Unique Bars for Your Next Cocktail Adventure

Looking for something different to try on your next out of town jaunt?

Perhaps you should seek out one of these Buzzfeed recommended establishments.  While I don’t always put much credence into internet lists, I’ve visited several of these unique bars and each offers up a unique place to enjoy a cocktail (or three)!

My personal favorite on the list?  Carousel Bar in New Orleans.  I’ve passed many a muggy afternoon slowly spinning as I sipped sazaracs or brandy milk punch!  After a while, you don’t know if you are spinning because you are on a carousel – or because you’ve had one too many.

There are also a few bars I love that didn’t make their cut:

* Midnight Cowboy Modeling (Austin TX) – This speakeasy is located in a former “massage parlor” on Austin’s famous 6th Street.  Cocktails are made tableside from a bar cart.  While not the place I’d stay all night (reservations are for two hour windows), its a fun experience for cocktail aficionados.

* The Headkeeper (Greensburg PA) – Not that you may readily find yourself near this town outside of Pittsburgh, but if you do, The Headkeeper is a must.  I’m not sure what I like more – the hundreds (yes, I said hundreds) of beers by the bottle in the coolers along the wall or the prepared behind the bar tapas selection.  Saunter in, grab a seat at the bar, wander over and look at the beers, grab your choice, walk back to the bar to have it opened for you.  Once you’ve been, you’ll find excuses to meander through Greensburg in the future.

* Six Rivers Brewery (McKinleyville CA) – Chili Pepper Ale.  That is the only reason I need.  But if you require more convincing… great food (especially the garlic fries) that is locally sourced, Monday night karaoke, and interesting locals to talk to at all hours.  Did I mention the Chili Pepper Ale?  (If you go, I accept growlers!)

* Maude’s Liquor Bar (Chicago IL) – Because liquor.  And not just liquor, but liquor used to make good retro cocktails served alongside French bistro fare.  Its the place you go when you can’t get into Girl and the Goat (although walk-in seating at the bar is always my ace in the hole there) but don’t want to leave the neighborhood.

* Thirteen Pies (Fort Worth TX) – My watering hole at home.  Technically a restaurant, but one where the bar is the centerpoint and hub of the restaurant.  It’s perfectly acceptable to go JUST to drink their cocktails (Grapefruit Rickey, Ginger Vodka Soda, Georgia On My Mind) but you’ll watch the woodfired fare coming out in the open kitchen and eventually give in.  You won’t regret it.  They now have a location in Atlanta and more locations in the works.

Do you have unique bars that you love that didn’t make either list (Buzzfeed’s or mine)?  Tell us about them in the comments below!