Louisville's drinking culture is built on bourbon, and many of its best bars sit along the downtown distillery district on Main Street. Old Forester, Michter's Fort Nelson, Angel's Envy and the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience cluster along Main, while Down One Bourbon Bar and Doc Crow's pour deep whiskey lists nearby and Holy Grale tends a quieter bar on Bardstown Road.
12 cocktail bar places in Louisville we have eaten in, sorted by editor score. All cuisines in Louisville · Cocktail Bar across every city.
Drink Kentucky bourbon flights
Doc Crow's on West Main in Louisville pours from a 2,700-bourbon library on Whiskey Row, the city's deepest bourbon list paired with smoked brisket and a raw.
Drink Old Fashioned, bourbon flights
Down One Bourbon Bar in the basement of the Galt House Hotel pours over 100 bourbons and Kentucky cocktails, the city's largest hotel-attached bourbon room.
Drink Old Forester bourbon flights
Old Forester Distilling on West Main runs Louisville's first-bottled bourbon tour from the brand's original Whiskey Row warehouse, a $45 million distillery.
Drink Michter's bourbon flights, classic cocktails
Michter's Fort Nelson on West Main runs a working distillery and bar inside an 1890 Whiskey Row building, the brand's Louisville home with The Bar at Fort.
Drink Angel's Envy port-finished bourbon
Angel's Envy on East Main in Louisville runs distillery tours with a tasting bar called The Finishing Room, the brand's downtown home pouring port-finished.
Drink Evan Williams bourbon flights
Evan Williams Bourbon Experience on West Main was the first distillery to open on Whiskey Row, an artisanal facility and tasting bar inside.
Drink Rabbit Hole craft bourbon and rye
Rabbit Hole Distillery on East Jefferson Street in Louisville cooks craft bourbon and rye out of a NuLu modern facility, the boutique distillery.
Drink Kentucky Peerless rye and bourbon
Kentucky Peerless on North 10th Street in Louisville distills rye and bourbon downtown, the small-batch operation with a tasting bar and grain-to-glass tour.
Drink Bulleit Frontier Whiskey flights
Stitzel-Weller in Shively reopened a 1935 Derby-day-built distillery as the Bulleit Frontier Whiskey Experience, the historic Louisville bourbon cathedral.
Drink Belgian and German imports
Holy Grale on Bardstown Road in Louisville pours a 30-tap Belgian and German beer list from a restored 1905 Highlands church, the city's deepest European.
Drink Bourbon flights, classic cocktails
Proof on Main's bar in the 21c Museum Hotel pours one of Kentucky's deepest bourbon flights paired with bison burgers.
Drink Mint Julep, bourbon flights
Lobby Bar at the Brown Hotel in Louisville pours mint juleps and bourbon flights inside the lobby where the Hot Brown sandwich was invented in 1926.
