Cocktails, wine bars and dives: drinking in Berlin for grown-ups.
Cocktail bars, wine bars, dive bars and gastropubs: drinking in Berlin for grown-ups.
Buck and Breck on Berlin's Brunnenstrasse has run an unmarked speakeasy cocktail bar since 2010; 14 seats around a single bar, classic and pre-Prohibition.
Signature drink: Buck and Breck (Cognac and champagne)
Food: None (drinks only)
Tip: Unmarked door, ring the bell. Reservations only via email; the bar opens at 19:00 with two seatings.
Bar Tausend on Berlin's Schiffbauerdamm runs an unmarked door under the train tracks at Friedrichstrasse station; the bar runs late, the cantina kitchen runs.
Signature drink: Tausend No. 1 cocktail
Food: Tausend Cantina restaurant attached
Tip: Unmarked door under the train tracks, the entrance is a side gate. The bar from 20:30 runs cocktails until 04:00.
Victoria Bar on Berlin's Potsdamer Strasse in Tiergarten has been the city's reference classic-cocktails bar since 2001; the long brass-and-leather room runs.
Signature drink: Green Victoria (champagne cocktail)
Food: Small plates
Tip: Walk-ups for the bar from 18:30; the back banquettes need a phone call. Closed-door cocktail school runs Monday afternoons.
Bar Bonvivant on Berlin's Goltzstrasse in Schoeneberg runs the city's reference vermouth bar with 50 bottles on the back wall; the cocktail list runs.
Signature drink: House vermouth on the rocks
Food: Tapas and charcuterie
Tip: The walk-up bar takes early-evening crowds; the back booth seats four and books online a week ahead.
Schwarze Traube on Muskauer Strasse in Kreuzberg has run a no-menu bespoke cocktail room since 2012; tell the bartender a spirit and a profile and they build.
Signature drink: Bartender's choice cocktail
Food: None
Tip: No menu. Tell the bartender a spirit and a taste profile. Ring the bell, reservations by email; small room, 18 covers.
Velvet on Ganghoferstrasse in Neukoelln is a hyperseasonal cocktail room from a small team that resets the menu every week around foraged Berlin plants.
Signature drink: Foraged-Berlin weekly menu
Food: Snacks only
Tip: The menu rewrites weekly so ask the bartender what is on this week, and skip Tuesday (lab day).
The Curtain Club at the Ritz-Carlton on Potsdamer Platz runs an elegant cocktail room behind heavy drapes off the hotel lobby, the carte built around.
Signature drink: 1920s-era classics with live music
Food: Bar snacks
Tip: Hotel bar, smart-casual at minimum. Daily 18:00-01:00; the live-music nights pack the room early.
Windhorst on Berlin's Dorotheenstrasse near the Bundestag has run since 1991 with the same bartenders; the martini and the journalist regulars define.
Signature drink: Vodka martini
Food: None
Tip: Smoke-friendly room (rare in Berlin). The Vodka Martini is the canonical order; cash and card accepted.
Beckett's Kopf on Berlin's Pappelallee in Prenzlauer Berg has run a no-menu classic cocktail bar since 2004; the room is named after Samuel Beckett's head.
Signature drink: Classic cocktails (no menu)
Food: None
Tip: No menu. Tell the bartender what you like; the Old Fashioned and the Negroni are the room's defaults.
Lamm Bar on Berlin's Wisbyer Strasse at the northern edge of Prenzlauer Berg runs a craft cocktail bar local mixologists recommend to each other.
Signature drink: Jurke (signature large-format cocktail)
Food: None
Tip: Open Mon-Sat 18:00-00:00 and Sun 17:30-23:30. Reservations for groups up to 15 until 20:00; otherwise walk-up to the bar.
Rum Trader on Fasanenstrasse is the oldest cocktail bar in Berlin, behind an unmarked black door trimmed in gold off Charlottenburg's Fasanenstrasse.
Signature drink: Bespoke rum-based cocktails
Food: No food, drinks only
Tip: Ring the bell, dress up a touch, and let Scholl steer the round. Cash only, closed Sundays and Mondays.
Stagger Lee on Berlin's Nollendorfstrasse in Schoeneberg runs a 1920s American whiskey bar with 200 bourbons, the music is bluegrass and country.
Signature drink: Bourbon Old Fashioned
Food: Snacks
Tip: Closed Sunday and Monday. The bourbon tasting flight of three is the order to start.
Thelonious on Berlin's Weserstrasse in Neukoelln runs a jazz-themed cocktail bar with live music three nights a week and an Old Fashioned program.
Signature drink: Jazz Manhattan
Food: None
Tip: Live jazz Thursday to Saturday from 21:00. The Manhattan is the room's signature order.
Reingold on Novalisstrasse in Mitte is a low-lit 1920s cocktail lounge favoured by Berlin's media and advertising crowd, classic-era drinks set to recorded.
Signature drink: Classic-era cocktails with jazz
Food: Snacks only
Tip: Ring the bell, dress up a touch. Quieter mid-week before 22:00; the room fills late on weekends.