The Best Cocktail Bars in Detroit
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The best cocktail bars in Detroit, according to the experts: The Pinnacle Guide, Esquire, and The 50 have all weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Standby comes out on top.
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Father Forgive Me and Chenin hold the next two places. Spirited Awards shows up on more of this list than any other guide, with The 50 next.
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Rank 1. Standby
Cocktail Bar
The awards
- The Pinnacle Guide The Pinnacle Guide: 2 Pins
- Esquire Esquire: Parmesan Leek Galette · The Best Martinis in America
- The 50 The 50: The 50 Discovery
- The Pinnacle Guide 2 Pins
- Esquire Parmesan Leek Galette · The Best Martinis in America
- The 50 The 50 Discovery
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The awards
- The 50 #83 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
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Rank 3. Chenin
Wine Bar
Chenin is a tiny wine bar tucked inside The Siren Hotel, pouring natural and biodynamic bottles to a room lit softly enough to forgive anyone's skin-contact experiments. Salty snacks and a mortadella sandwich piled onto focaccia keep the evening going longer than planned. Seats are scarce, so arrive when the doors open. It was a James Beard Award nominee for Best New Bar.
The awards
- James Beard Awards James Beard Awards: 2026 · Nominee · Best New Bar
- The Infatuation The Infatuation: The Best Restaurants In Detroit
- Spirited Awards Spirited Awards: 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best New Bar
- The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In Detroit
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
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The awards
- Spirited Awards 2023 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
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The awards
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Rank 6. Castalia
Cocktail Bar
At five o'clock on the dot, a perfume shop inside a Victorian mansion in Midtown folds itself into an 18-seat cocktail bar. Castalia is built around the idea that smell and taste are basically the same argument, pairing its seasonal experimental cocktails with scents from its sister perfume house. The room holds fewer people than a dinner party, which tends to focus everyone's attention on what's in the glass.
The awards
- The Pinnacle Guide The Pinnacle Guide: 1 Pin
- The 50 The 50: The 50 Discovery
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The awards