NEW YORK – Esquire has unveiled this year’s Best Bars in America, 14 noteworthy watering holes from coast to coast and everywhere in between. The annual list is on Esquire.com here and in the Summer issue, available everywhere by June 16.
“This year we’ve gathered some of our favorite writers to proclaim their loyalty to bars—in Alabama and Arizona, in Tennessee and Louisiana, in California and Texas—where that deep sense of American comradeship is alive and well,” notes Esquire Contributing Editor Jeff Gordinier in the introduction to the list.
The roster of contributors for the 2026 edition of the Best Bars in America include Gustavo Arellano, John Birdsall, Brian Braiker, Ryan D’Agostino, Kevin Dupzyk, Beth Ann Fennelly, Chris Hatler, Sirena He, Dave Holmes, Omar Mamoon, Jordan Michelman, Paul Pabst, Khuong Phan, Joshua David Stein, and Briana Younger.
The 2026 Esquire Best Bars in America are: (alphabetically by city)
Austin, TX
Papercut: As soon as you step into Papercut, you realize you’re not in just another dim-lit drinking den. The space doubles as a sleek contemporary-art gallery that features a rotating roster of artists—mainly local. When the art changes, so does the menu. Except for a few of the mainstays, like the bar’s namesake, a bright but boozy mezcal cocktail spiked with Aperol and homemade tangerine liqueur.
Birmingham, AL
The House of Found Objects: Half seventies retro happening, half futuristic fun house, this joint is not for those who prefer to nurse a whiskey in silence, occasionally glancing at their phone. No. Here, every nook provokes and amuses.
Chicago, IL
Cody’s Public House: Cody’s appears to be a standard corner pub, though it’s got a sweet beer garden out back. But it’s not a pub or a beer garden. It’s a neighborhood bar. Everyone knows when to go, and they get there right on time—even, or especially, before the workday is over.
Los Angeles, CA
Stir Crazy: There is no actual bar inside Stir Crazy, at least not the kind of bar-shaped berth where you sit on a high stool and stare at bottles. Stir Crazy does not even categorize itself as a bar.
Miami, FL
Ball & Chain: Start with the history. Built in 1935, it predates the names of the street it’s on (Calle Ocho) and the neighborhood it’s in (Little Havana). Then there’s the lore. Bootleggers, gamblers, mobsters, crooked politicians—oh, and Billie Holiday sang here. Behold the pineapple-shaped band shell outside; savor the rum-heavy drinks inside.
Nashville, TN
The Nashville Palace: There are many love stories whose first lines (and probably last lines) were written during the nearly fifty years that the Nashville Palace has been open.
New Orleans, LA
Bar Tonique: People know Tonique for its Ramos Gin Fizz. A bartender shakes gin, orange water, egg white, and everything nice for five arduous minutes until a highball glass towers with cloudlike foam. You haven’t tried one until you’ve had theirs.
New York, NY
The Double Windsor (Brooklyn): This is a place where the dumpster-salvaged chairs don’t match, the lights are low, Turner Classic Movies flickers silently on a small corner TV, and you will indeed sit with people you recognize but do not know. Sixteen years ago, Jeff Switzer built the bar he wanted to drink in: a gimmick-free joint in the spirit of Cheers, “but hopefully a little cooler.”
Stars (Manhattan): The twelve-seat bar and kitchen would fit in a two-car garage, where every little detail makes you feel grand. Somehow, if it were bigger, it’d feel smaller.
Placentia, CA
Kelly’s Korner Tavern: Better-than-average sports-bar food: giant hamburgers, fine sandwiches, carne asada nachos with house-made salsa that legit scorches. And a large menu of suds in mugs or pitchers.
Seattle, WA
Russell’s: This place is chill, sitting unassumingly on the ground floor of an apartment building in the Wallingford neighborhood. But inside, Russell’s quietly offers one of the best agave-spirits selections in the American Pacific Northwest (and a vast raft of whiskey as well), somehow presented with zero pretense, at wildly affordable prices.
St. Paul, MN
Half Time Rec: It’s in a neighborhood. I guess every bar is in a neighborhood, but that doesn’t make every bar a neighborhood bar. Half Time Rec is a neighborhood bar.
Tucson, AZ
The Cork: In Tucson, few places feel as consoling as the bar at the Cork, especially when bartender James Hernandez is on duty. Originally part of a Southwest-themed steakhouse chain, the Cork has existed in some form within these adobe slump-block walls since 1966, when air-conditioning was wonky and the eastward run of Tucson’s paved roads ended at its parking lot.
Washington, DC
Gold Clover Bar: More than the drinks, it’s the sense of local consciousness and camaraderie that makes the place special—you’re in a bar that seeks to give something back to its community rather than just separate people from their money.
For more information on Esquire’s 2026 Best Bars in America, click here.