There's no menu at Cloakroom, and that's the point. Tell the bartender what you're in the mood for and they'll build something to match, usually working from the pre-Prohibition playbook—a Martinez here, an Old Fashioned there—over crystal-clear ice cut to order. The 25-seat room hides behind the coat check of a bespoke tailor shop in the Golden Square Mile, a setup that's been drawing cocktail obsessives since Andrew Whibley opened it in 2015. The formula proved sturdy enough to travel: there's now a second Cloakroom in Brisbane, of all places. But the original remains the reference point, a swanky little space where the conversation between you and the person shaking your drink is the whole show.

The staircase glows under black lights, and at the top of it you're in another galaxy—one with a jungle terrarium skylight, hanging plants, neon-lit glass bricks, and a sleek marble bar holding it all together. Milky Way, part of the Barroco Hospitality Group, backs up the vaporwave aesthetic with real substance: a cocktail list that reaches for champagne reductions and toasted sesame oil, drawing on tiki traditions and Latin American classics without settling into either. It's the kind of place where the drinks are as transportive as the room. And because it sits above Fugazzi, you can order pizza from downstairs while you work through the menu—a pairing that makes a strong case for Pointe-Saint-Charles as a destination.

Badin hums quietly below HENI in Little Burgundy—a 24-seat, cocktail-forward listening lounge you enter through the restaurant's front doors. Juliane Camirand designed the room like an audiophile's living room: low lighting, velour banquettes, and a DJ stage at the centre spinning multi-genre vinyl through a sound system that takes itself seriously. Soufian Mamlouk leads the operation with cocktail program director Émile Archambault, whose drinks change with the seasons and lean inventive without losing the plot. The whole proposition is intimacy—good sound, good drinks, meticulous service, and a room small enough that none of it gets lost. For a night where the music matters as much as what's in your glass, this is the spot.

Find the unmarked black door at the corner of Saint-Amable and Saint-Vincent, ring the bell, and wait. That's the price of admission at The Coldroom, Old Montreal's speakeasy-style standby, where the staff walk you through a seasonal menu of inventive twists on the classics alongside wholly original creations built around experience and flavour. Inside, the décor keeps things minimal—exposed brick, steel beams, cozy nooks for settling in—letting the drinks and service do the talking. It's earned a reputation for drawing celebrities and cocktail devotees in equal measure, but the appeal isn't exclusivity for its own sake. It's a bar that treats every round like it matters, in a room built for staying awhile.

Bar George occupies the Le Mount Stephen Hotel like it was always meant to be there—vaulted ceilings, chandeliers, 300-year-old stained glass, and 22-carat gold fixtures setting a scene few rooms in the city can match. The concept is British tradition with a Montreal accent: by day, that means a full English breakfast with black pudding or lobster eggs Benedict; by night, Beef Wellington and black truffle risotto. But the bar holds up its end of the name, pouring drinks that suit the grandeur without getting precious about it.

Bar Dominion is less a reinvention of the old Dominion Square Tavern than a thoughtful revisit, drawing on both its previous life and its 1927 origins as a hotel restaurant. Chefs Pablo Rojas and Hakim Rahal of Provisions Bar à Vin, alongside Andrew Whibley of Cloakroom, have traded the ploughman's lunches and Sunday roasts of yore for a leaner offering built around drinking: a full raw bar of oysters, crab, caviar, and lobster, and 25 cocktails organized the way a serious bar should be. The menu breaks down into martinis, negronis (boulevardiers and white negronis included), a whiskey-forward section, 75s and spritzes, and highballs and fizzes.

Kabinet started life as an espresso spot and warm-up bar for Datcha next door; it's since grown into something closer to a 1970s Parisian bistro, with the acclaimed cocktail menu that made its name still intact. ADHOC Architectes handled the transformation—marble bistro tables, Thonet chairs, and a crystal chandelier from Ukraine anchoring the room. The kitchen turns out continental classics with modern nerve, from chicken-liver mousse with sea buckthorn gel to 90-day aged beef tartare, plus a rotating selection of local and imported caviar served every elegant way imaginable. The wine list is deep and dynamic, but the cocktails remain the through-line: a reminder that before Kabinet became a dining destination, it was (and still is) one of Mile End's best places to drink.

Le Mal Nécessaire redefined what a Montreal tiki bar could be when it opened in a Chinatown basement in 2014, and the move to Saint-Alexandre Street hasn't dulled the formula. Founders David Schmidt, Alex San Gergorio, and Evan Cowie built a tropical hideout that swaps kitsch for chic minimalism—Juliane Camirand's design pairs plush velvet banquettes with warm hues and subdued lighting across a room that holds up to 160. The drinks are the draw: meticulously crafted cocktails made with fresh, homemade ingredients, some served in actual fruit, all backed by an eco-conscious approach to the bar itself. Add DJ-curated music and a genuinely welcoming floor, and you get a night that delivers on both the libations and the vibes.

The red carpet in the alley is your first clue. Atwater Cocktail Club plays the speakeasy game without the password nonsense—walk in and you're surrounded by dark walls, shiny silver banquettes, and glass ceilings that nod to French discotheques. The cocktail program, led by award-winning mixologist Kate Boushel, matches the drama of the room: elegant drinks built on high-quality ingredients and technique that shows in the glass, with signatures like the 40 Thieves leading the charge. Hungry? The menu pulls French brasserie staples from sister restaurant Foiegwa next door. No reservations means you may wait on busy nights, but that's the trade for one of Saint-Henri's most striking rooms—and some of its best drinks.

Push through the bamboo entrance and Snowbird does the rest: Hawaiian-shirted bartenders, fish on the walls, retro music, and seating that includes actual swings. This is Montreal's most committed tiki escape, and the drinks match the dedication—the Pink Flamingo and Cobra's Fang look as good as they taste, each helpfully rated by alcohol content so you know what you're signing up for. Groups should go straight for the Garden Party punch, served in a rock bowl with floral garnishes that epitomize the island fantasy. It's an indulgence, sure, but a worthwhile one.

At 150 square feet with room for exactly 11 guests, El Pequeño earns its name honestly. The Coldroom team transformed this tiny Old Montreal space into a pocket of Old Havana glamour—chandelier, big windows, exposed brick—where the drink list runs through the Cuban canon: Mojitos, Daiquiris, Cuba Libres, plus house numbers like the refreshing Runs in the Family. The Cubano sandwich is the only food you need, and a summer terrasse expands the footprint when the weather allows. Size limitations aside, the bar draws a remarkably varied crowd, all after the same thing: an intimate, transportive round in a room where the bartender is never more than a few feet away. Small space, big execution.

Projet Pilote packs a distillery, microbrewery, restaurant, and bar into a single Plateau address—the first venue in the city to bring distilling and brewing under one roof. The idea was more than half a decade in the making, and the result is a place where experimentation is the house style: small batches of gin and eaux de vie made on site, house-crafted beers, and a kitchen that pulls produce from the rooftop garden. Yes, it's next door to La Banquise, but the line out front of the diner doesn't have access to spirits made metres from the glass they're poured into. For drinkers curious about where their drink actually comes from, there's no better classroom in Montreal.

A bar built for time travel, Le French Line is a distilled version of another era. Set on the reborn 9th floor of the Eaton Centre, this intimate 35-seater takes its cues from the golden age of transatlantic voyages—when cocktails were sharp, suits were sharper, and nobody asked for a QR code menu. The team—Andrew Whibley, Jeff Baikowitz, Marco Gucciardi, with chefs Derek Dammann and Liam Hopkins—knows precision. Whibley's drinks work the 1920s and '30s playbook, updating milk punches and flips with modern technique, while Daniel Notkins curates a raw bar of oysters, caviar, and pristine seafood towers.

The door at the corner of Saint-Laurent and Rachel gives nothing away, which is exactly how Big in Japan has liked it since 2011. Inside, the room reveals itself: a labyrinthine wrap-around bar strung with hanging whiskey bottles, hundreds of candles, and plush draped walls that swallow the noise of the Main outside. Co-owners André Nguyen and Julie Bisson built one of the city's most quietly sophisticated drinking dens, with a stellar selection of whiskeys and sakes alongside house cocktails like the Tokyo Mule and Rum Sour. Come often enough and you can take advantage of the bottle-hanging service reserved for regulars—your own whiskey, suspended above the bar, waiting.

The exterior looks like a pawn shop, and that's your first hint Bon Délire doesn't take itself too seriously. Inside, the late-'90s décor—leopard-print pool table included—sets up a festive, comforting room where Saint-Henri locals settle in for boilermakers, alcoholic slushies like the frozé, and cocktails that punch above the playful setting, courtesy of Thomas Yeo and Kate Boushel. That last detail is the tell: this is a party bar built by people who know their way around a serious drink. A deli-style menu keeps you fed between rounds, whether you're racking up a game of pool, decompressing at the bar after work, or staying until the early hours.

Le 4e Mur starts working on you before you arrive: sign up for the newsletter to learn the secret location, then push through the "fourth" wall to get in. The Prohibition-era theatrics continue inside—drawn curtains, dapper bartenders, burlesque shows, and live jazz—but the drinks are no costume. The founders are all national cocktail championship titlists, one of whom founded L'École du Bar de Montréal, and the mixology carries the weight of those credentials. That's the trick that keeps Le 4e Mur from being a gimmick: beneath the mystery and the showmanship is one of the city's most technically serious bars.

The resumés behind Bisou Bisou read like a cocktail world all-star team: Kevin Demers (Coldroom, El Pequeño), Gregory Buda (New York's Dead Rabbit), and Robert Weeks (London's Hawksmoor). Their Old Montreal spot channels that pedigree into something relaxed—a Mediterranean-inspired apéritif bar done in grey tones and burnt orange, seating around 60. The menu leans into apéritif-style drinking with a full range of alcoholic, low-alcohol, and non-alcoholic options, backed by fortified wines and Mediterranean-inspired preserves. A charcuterie and cheese platter covers the snacking.

Black-and-white checkerboard floors, navy-blue velvet banquettes, a back bar stocked deep with Italian liqueurs—Bar Bello puts European elegance to work in the heart of Little Italy. Kevin Demers and Benny Bello opened the 65-seat room (with space for 60 more outside) in 2023 as a temple to Italian drinking culture, and mixologist Matt Baker's menu runs from faithful classics to inventive spins on the aperitivo canon. High-quality antipasti and nibbles keep pace with the drinks, and then there's the negroni vending machine, which should not be skipped under any circumstances.

Taverne Atlantic landed at the corner of Avenue du Parc and Beaubien in late 2019 and became a hotspot almost immediately. Restaurateurs Alexandre Baldwin, Alexandre Wolosianski, and Éric Dupuis built a stylish Art Deco room around a long, elegant bar, with central seating and a rooftop terrace that earns its summer crowds. The drink menu, curated by Frédérique Fortin and Alexandre Taillon, pairs creative cocktails with a robust lineup of beers and wines, while Chez Eddy Snack Bar handles the food—pizzas, hot dogs, and poutines that split the difference between American comfort and gourmet ambition.

The dice at Bar Baby aren't a gimmick. Let us explain:

The team behind NOMI, Jatoba, and Hà spent two months building a deliberately short cocktail list on the theory that an endless menu robs you of the pleasure of tasting it all in one night. Roll the dice, and the number tells you the alcohol intensity of what lands in your glass—a game designed to keep both the bar and its drinkers thinking outside the box. The Saint-Antoine room plays like a house party thrown by someone with impeccable taste: Chesterfield sofas, marble bar, lighting that flatters everyone. Baby calls itself a creative space built around travel, discovery, and curiosity, and the room backs the claim four nights a week.

Poincaré operates more like a laboratory than a bar. Opened in Chinatown in 2019 by Hugo Jacques, Jeremiah Bullied, and Francis B. Melançon, it turns out house-made beers on gravity-fed draft lines, funky natural wines, and inventive cocktails like the Baijiu Caïpirinha—a drink you won't find on many other menus in this city. The kitchen matches the experimental streak with eco-friendly small plates built on lacto-fermentation, and the rooftop terrasse, complete with lush garden, is one of the neighbourhood's best-kept summer secrets. There's a welcoming looseness to the whole operation that keeps the science from feeling clinical. For drinkers who like their bars curious, Poincaré rewards the trip to Chinatown every time.

If your bar-hopping has never left the usual districts, 132 Bar Vintage is the argument for expanding the map. Jean-Maxime Giguère opened it on Fleury Street in 2013 with a vision of bringing a true cocktail bar to Ahuntsic, starting with an array of vintage classics categorized meticulously by style. The menu has since grown to take in trendier selections, house specialties, and a notable lineup of tiki drinks, but the underlying discipline hasn't changed—every glass reflects the skill and creativity of the bartenders behind it. More than a decade in, it's single-handedly raised the neighbourhood's standing among the city's cocktail devotees. Consider it proof that great drinking in Montreal doesn't require a trendy postal code.

Occasionally, we'll mention our plans to visit this gem of a bar and friends will respond with, "Where?" Though it's tempting to share the city's best-kept secrets, N sur Mackay deserves to be handled with care. Tucked away in the Golden Square Mile, this unassuming cocktail haven stands out for masterfully crafted drinks and amiable bartenders who deliver whether you're after a faithful classic or something built to your mood. The ambiance strikes a rare balance between intimacy and sophistication—no theatrics, no line out the door, just one of downtown's most consistently excellent rooms operating quietly below the radar. It's an ideal spot for those in the know. Let's keep it that way.

Set within the Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth, Bar Nacarat runs on a blend of Ziggy Stardust glam and 21st-century polish—an open, electric room where top-tier mixologists carve ice by hand and build experimental drinks worthy of the setting. Summer often scales the operation back to a chic rooftop terrasse, where crowd-pleasing spritzes, refreshing sangrias, and frozen cocktails with tropical punch keep the essence intact. Regular DJ sets stoke the party atmosphere, but what brings people back is the pairing of intimate service with genuinely creative drinks—a smoky Negroni, or the unexpected turns of the signature cocktails. It's pure indulgence, executed by a hotel bar that refuses to behave like one.

The Birks building has been selling Montrealers beautiful things since the 19th century, and Henri keeps the tradition going in liquid form. Owned by the family behind Hôtels St-Martin, the brasserie occupies a grand, high-ceilinged room downtown where mixologist Eddy Germain's list runs from a French Classics section (a proper French 75, a Kir Royale you can upgrade to Champagne) to house creations with more personality—an espresso martini built on Hennessy VSOP and ube, or La Cravate Henri, which shakes blue curaçao and St-Germain with prosecco. Quebec bottles like Sortilège rye and Rosemont spiced rum anchor several of the drinks, and the mocktail list includes L'Alchémiste, custom-built to your tastes. There's a full menu of French classics if hunger strikes, and sommelier Colin Beaudoin-Lambert's champagne list goes deep, but the lounge stands on its own.

Jay Lawson's cocktail program is the reason the Four Seasons' third floor earns a spot on this list. The head of mixology rotates his menu seasonally and monthly, and the drinks read like nothing else downtown: La Méditée pairs Belvedere with olive oil, manzanilla sherry, and caper-olive brine; Isolano works green peppercorn and champagne acid into a Luxardo-and-Appleton build; Noisette Rouge layers brown-butter Hennessy against Lot 40 rye and Amaro Averna. Come Thursday through Saturday, Atelier Zébulon Perron's room shifts into the Night Bar, running until 1:30 a.m. with live music and a crowd that's equal parts hotel guests and Montrealers. Marcus Samuelsson's kitchen is next door if you want it, but Lawson's bar doesn't need the assist.