Five SF bars where the whiskey selection is the whole point. Between them they cover rare Scotch, American rye, Japanese expressions, and bartenders who can talk you through all of it.
Financial District · 246 Kearny St, San Francisco, CA 94108, USA
Built from salvaged barrel staves and pre-1906 charred brick, this dimly lit FiDi room has stacked up over a hundred whiskeys and earned a spot on GQ's list of the ten best whiskey bars in the country. The Ramblin' Man …
Haight-Ashbury · 1725 Haight St, San Francisco, CA 94117, USA
A cozy Haight Street institution that helped shape San Francisco's craft cocktail scene when it opened in 2006, with a low-lit bar still running off the same energy. The barrel-select program sets the tone, the Alembic …
NoPa · 528 Divisadero St, San Francisco, CA 94117, USA
A bar and restaurant with a cocktail program that could carry the room on its own, the Daywalker (reposado, smoked chipotle, tepache foam) and Birds of a Feather (Barbados rum, blood orange, black cardamom) lead the lis…
Mission · 3200 16th St, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA
A weathered saloon on 16th Street. Creaky room, proper bar stools, the feel of a place that's been here since before the rest of the neighborhood caught up. Elixir is the second oldest continually operating bar in San F…
Marina · Center Building A, 2 Marina Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94123, USA
Inside Fort Mason's Building A, a floor-to-ceiling library, bottles suspended from the rafters, and a working eight-foot orrery make the room feel more like a study than an event space. The cocktail list leans classic, …