1862 Dry Bar on Calle del Pez in Malasana is the speakeasy-style cocktail room named for the year Jerry Thomas published the first cocktail book, with a backlit basement liquor cage and a focused craft list.
Tip: Open daily from 16:00 with a 15:00 weekend open; the basement is the seat to ask for. The Cantaloupe Gibson with pisco and manzanilla is the house signature.
Address: Calle del Pez 27, 28004 Madrid
Macera Taller Bar on Calle de San Mateo opened in 2015 as the Malasana craft-cocktail room built on house-macerated spirits, with everything from pineapple rum to wasabi vodka infused in-house.
Tip: Open every day from 18:00 with a 17:00 weekend open; closing 03:30 Friday and Saturday. The macerated-spirit flights are the way to taste the programme.
Sala Equis on Calle del Duque de Alba in La Latina is the converted 1986 to 2015 X-cinema, now a high-ceilinged cocktail-and-screening bar with bleachers, hammocks and a 55-seat cinema hall running original-version films.
Tip: Bar open daily from 12:00; cinema entry 6.50 euros for the original-version screening. The Plaza section is the main hall, the Ambigu is the quiet talk space.
Angelita on Calle de la Reina in Chueca is a two-floor bar by brothers David and Mario Villalon, with a street-level wine bar and a basement cocktail lounge programming classic and seasonal cocktails.
Tip: Open Mon to Fri 17:30 to 02:00 plus to 02:30 Friday; closed weekends. The basement is the cocktail-list room, the ground floor is wine-led.
Macera Taller Bar on Calle de San Mateo opened in 2015 as the Malasana craft-cocktail room built on house-macerated spirits, with everything from pineapple rum to wasabi vodka infused in-house.
Tip: Open every day from 18:00 with a 17:00 weekend open; closing 03:30 Friday and Saturday. The macerated-spirit flights are the way to taste the programme.
Museo Chicote on Gran Via since 1931 is Spain's first cocktail bar, founded by barman Perico Chicote with Art Deco decor by Luis Gutierrez Soto, drawing Hemingway, Sinatra, Ava Gardner and Sofia Loren over the decades.
Tip: The original 1931 Art Deco room is the photo seat; the cocktail list keeps the canon classics. Open from 16:00 most nights, late close at the weekend.
Bar Cock on Calle de la Reina behind Museo Chicote has run since 1921 in a wood-and-leather English-club room, the Almodovar-era movida late-night hangout that survived the Civil War and still serves classic cocktails.
Tip: Open from 16:00 daily, 19:00 on Saturday; close at 03:30 weekends. The fireplace-connected legend with Museo Chicote next door is part of the lore.
Black & White on Calle de la Libertad in Chueca opened in 1984 and is Madrid's oldest continuously operating gay nightclub, with cabaret and drag queen shows nightly across a two-floor venue.
Tip: Drag and cabaret shows every night; the top floor is the quiet bar, ground floor is the dancefloor. Closed Sundays; weeknights from midnight.