Dutch Courage is a bar in Station North, Baltimore.
Dutch Courage in Old Goucher is a gin-focused cocktail bar on North Charles Street, building its list around gin and tonics and a long back bar of botanicals.
Food program: Small plates
Tip: It is gin-forward but the team mixes anything; the patio is a draw in warm weather.
Address: 2229 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218
The Bluebird Cocktail Room in Hampden is a literary-themed upstairs cocktail bar, mixing hyper-seasonal drinks in a book-lined room above the Avenue.
Signature drink: Literary-themed seasonal cocktails
Food: Small plates
Tip: The upstairs Green Room is the seat to ask for; the menu leans hyper-seasonal.
The Elk Room in Harbor East is a hidden cocktail bar behind Italian Disco, pouring spirit-forward classics in a dim, vintage Atlas Restaurant Group room.
Signature drink: Spirit-forward classics
Food: Snacks
Tip: Enter through Italian Disco; the cocktail list runs spirit-forward and classic.
The Owl Bar in the Belvedere Hotel is a Mount Vernon landmark since 1903, a wood-panelled former speakeasy with terracotta owls and brick-oven pizza.
Signature drink: Classic cocktails
Food: Brick-oven pizza, pub plates
Tip: The neon owls signalled bootleg liquor in Prohibition days; the brick-oven pizza is the kitchen's strength.
Max's Taphouse on Fells Point's Broadway is a beer hall with more than a hundred taps and a deep bottle list, a Baltimore craft-beer institution.
Signature drink: Hundreds of taps and bottles
Food: Pub grub
Tip: The tap list runs past 100; the annual Belgian beer fest is the calendar event to catch.
Cat's Eye Pub on the Fells Point waterfront is a no-frills live-music bar, running blues and rock bands nightly in a cramped, well-worn room on Thames Street.
Signature drink: Beer and a shot
Food: No kitchen
Tip: There is live music nearly every night and no cover; it is cash-friendly and waterfront.
The Horse You Came In On Saloon in Fells Point claims to be America's oldest continuous saloon, a Thames Street bar tied to Edgar Allan Poe's last days.
Signature drink: Beer and whiskey
Food: No kitchen
Tip: It bills itself as the country's oldest continuous saloon; the Poe lore is part of the draw.
