The 15 Best Cocktail Bars in Denver

A cocktail bar that calls itself a nerdy cocktail bar, a natural wine bar, and your favorite dive bar, and then has the audacity to be all three. The Old Bay Martini landed it on Esquire's radar and the Spirited Awards named it the top U.S. cocktail bar, but the room itself is the tell: hot dogs share menu space with wine you've never heard of, and nobody in here seems to think that's unusual.

1. Spirited Awards 2024 · Winner · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar
2. The 50 #67 · North America's 50 Best Bars
3. Esquire The Best Bars in America

The martini here gets shaken with both vodka and gin, which is either a provocation or a correction depending on your religion. Death & Co is a cocktail bar that started in New York and landed in RiNo, bringing the same intricate, unhurried approach to drinking. The room is loungey and deliberate, the kind of place where settling in for three rounds feels like the obvious move rather than a guilty one.

1. Esquire The Telegraph · The Best Martinis in America
2. Thrillist The Best Bars in Denver
3. The Infatuation The Best Bars In Denver

1. Punch Best New Bartenders · Mak Kelly
2. Westword 2024 · Best Bar for Girls’ Night · Best of Denver
3. James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar

Blowfish sculptures and boats hanging from the ceiling set the tone before you've ordered a thing. Adrift is a full-commitment tiki bar on South Broadway, with bamboo walls, fishing-net lights, and totem carvings doing their best to convince you Denver isn't landlocked. Cocktails arrive in coconuts, flaming punchbowls, or funky mugs, running from Zombies and Singapore Slings to seasonal originals leaning on cachaca, sherry, and cacao. Spam musubi keeps things honest.

1. Thrillist The Best Bars in Denver
2. The Infatuation The Best Bars In Denver
3. Eater The Best Bars in Denver

1. The Infatuation The Best Bars In Denver
2. Eater The Best Bars in Denver
3. Westword The Top 50 Bars in Denver Right Now

The bookstore on the corner of Tejon is not a bookstore. Push the right shelf and you're inside one of Denver's favorite cocktail bars, a speakeasy that takes both halves of the conceit seriously: a library of over 500 spirits backs a menu of originals alongside some 60 classics. No standing room means the wait is part of the deal, so arrive with patience and someone to talk to while you queue.

1. Thrillist The Best Bars in Denver
2. Eater The Best Bars in Denver
3. Westword The Top 50 Bars in Denver Right Now

Southern cooking and a cocktail program that pours buttermilk and benne seed into the glass share equal billing at this casual Five Points restaurant and bar. The chef runs with heirloom grits and collard greens but also hot-and-sour catfish and sorghum-tamarind pork shoulder, so the kitchen respects the tradition without being hostage to it. The team behind the preeminent cocktail bar Yacht Club runs the drinks side, which explains the ambition in a room that looks relaxed about the whole thing.

1. 5280 The 13 Best New Places to Eat and Drink in Denver
2. Eater The Best New Restaurants in Denver
3. Westword 2026 · Best New Bar · Best of Denver

1. Westword 2026 · Best Secretly High-Tech Cocktails · Best of Denver
2. Westword The Top 50 Bars in Denver Right Now
3. Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar

1. Westword 2024 · Best Satanic Gay Tiki Bar · Best of Denver
2. Eater The Best Bars in Denver
3. Westword The Top 50 Bars in Denver Right Now

1. Thrillist The Best Bars in Denver
2. 5280 Best for a Big Night Out · The 23 Best Bars in Denver
3. Westword 2023 · Best Use of a Leopard Speedo · Best of Denver

1. Westword 2026 · Best Culinary-Inspired Cocktails · Best of Denver
2. Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar

1. James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurateur · Erika Whitaker and Kelly Whitaker - ID EST
2. 5280 Best for Filling Bellies · The 23 Best Bars in Denver
3. Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West

A cocktail lounge called Ok Yeah tucked into the back tells you everything about the vibe here. Hey Kiddo is a playful, Asian-inflected restaurant and bar on the third floor of a Tennyson Street building, with a rooftop deck most people don't find on the first visit. The menu runs on shareable plates, and the team behind it earned a James Beard Outstanding Restaurateur semifinalist nod. The room skews young and loud in the best way.

1. Westword 2023 · Best New Restaurant-and-Bar Combo · Best of Denver
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
3. 5280 The 25 Best Restaurants in Denver

1. 5280 Best for a Big Night Out · The 23 Best Bars in Denver

1. 5280 Best for Slow Sipping · The 23 Best Bars in Denver