Meet the mixologists shaking things up in the Big Apple

When it comes to bar innovation and cocktail creativity, the world looks to New York. This is a city whose venues feature prominently on the World’s 50 Best Bars list year after year. There’s a whole mix of styles and approaches here, from small-cover bars hidden down backstreets to boundary-pushing establishments so popular, people queue round the block to get in.

1. Double Chicken Please, Lower East Side

You’ll see the queue for Double Chicken Please long before you see the venue. New Yorkers cross town to have a casual drink in its Front Room, which serves cocktails on tap, but the hot ticket is one of the 15 reservation-only seats in the back-room Coop. The dark, wood-lined space is dominated by a central bar lit in soft pink neon. Here, mixologists make good on the mission of co-founders GN Chan and Faye Chen to recreate classic dishes in liquid form. The result? Order a Waldorf Salad or Japanese Cold Noodle, and the resulting cocktail will somehow taste exactly like that — but entirely delicious. 

Bartender’s choice: A savoury and utterly surprising Cold Pizza, made with tequila.

2. The Campbell, Midtown

Tucked away in a corner of Grand Central Terminal, the small brass sign announcing The Campbell gives no hint of the grandeur to come. Occupying the former office and halls of financier John W Campbell, the bar retains the Florentine-inspired architecture of the original 1920s interior, with its painted beamed ceiling, leaded-glass window and enormous stone fireplace. It’s more castle than railway station bar. Creating drinks that live up to the surroundings is a tough job, but The Campbell’s staff work magic behind the marble counter, serving classic cocktails and new concoctions to customers in no hurry to catch a train anywhere. 

Bartender’s choice: A zesty, orange-flecked sazerac made with rye whiskey.

3. Casa Mezcal, Lower East Side

New Yorkers have Casa Mezcal to thank for their obsession with the agave-based spirit. Opened by two Oaxacans in 2009, the bar and cultural centre was the first mezcaleria in the city. A painting of farmers kneeling in worship at an agave plant marks the entrance, while the turquoise, fairy-lit cabinetry of the bar seems part altar, surrounded by bottles and a diverse collection of artefacts that includes an accordion and a stuffed turkey. As Mexican music plays on the stereo, happy punters make their way through flights of mezcal or tequila, with plates of rubbed-pork tacos on repeat order from the kitchen. 

Bartender’s choice: A potent margarita made with mezcal, the rim of the glass lined with pink peppercorn salt.

4. Martiny’s, Union Square  

Behind the discreet black door to Martiny’s lies a temple to precision. In a red-brick building that was once a carriage house and then a sculptor’s studio, Tokyo-born owner Takuma Watanabe delivers an experience that transcends the ordinary. An eye for detail is apparent throughout, from the glassware sourced in Japan to a devotion to premium spirits in the 10-list drinks menu. Each cocktail order here receives a level of care and theatre befitting a tea ceremony. And yet there’s no formality or pretension here, with good-humoured bartenders chatting to customers settled in for the evening. 

Bartender’s choice: Takuma’s version of a martini, the Grand Martiny, made with gin, sherry, port, cognac and elderflower liqueur.

5. The Gatehouses, northwest Brooklyn

Located at the entrance to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, The Gatehouses is the tasting room of King’s County Distillery, the city’s oldest. It makes its whiskey in the former paymaster’s building, where sailors once collected their wages, while its clientele drink it in the former 19th-century gatehouse, a delightfully ramshackle place with exposed plasterwork and creaky floorboards. New converts find their way here after a distillery tour, joining the many regulars at marble-topped tables to enjoy a whiskey flight or cocktail — many of whose ingredients are made here in New York. 

Bartender’s choice: A tart penicillin, made with peated bourbon and served with ginger.

6. Banzabar, Lower East Side

Taking the adventuring days of old as its inspiration, it’s apt that it takes a bit of an expedition to find Banzabar — down an alley, through a restaurant, up some stairs and through a warren of rooms. An unmarked door opens onto a tiny candle-lit bar that feels like the cabin of a ship’s captain, with wood-panelling and nautical prints on the walls. There are just 20 seats here, with tables arranged around a horseshoe-shaped bar. Punters wise enough to reserve one choose from a cocktail menu divided into sections such as ‘familiar ports’ (traditional) and ‘here there be monsters’ (inventive).

Bartender’s choice: A sweet, fruity Shackleton’s Urn, using gin and rum and served with a flaming lime.