Cocktails, wine bars and dives: drinking in Memphis for grown-ups.
Cocktail bars, wine bars, dive bars and gastropubs: drinking in Memphis for grown-ups.
Earnestine and Hazel's on South Main downtown Memphis is the city's defining dive, a former brothel and pharmacy with a jukebox, Soul Burgers and ghost lore.
Signature drink: Soul Burger and a beer
Food: Soul burgers
Tip: The Soul Burger is the bar food order. The upstairs is where the ghosts are said to live.
Bardog Tavern on Monroe Avenue downtown Memphis is a long, dark dive with red-brick walls, sliders and subs, and downtown's earliest weekday breakfast at 07:30.
Signature drink: Bardog sliders and a beer
Food: Italian sandwiches, sliders
Tip: Late kitchen until 02:00 most nights. The Tuesday night $5 Soup of the Day is a Memphis classic.
The Cove on Broad Avenue in Memphis is a pirate-themed oyster bar with a Sazerac on the menu, a wood pirate-ship bar and live music on weekends in the back room.
Signature drink: Sazerac
Food: Oysters and small plates
Tip: Oyster happy hour kicks off at 17:00. The patio fills first on warm nights; the back has live music.
Hu. Roof sits on the 17th floor of the Hu. Hotel on Madison Avenue downtown Memphis with panoramic Mississippi River views and the city's only all-season rooftop.
Signature drink: Whiskey and ginger
Food: Bar snacks
Tip: Sunset views west of the Mississippi River are the draw. Reserve a window seat in advance.
Lamplighter Lounge on Madison Avenue in midtown Memphis is the city's defining smoke-stained dive bar, with cheap beer, a pool table and a relentlessly local crowd.
Signature drink: Beer and a shot
Food: None
Tip: Cash preferred. No food. The 03:00 close pulls everyone in midtown when other bars shut.
Loflin Yard on West Carolina Avenue in downtown Memphis is a two-acre beer garden with three outdoor bars, fire pits, a creek and house-smoked BBQ on long tables.
Signature drink: Mojito on draft
Food: House-smoked BBQ and small plates
Tip: The yard runs live music weekends. Game nights and big groups fill the firepit seats first.
Carolina Watershed in South Main downtown Memphis is a bar inside four fluted-metal grain silos with a round building, a terraced patio and two outdoor waterfalls.
Signature drink: Frozen cocktails
Food: Southern bar plates
Tip: Closed Mondays and Tuesdays. The frozen drink list is fizzy and Instagrammable.
Young Avenue Deli in Cooper-Young Memphis runs over 100 beers, a deep tap list with 30-plus drafts, deli sandwiches and a live-music back room since 1995.
Signature drink: Wiseacre Tiny Bomb on draft
Food: Deli sandwiches
Tip: The patio is the seat in spring. Live music most weekends; check the calendar online.
B.B. King's Blues Club at 143 Beale Street in Memphis is the flagship of the B.B. King chain, with the Beale Street Allstars in residence and a full Southern menu.
Signature drink: Beer and pulled-pork sandwich
Food: Southern menu
Tip: Cover charge after 19:00 most nights. Sit upstairs for an easier view of the bandstand.
Rum Boogie Cafe on Beale Street in Memphis has run live blues seven nights a week since 1985, with over 200 autographed guitars hanging from the ceiling.
Signature drink: Beer and ribs
Food: Cajun-Southern
Tip: Live blues from 19:00 nightly. The Beale Street Flippers usually take a stage break at 22:00.
Mr. Handy's Blues Hall on Beale Street in Memphis is the only original juke joint left on the strip, a tiny no-frills room with live blues and Beale's rawest sound.
Signature drink: Beer
Food: None
Tip: Tipping the band keeps the music going. The room holds maybe 40 people. Get there early.
Old Dominick Distillery on South Front Street downtown Memphis runs tours, cocktails and a tasting room from a restored 50,000-square-foot industrial space.
Signature drink: Memphis Toddy
Food: Light bar plates
Tip: Book the tour and tasting on the website; walk-ins welcome at the cocktail bar.
Peak food season in Memphis is year-round.
Local dining hours: lunch around 12:30, dinner from 19:30.
service is typically included; small extra is welcome but not expected.
Ask the next local you meet what they would order. Memphis rewards trust.