The 10 Best Whiskey Bars in America
2025-01-15 · 5 min read
A great whiskey bar is defined by three things: selection, knowledge, and atmosphere. You need bottles on the shelf that you cannot find at your local liquor store. You need a bartender who can guide you through them without condescension. And you need a room that makes you want to sit, sip, and stay. These ten bars deliver on all three.
Jack Rose Dining Saloon in Washington, DC, houses one of the largest whiskey collections in the Western Hemisphere, with over 2,700 bottles spanning American bourbon, Scotch, Irish, Japanese, and everything in between. The rooftop terrace is a bonus, but the real draw is the library of bottles behind the bar and a staff that can navigate it with precision.
Seven Grand in Los Angeles turned a downtown space into a hunting-lodge-meets-whiskey-temple with a taxidermy-filled interior and a back bar stocked with over 700 bottles. The cocktail program is strong, but this is a place built for neat pours and discovery. Their annual whiskey events draw enthusiasts from across the country.
The Flatiron Room in New York, located in the NoMad neighborhood, combines live jazz with a whiskey list that runs over a thousand selections. The atmosphere is swanky without being exclusive, and the table service format encourages lingering. Ordering a flight of single malts while a quartet plays in the corner is one of the finest drinking experiences in the city.
Canon in Seattle holds one of the most extensive spirits collections in the world, over 4,000 bottles, housed in a multilevel space on Capitol Hill. Multnomah Whiskey Library in Portland requires a membership but opens its doors to walk-ins on certain nights, and the leather-and-oak interior feels like a private club that actually wants you there. These bars prove that whiskey culture in America extends far beyond Kentucky.
