the second bar, Tayer. The dark, industrial-feeling bar, inside of which bartenders mill with precision around a central ingredients bank, produces cocktails as unexpected as they are satisfying. The cocktails center around seasonal ingredients—yuzu and neroli, tangerine and gentian—and owners Monica Berg and Alex Kratena find ingenious ways to highlight and amplify their simplicity of flavor.
You should try: The menu rotates often, but a cocktail with sotol, tequila, meyer lemon, and chamomile was a floral, zippy highlight of my visit.