Cocktails, wine bars and dives: drinking in Lexington for grown-ups.
Cocktail bars, wine bars, dive bars and gastropubs: drinking in Lexington for grown-ups.
The Bluegrass Tavern stacks Kentucky's largest bourbon collection on Cheapside, the downtown Lexington bar where flights run deep into allocated bottles.
Signature drink: Bourbon neat from Kentucky's largest bourbon collection
Tip: Closed Sundays and Mondays; tell the bartender a flavour direction and a budget and they will build a flight from Kentucky's largest bourbon collection.
Belle's Cocktail House pours bourbon cocktails across three levels on Market Street, with the rooftop bar downtown Lexington heads to on warm weekends.
Signature drink: Bourbon cocktails on the rooftop
Tip: Open Thursday to Saturday only, 16:30 to 02:00; head straight up to the rooftop level before the queue forms.
Ona mixes precise cocktails in an Art Deco room on Church Street, the low-lit downtown Lexington bar for a slow drink rather than a loud night.
Signature drink: House cocktails in an Art Deco room
Tip: Open nightly from 17:00 to 01:00; the seasonal menu rotates, so ask the bartenders what they are testing this week.
The Obstinate Sons runs a snug bourbon bar and kitchen on Chevy Chase Place, a neighbourhood Lexington room that takes its whiskey list seriously.
Signature drink: Bourbon pours with chef-driven plates
Tip: Closed Mondays; the kitchen holds its own, so arrive hungry rather than treating it as a drinks-only stop, and expect a wait for seats on weekends.
Bourbon on Rye keeps Prohibition-era cocktails and 12 taps going until 02:30 on West Main Street, a late-shift bourbon room in downtown Lexington.
Signature drink: Rye cocktails from the Prohibition playbook
Tip: Wednesday to Saturday only; kitchen plates pub classics late, which is rare downtown after midnight.
Dark Arts Whiskey House finishes barrels in Lexington's Distillery District and pours cask tastings on Manchester Street, a Kentucky Bourbon Trail stop.
Signature drink: Barrel tastings drawn straight from the cask
Tip: Book the barrel tasting; pulling your pour straight from an ageing cask beats the standard flight.
Henry Clay's Public House pours pints on North Upper Street, blocks from the statesman's old law office, a downtown Lexington blues and covers pub.
Signature drink: Kentucky drafts with live blues on Tuesdays
Tip: Closed Sunday and Monday; Tuesday blues nights are the local pick over the busier weekend cover bands.
Wiseguy Lounge hides a Prohibition-styled bourbon bar above Goodfellas Pizzeria on Manchester Street, Lexington's speakeasy with hundreds of bottles.
Signature drink: Bourbon old fashioned above the pizza ovens
Tip: Enter through the pizzeria and head upstairs; Thursday to Saturday it pours until 02:30 with slices below.
The Green Lantern books doom metal, bluegrass and punk into a West Third Street dive, one of Lexington's most-loved and longest-running dive rooms.
Signature drink: Cheap cans and whatever band is loading in
Tip: Cash helps at the bar; Wednesday karaoke and the happy hour before 19:00 are the reliable nights.
Al's Bar anchors the corner of Sixth and Limestone with burgers, local beer and gigs, the long-running NoLi corner bar wired into Lexington's music scene.
Signature drink: Local drafts before a punk or bluegrass set
Tip: Closed Mondays; Tuesday open mic is free and the Thursday to Saturday bookings range from hip-hop to bluegrass.
Chevy Chase Inn has poured since 1933, Lexington's oldest bar, a cash-friendly Euclid Avenue dive that opens at 14:00 and never pretends to be more.
Signature drink: A cold bottle in Lexington's oldest bar
Tip: Afternoon drinking is the move; it opens at 14:00 daily and the jukebox and regulars do the entertaining.
The Beer Trappe runs taps and a bottle wall on Euclid Avenue, the Chevy Chase beer bar where Lexington's beer nerds drink in or carry out rare releases.
Signature drink: Rotating craft drafts beside a wall of bottles
Tip: Anything on the shelves can be opened at the bar for a small corkage; ask what rare Kentucky releases landed.
McCarthy's Irish Bar pulls Guinness on South Upper Street daily until 02:30, the downtown Lexington local for march-in singalongs and post-game pints.
Signature drink: Guinness across from the courthouse crowd
Tip: Open 11:00 to 02:30 every day; it is the default St Patrick's headquarters, so plan around the March crush.
Charlie Brown's furnishes its Euclid Avenue bar like a worn library, all couches, bookshelves and lamplight, a Lexington comfort institution with pub food.
Signature drink: A bourbon by the fireplace among the bookshelves
Tip: Grab a couch by the fireplace in winter; the kitchen serves the full menu until late on weekends.
The Bar Complex runs three bars, a dance floor and drag stages on East Main, the long-standing anchor of LGBTQ+ nightlife in downtown Lexington.
Signature drink: Dance-floor drinks before the drag show
Tip: Thursday to Saturday only, 20:00 to 02:30; check the drag show schedule and arrive before the second set.
OBC Kitchen stocks over 150 bourbons and whiskeys behind a Lansdowne storefront, the Lexington bar-restaurant where bacon arrives in a glass with the drinks.
Signature: Bacon in a glass
Tip: It sits in the Lansdowne Shoppes beside sister steakhouse Malone's; weekend service opens at 10:00 with brunch dishes.