The best bars in Washington DC start in the vault of an 1891 bank in Penn Quarter and can run until 3am on U Street. In between are José Andrés' cocktail lab, a saloon with 2,700 whiskeys and a 25-person bar on 14th Street that hands out free Cheez-Its. Four of these ten cocktail bars are in Penn Quarter and downtown, the rest spread out from Dupont Circle to H Street NE, and the most expensive drink on the list is a $42 Crusta.
1. Silver Lyan (Penn Quarter)
Silver Lyan sits in the old vault of the 1891 Riggs National Bank building at 9th and F Streets, once known as the Bank of Presidents and now the Riggs Washington DC hotel. Ryan Chetiyawardana, whose London bar Dandelyan was voted World's Best Bar in 2018, opened it to the public on February 7, 2020. The current menu is named after monsters: the Loch Ness Martini ($21) is Grey Goose vodka, gorse sherry, sour strawberry vermouth and jasmine, and the Tarantula Iced Tea ($21) is Jack Daniel's bottled-in-bond, buckwheat tea, lemongrass hemp foam and spider (the menu says no more about the spider). The Silver Apple Martini is $29, and the $13 Jello Shots, Hugo Spritz or Pornstar Martini, come with a Champagne chaser. Silver Lyan recommends booking on SevenRooms but keeps a walk-in waitlist all night, and the floor staff will steer you through the list. Order the duck grilled cheese while you decide.
2. Barmini (Penn Quarter)
José Andrés opened Barmini in February 2013 as the cocktail lab next to Minibar, his tasting counter, and it's now at 501 9th St NW, a couple of blocks from Silver Lyan. The menu runs to more than 100 drinks plus flights, and the Big in Japan has been on it since opening day: Nikka Coffey Grain Whisky, dry vermouth, Drambuie and Salers gentian liqueur, garnished with a wakamomo, a preserved baby peach. Barmini turned 13 this year (so did the Big in Japan). The Floral Cloud is an Aviation of gin, citrus and crème de violette under a cloud of dry ice. Reservations open a month ahead, and a table is yours for an hour and a half, or two hours with a flight. Walk-ins are seated when there's room but get less attention than booked tables. The food is snacks, so have dinner first, and check hours and prices when you book, since Barmini posts neither online.
3. Allegory (Downtown)
Allegory is behind a plain door in the Progress Library of the Eaton DC hotel at 1201 K Street NW. An Erik Thor Sandberg mural wraps the room and retells Alice in Wonderland through Ruby Bridges, who in 1960 became the first Black child to desegregate William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana. The current menu, Banned in DC, launched in February 2025 and follows Ruby into a dystopian Washington, photographed across 17 sets that Katie Miller built from more than 15,000 toy pieces. Deke Dunne runs the bar, which was No. 45 on North America's 50 Best Bars in 2025 and won Best US Bar Team at Tales of the Cocktail the same year.
Allegory takes no reservations, so waits run up to two or three hours, seating is at tables only and a 20% gratuity goes on every check. On Fridays and Saturdays the library is the waiting room, with a short menu of mashups such as the Cosmogroni ($16), citron vodka, ambrato vermu, aperitivo, orange and cranberries ("a cosmopolitan and a negroni walk into a bar..." the menu explains). They text when your table is ready and give you five minutes to answer, or you can be at the door for the 5pm opening.
4. Dauphine's (Downtown)
Dauphine's, at 1100 15th St NW, is a New Orleans restaurant with a Michelin Bib Gourmand, and its bar keeps pouring for about an hour after the kitchen closes. The Hurricane ($17) is built on Cane & Table's reproduction of fassionola syrup, and the Freezer Door Obituary ($19) is a 50/50 martini of navy-strength gin, aromatized wines, anise and orange bitters, "served straight out of the freezer." At the top are the Farm-Fresh Ramos Gin Fizz ($36), Black Forest Gin, orange blossom water, fresh citrus, sweet cream from a local dairy and farm eggs, and the Crusta Criollo ($42), Codigo Extra Anejo tequila, Don Q Gran Reserva rum, Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao, maraschino and citrus.
For those not ready to spend $42 on one drink, happy hour runs Monday to Friday 4 to 7pm, Saturday 3 to 7pm and all day Sunday, bar area only, with $11 cocktails (Negroni, Old Fashioned, Pimm's Cup, NOLA Margarita, Grapefruit G&T). Stools and high-tops at the indoor bar can be reserved, and the heated outdoor bar is first come, first served.
5. Doyle (Dupont Circle)
Doyle is the bar at The Dupont Circle Hotel, 1500 New Hampshire Avenue, designed by Martin Brudnizki's studio for The Doyle Collection, an Irish family hotel group, with blue bar stools, a mid-century look and big windows onto the circle. The current menu, Swing Set, is subtitled "A Novel in 12 Cocktails" and narrated by the concierge of a fictional bar, and copies of the menu are for sale. The Emerald Flame ($21) is Clarified Wilde Gin, Dolin Dry Vermouth and Barry's Tea. Another Round? ($22) is Nikka Days Whisky, Amaro Nonino, Averna, Sweet Vermouth, Guinness Lavender Reduction and Cherry Saffron Bitters, and Take the A is the $15 mocktail. Classics run $18 to $22, and the Irish Coffee is Redbreast 12-year, a Guinness reduction, coffee and house-made cream. The bar snacks are free (marinated olives, wasabi peas, spiced nuts or kettle chips), parties of six or more pay a 20% service charge and the seats to ask for are by the windows. Doyle is open until 1am on Friday and Saturday.
6. Jack Rose Dining Saloon (Adams Morgan)
Jack Rose Dining Saloon on 18th Street keeps more than 2,700 whiskeys on library-style shelves high enough that the bartenders work from ladders, and its website calls it, in capitals, the LARGEST WHISK(E)Y COLLECTION IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE. Jack Rose has three floors: the dining saloon, a glass-enclosed rooftop terrace with a retractable roof and heaters, and a cellar tasting room and bottle shop called Premier Drams. Tell the bartender what you usually drink and let them climb. The house classics are $16, and traditionalists will want the Signature Manhattan, Old Overholt BIB rye, OGD BIB bourbon, Knob Creek 9yr bourbon, house vermouth blend and Angostura. The Signature Whisky Sour is Glenmorangie Original 12yr, lemon, grapefruit, house oleo and egg white. On the terrace, the Beltway Bridge is a Natty Boh and a Maker's Mark for $11. Happy hour runs all day Monday, 5 to 7:30pm Tuesday through Thursday and 4 to 7:30pm Friday, with the classics at $12 and the Jack Smash burger at $10. Jack Rose takes bookings on Resy.
7. Jane Jane (Logan Circle)
Jane Jane, at 1705 14th St NW, holds about 25 people on a plaid tile floor, with booths papered in cartoon bar shelves. "We do not accept reservations, and operate on a first come first serve basis," the website says, so expect a line on weekends and plenty of noise once it fills. Go early in the week, during Golden Hour (Monday to Thursday, 5 to 7pm). A cup of Cheez-Its comes free, and A Bigger Bowl of Cheezits is $4. Start with the Gin Soaked Felon ($16), Gin, St Germain, Grapefruit, Lime and Cocchi Americano, or Should We Be Bad? ($16), Bourbon, Cold Brew, Nola Coffee Liqueur, Velvet Falernum and Orange Bitters. Sluttiest of Stone Fruits ($17) is Scotch, Apricot, Honey, Angostura and Peach Bitters. Order as written, since the bar doesn't do modifications, and shots come in a minimum of two, among them the $8 Pickle-tini of Gin and Gordy's Pickle Brine. Jane Jane opens at 2pm on weekends and stays open until 2am on Friday and Saturday.
8. Service Bar (U Street)
Service Bar is at 926 U St NW, a block east of the U Street/Cardozo Metro. Chad Spangler and Glendon Hartley opened it in 2016 as a bar for people who work in bars, and it stays open until 3am on Friday and Saturday. It's also No. 39 on North America's 50 Best Bars for 2026, and T-shirts are welcome anyway. The Heirloom Carrot Margarita ($15) is Altos blanco tequila, heirloom carrots and lime, and the Celery Martini ($16) is Fords gin, celery, Yzaguirre blanco vermouth, Old Bay, brine and curry leaf oil. The Melona Bar ($19) is Hwayo 41 soju, honeydew and calpico, carbonated, with a mini Melona bar on the side. You should also order the fried chicken, as thighs with mac and cheese and green beans or in the $15 Original sandwich. Happy hour is Tuesday to Friday, 5 to 7pm, with a $9 Old Fashioned, Daiquiri or Pisco Punch and a $7 High Life combo, shot and a beer. Service Bar adds a 20% gratuity to every check.
9. Cotton & Reed (Union Market)
Cotton & Reed is DC's first rum distillery, at 1330 5th St NE, a block from the Union Market hall. Reed Walker and Jordan Cotton met doing strategy work for NASA, opened in November 2016 and put the still in an old elevator shaft. Lukas B. Smith runs the bar, where the Redbeard (Cotton & Reed Dry White Rum, ginger, Campari and lemon) has been on the menu since day one. The frozen Cocomotion is white and gold rums, lacto-coco, pineapple and pandan, and it has sold in the tens of thousands. Ordering is by QR code, and everyone in the bar area gets carded, drinking or not, so bring ID for the whole group. Happy hour is Monday to Friday 4 to 6pm, and Cotton & Reed stays open until 2am on Friday and Saturday. In 2024 a Reddit thread decided the door at the back was a secret speakeasy, so Cotton padlocked it and hung a sign: "No Entry. Literally just a gross storage area."
10. Cane (H Street)
Cane, at 403 H St NE, is a Trinidadian restaurant rather than a bar, and it closes at 9:30 or 10pm, so go early. Jeanine Prime opened it with her brother, chef Peter Prime, in 2019, and it has picked up a RAMMY, a Michelin Bib Gourmand and a James Beard semifinalist nod (Peter Prime left in 2022). A painting of President Obama eating doubles hangs by the door, so order the doubles ($9), then the jerk wings ($16), marinated for 12 hours and smoked, and properly hot. The Rum Punch ($13) is dark rum, lime and Angostura bitters, and The Hamilton ($17) is Hamilton 86 Demerara rum, Ferrand Dry Curacao, pimento dram and lime. Limbos is a Red Stripe and a shot of house rum for $12, and rum flights are $29, three Angosturas (5-year, 7-year and 1824) or three El Dorados (5, 8 and 15). Happy hour is Monday to Thursday 4 to 7pm, with $10 Rum Punch and $6 doubles. Tables, booked on OpenTable, have a two-hour limit. The 20% fair wage fee on every check is, the menu says, "not a tip."
Washington DC Bars FAQ
What's the best neighborhood for bar hopping in DC? Penn Quarter, where Silver Lyan and Barmini are a couple of blocks apart on 9th Street. For a later night, start at Jane Jane on 14th Street and finish at Service Bar on U Street.
Do you need reservations at DC cocktail bars? At Barmini, yes, a month ahead. Silver Lyan recommends booking but keeps a walk-in waitlist. Allegory and Jane Jane take none, and Allegory's wait can reach two to three hours.
What time do bars close in Washington DC? Service Bar stays open latest, until 3am on Friday and Saturday. Jane Jane, Jack Rose and Cotton & Reed close at 2am on weekends, Allegory at 1:30am and Doyle at 1am, and Cane stops serving at 10pm.
Where are the best happy hours? Jack Rose pours its $12 whiskey classics all day on Mondays, and Dauphine's has $11 cocktails at the bar all day Sunday. Service Bar's Old Fashioned is $9 from 5 to 7pm Tuesday to Friday.
Do DC bars add a service charge? Allegory and Service Bar add a 20% gratuity to every check, Cane adds a 20% fair wage fee, and Doyle adds 20% for parties of six or more.
Is The Gibson still open? No. The U Street bar closed at the end of 2023, after a goodbye party on New Year's Eve.
Photos: Riggs Washington DC, Barmini by José Andrés, Ted Eytan / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0), Dauphine's, Doyle, Jack Rose Dining Saloon, Jane Jane, Service Bar, Cotton & Reed
