13 editor picks in Memphis.
Memphis drinking runs from blues-club bars on Beale Street to neighborhood taverns and distillery rooms. Downtown holds the historic core, with B.B. King's Blues Club, Rum Boogie Cafe, Mr. Handy's Blues Hall and the Old Dominick Distillery all pouring within a few blocks, alongside the small, busy Bardog Tavern. Further out, Loflin Yard and Bar Hustle in South Main and The Cove on Broad Avenue show the more design-led side of the city's bar scene.
13 cocktail bar places in Memphis we have eaten in, sorted by editor score. All cuisines in Memphis · Cocktail Bar across every city.
Drink Soul Burger and a beer
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.
Drink Bardog sliders and a beer
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.
Drink Sazerac
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.
Drink Whiskey and ginger
Hu.
Drink Beer and a shot
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.
Drink Mojito on draft
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.
Drink Riverfront Spritz
Bar Hustle on South Main inside Arrive Hotel Memphis is an intimate cocktail bar with a wall of vinyl, seasonal drinks like the Riverfront Spritz.
Drink Wiseacre Tiny Bomb on draft
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.
Drink Beer and pulled-pork sandwich
B.B.
Drink Beer and ribs
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.
Drink Beer
Mr.
Drink Memphis Toddy
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.
Order Beer and a shot at the bar, jukebox playing.
Lamplighter Lounge on Madison Avenue in midtown Memphis runs cheap beer and a pool table to 03:00 daily, the city's longest-burning smoke-stained dive bar.
