Victoria Bar is a bar in Tiergarten, Berlin.
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.
Food program: 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.
Address: Potsdamer Strasse 102, 10785 Berlin
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 to 01:00; the live-music nights pack the room early.
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 to 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.
