Bars & Cocktails

Browse bars & cocktails recommendations from people with great taste on Rec League.

Teeny Brooklyn bar ON a dock!

Best kept secret: Concrete Shoals, a bar with drinks and food surrounded by water, overlooking the NYC skyline, run by the Fini Pizza / Lilia team

even*cleveland

Spagett (Miller High Life + a shot of amaro)

A killer summer drink formula: basically, a High Life + amaro = magic. I first had this elixir at Auntie Mae's Parlor in Manhattan, Kansas (amazing bar) where they were selling High Life + Campari as a "hobo Negroni." Ideally, when you make them at home, you take a sip of beer, pour in a shot of spirit, and that's it. Lemon is fine but not essential (I don't miss it if I don't have it). Photo from Jordan Weyenberg; curious to try this with Cynar.

April

Pimm’s Lemonade

My favorite summer cocktail. Had it repeatedly in London a few years ago and every single time it’s on a Summer menu will order it.

izzy lynch

The Perfect New York Sour

I like it with a Luxardo Cherry 😝. 2 ounces rye whiskey or bourbon 1 ounce lemon juice, freshly squeezed 3/4 ounce simple syrup 1/2 ounce red wine Garnish with a Luxardo Cherry From Liquor.com: -Add the whiskey, lemon juice, simple syrup into a shaker with ice and shake hard until well-chilled. -Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice. -Slowly pour the red wine over the back of a bar spoon so that the wine floats on top of the drink. My edit: garnish with a Luxardo Cherry.

remi

soda water and bitters

mocktails are expensive! diet coke is a day drink. soda water and bitters is a perfect drink. it’s what real drinkers drink when they don’t want to

joanna goddard

Eating at the bar on a date night

So much sexier

Nicole Anderson

Be an occasional hot mess

Drink one too many cocktails, hook up with wrong yet so right person, be awkward, wear an inappropriately short dress, dance when no one else is, write an email you shouldn’t send, buy something beyond your budget because it makes you happy, stare at someone a little too long on the subway, have a public cry, let your mascara run, show up unprepared. A dose of hot mess can be freeing.

cole

Bar Panisse

highly recommend cp's new wine bar next door. walk-in only, all of their fritto (squash blossoms, zucchini, head-on shrimp that you pop in your mouth in one bite) was excellent and definitely get the homemade flatbread!

ashley bauchman

The Finnish Long Drink

These came across my desk a couple of summers ago in Rhode Island and I am SO happy to see them appearing on the west coast more. Way less cloying than most seltzers on the market and gluten free!

Louise Buckley

Bar Etoille

As close as we're getting to a Euro summer! Pair a fabulous wine with a cheese plate on the sidewalk! Bonus points for a run in with star Rec Leaguer @remi! Work may be discussed but only for the first 10 minutes as you unwind after a workday.

Dylan

bar fermentera, madrid

sit at the bar with an aperol spritz & select some delicious tapas from the deli window

cole

The Baked Potato

nightly jazz and a two drink minimum.

Harmony Tividad

Martini

u already know . DIRTY

Louise Buckley

VANDELL - Los Feliz

Fabulous and may be my new favorite martini in Los Angeles. I don’t typically drink anything with vodka in it, but this is a perfectly chilled, perfectly salty, and perfectly served martini. So far Vandell is worth the hype and everyone who works there is so kind and helpful!

Hannah Woods

Tom Bergin's

This is a great place to throw a work related event! You can consume G&T's and discuss work in a casual way.

cole

The Alley Piano Bar & Restaurant

oakland’s last-remaining piano bar and quite possibly among my favorite discoveries of the past decade. opened in 1933, the alley’s saloon-esque walls are plastered floor to ceiling with roughly 9,000 business cards and playbills. i went on a thursday night, and the place was packed in with what seemed like locals taking turns at pouring their hearts out to frank sinatra and songs of the sort. new york new nork was followed by oakland (a 1960s patriotic tune i’d never heard before). if i lived in the bay i’d be here weekly.

BORSCHT BABY

Moongate Lounge

decadent, over the top, really special - unforgettable drinks

Ali

Bòsforo

little bar in the center. sit up in the mezzanine 💫

Sarah Cooney

My Favorite Summer Cocktail

The Southside has a murky history with a number of country clubs vying for the honor of inventing it. Our club uses Mount Gay rum and adds a Gosling's floater to make it a "Race Committee" Southside. Obviously we are sailors. Vodka and gin imitations need not apply.