That to the inhabitants of Madrid are known as “cats” is a peculiarity easily extrapolated to the very character of the city: the capital is also a nocturnal animal. This is evidenced by the popularity of cocktail bars in Madrid, which has such emblematic establishments as the Chicote Museum. A popularity that they have been (re)acquiring today, largely because they have been able to read and adapt to new trends.
Gone are the days when bars offering quality cocktails were counted on the fingers of one hand and consumption was mostly nocturnal: “tardeo” has burst into our vocabulary as a result of having done so, first, in our habits. In this new cocktail scene , ingredients such as innovation and the personal stamp of each author are becoming important, an aspect in which Madrid can boast: it has the Best Bartender World Class of Spain 2021.
Some understand it as an art; others, as a form of craftsmanship. And, to a greater or lesser extent, also as a discipline with a certain sense of spectacle. In this article we take a look at some of the cocktail bars in Madrid that, with their elaborations, place the capital as a reference to be taken into account in the mixology map.
1. Angelita
The basement of the Angelita restaurant houses the Best Cocktail Bar in Spain 2021 according to Fibar, the most important fair of this sector in our country. In six years of history, the cocktail bar headed by Mario Villalón has won this award on two other occasions. His handcrafted cocktails, with fresh seasonal products obtained from his own orchard in Litos (Zamora) -where the tomatoes for his famous Bloody Maryscome from, for example-, are an essential stop in an environment where standing out was not easy: on the same street there are two other reference cocktail bars such as Cock and Del Diego.
📍 Calle Reina, 4 (Chueca)
2. Fifth Element
One of the most striking gastronomic openings of 2021 was that of Quintoelemento, a sky bar that combines culinary and audiovisual elements -with a large dome that projects 4K images- in the same experience, to which we must add its signature cocktail bar. The shochu mojito -based on shochu, shisho syrup and sparkling sake-, the Tanoshi -with pink gin, red fruits and eucalyptus- or the veggie Pisco sour, based on aquafaba (viscous water made from legumes) and spices are some of the cocktails on the menu. In addition, also offers an attractive executive menu for 25€.
📍 Two top floors of the Teatro Kapital (125, Atocha street)
3. 1862 Dry Bar
1862 Dry Bar, with a classic look and a menu that focuses mainly on traditional cocktails -but without renouncing to new proposals-, opened its doors in May 2012 in Malasaña. Its name is a double nod: to the year in which the building where it is located was built and to Jerry Thomas’ first recipe book, ‘How To Mix Drinks’, considered the father of modern mixology. Last year, its good work made it enter for the first time in the ranking ‘The World’s 50 Best Bars’, in the section of the ranking from 51 to 100, specifically in the 84th position.
📍 Calle Pez, 27 (Malasaña)
4. Salmon Guru
Since its opening, the famous cocktail bar in the neighborhood of Las Letras has given headlines and joys to its founding team, led by the famous mixologist Diego Cabrera. Included in the list of World’s 50 Best Bars, Salmon Guru has renewed its menu with 30 new creations, divided into six imaginative categories, which respond to names such as Salmo Salar(pict ured) with Sip Smith gin, Konjac, lemon juice and grapefruit soda. The new concoctions fuse stories from India, Greece, Egypt or Mexico. Completing the theatricality is an unusual mix of ingredients brimming with imagination in impossible artisanal containers.
📍 Calle de Echegaray, 21 (Las Letras)
5. José Alfredo
From its discreet location just a stone’s throw away from Gran Vía located at one end of the Plaza de la Luna, this American-style restaurant has consolidated its charisma thanks to a busy schedule of concerts, a clientele that includes musicians, artists and journalists -many of them personal friends of its owners- and, of course, a menu of creations to match its distinguished regulars.
Clad in leather and wood, the bar dedicated to the legendary ranchera singer (José Alfredo Jiménez) has a long bar where the magic of its mixologists works, with up to 20 combinations on the menu, with nomenclatures such as Frida & Trosky (vodka with lemon, passion fruit, apple and white wine) or Paloma (San Cosme with lime, grapefruit, soda, agave and rosemary), plus all its arsenal of classic cocktails, where the Bloody Mary and the Dry Martinistand out.
📍 Calle de Silva, 22 (Malasaña)
6. Cock Bar
A century of nightlife on the rocks in Madrid goes a long way. Even more so if your founders are named Emilio Saracho and Perico Chicote (another of the great surnames of Madrid’s nightlife). Since the 1920s, the imposing chimney and soaring ceilings of this dystopian temple of British air has seen all the celebrities who, at least once in their lives, decided that Madrid was the best city in the world to witness the most unlikely early mornings.
Dominguín, Mihura, Almodóvar, Dalí, Audrey Hepburn, Ava Gardner, Frank Sinatra, Harrison Ford… Since then, El Cock has cared for its legendary and international clientele of intellectuals, politicians, movie stars and art lovers with an infallible equation: a classic cocktail bar without stridency, referenced by its impeccable gin and tonics, and the canonical elegance of its waiters.
📍 Calle de la Reina, 16 (Chueca)
7. Momus
A liquid theater and an ode to the God of Greek mythology (Momus) who represents sarcasm, this is how Alberto Fernández, Laura Perea and Emilio Rodríguez define themselves.
This cocktail bar in Chueca is something like haute cuisine in mixology: its modus operandi consists of revisiting and remaking classic cocktails using techniques that are more typical of the kitchen than of the bar.
an example? The espresso Martini, which is made with a raspberry molasses that has been pressure-cooked for more than six hours.
📍 Calle de San Bartolomé, 11 (Chueca)
8. Savas Cocktail Bar
Halfway between the traditional tavern and the most modern cocktail bar, Savas is a meeting point for hedonists and lovers of good drinks. There are few cocktail bars in Lavapiés savas is one of them. There are few cocktail bars with such a competitive price (between 8 and 9€), Savas is one of them. For more Honor: according to the journalist Ángeles Caballero it is the best bar in Madrid.
📍 Calle de la Sombrerería, 3 (Lavapiés)
9. Bad Company 1920
don’t you like the era in which you were born? In this life there is a solution for (almost) everything and Bad Company 1920 works like a Delorean. Back to full Prohibition and welcome the opportunity for meet the speakeasy (type of clandestine business that was born in New York and where alcohol was consumed: on the outside it looked like a nondescript establishment and on the inside it was a bar). Not for nothing do cocktails arrive in containers that seduce and invite you to think they are anything: the Peaky Blinders beret or the Lancelot projectile are good examples.
You will need a password to log in. Hint: they renew it every month and announce it on their Instagram.
📍 Calle de Miguel Moya, 8 (Malasaña)
10. Santamaria
Santamaría, inaugurated in 2010 by Julio de la Torre, is defined by its hospitality. Its location also makes this cocktail bar in the Malasaña neighborhood unique, as it is a converted former brothel. Its interior features a wooden bar topped with leather, from which the best gin and tonics in Madrid are served. Its offer revisits the classic cocktails, adapting them to the 21st century, and complements them with other signature cocktails, all of them carefully prepared down to the last detail. Proof of this is the care with which they treat the blocks of crystalline ice that they elaborate recovering a technique of the 19th century. Santamaría is also known as La coctelería de al lado, thanks to the restaurant La Tasquita de Enfrente, the place with which it is wall to wall.
📍 Ballesta Street, 6 (Malsaña)
11. Del Diego Cocktail Bar
The creator of Del Diego Cocktail Bar is none other than Fernando del Diego, who became an internationally renowned bartender after learning his trade as a student at Perico Chicote, the most famous cocktail bar in post-war Madrid. His disciple’s, open since 1992, is currently run by his two sons, David and Fernando. It has one of the most extensive menus, in which there is no shortage of classics from the Dry Martini to the White Russian. Elegance is the hallmark of Del Diego, which transports you to New York’s Big Apple with its cocktails and also with its premises, awarded with several prizes for interior design such as the one granted by the City Council of Madrid.
📍 Calle de la Reina, 12 (Chueca)
12. Mezcaloteca Corazón Agavero
This mezcaloteca embodies the tradition of the Mexican drink. Its owners, Wilmer Yajamín and Felicia Covone, were driven by this passion from Mexico, their native country, to the heart of Madrid. Now they bring to the city the best brands of more than 300 Mexican distillates such as mezcal, raicilla or charanda. One of its objectives is to banish tequila as a shot drink, dressing it up with cocktails for all tastes. The venue is the ideal place for any aficionado, as they offer experiences to learn how to differentiate the different drinks. In addition, they also import Mexican culture to their menu, where all kinds of typical dishes can be tasted.
📍 Calle Humilladero, 28 (La Latina)
13. Harveys Cocktail Bar
Harvey’s could be the setting for any classic American movie or series, but this cocktail bar on Calle Fuencarral – a survivor from when it was a street of alternative venues – specializes in bringing back the spirits of the deepest America. Edu Gutiérrez, founder of this bar and of In Dreams Café, is passionate about American culture and mixology, which not only shows in the aesthetics and in the long drinks menu, but also in the bartenders’ creations, capable of making a cocktail from scratch according to your tastes.
📍 Calle de Fuencarral, 70 (Malasaña)
14. Glass by Sips
The third best cocktail bar in the world is the Bar Sips according to the list published in 2022 by The World’s 50 Best Bars, fortunately it is no longer necessary to go to Barcelona to enjoy this exceptional bar. Simone Caporale and Marc Alvarez, owners of the cocktail bar, opened in late 2022 a space inside the Hotel Urban in Madrid under the name Glass by Sip. Inspired by the 1920s this new landmark spot in Madrid’s cocktail scene serves some classics with experimental touches, like the Negroni with ice that doesn’t melt, and other drinks you’ll only try here. Another example: the Primordial: whiskey with port and pear served in a container shaped like joined hands.
📍 Carrera de San Jerónimo, 34 (downtown)
15. Jack’s Library
Jack’s Library is a speakeasy, what on the surface appears to be a bookstore with suspiciously dim, warm lighting, filled with plants and candles, is actually one of the latest cocktail openings of 2022. Its founder, Murray MacDonald, a Scotsman who has been preparing cocktails in Madrid for ten years, also runs the adjoining African-inspired cocktail bar, Ficus.
📍 Calle Santo Tomé, 8 (Salesas)
16. Le Macao
Le Macao is an elegant lounge with round tables, colorful seating and a tropical ambiance. In its cocktail menu, the mixology drinks (and never better said) from Asian influences. We see it in delicacies such as the Yuzu mojito (Plantation 3 Stars rum, Monin yuzu puree, mint, lime, soda), their Asian Spritz (Umeshu Extra Shiso, prosecco, soda), Wonderland (gin, lime, Monin raspberry syrup, egg white) or the king of the house, Le Macao (with Choya Junmai sake, Monin cassis liqueur, Rantcho lime juice, grapefruit soda, passion fruit foam).
📍 Paseo de la Castellana, 95 (AZCA)
This article was co-written by Sara Morillo y Alberto del Castillo y Elena French.