The Bar Towel

I am taking some family out, and I am looking for places in Toronto that take cocktails seriously. Any recommendations would be helpful.


Bonus points for finding a place with a great whisky and/or beer list for me (I don't drink cocktails).

The best cocktail places in Toronto that I know of:

BarChef
Furlough
Linwood Essentials
Spirithouse
Cocktail Bar (across from Black Hoof, haven't been to yet)

Linwood Essentials covers your bonus points with an extensive beer bottle list and would have some good whiskys.
Furlough has some beer. It's the restaurant sister of BarChef.
Extra bonus points, Furlough and Linwood Essentials are right next to each other. Black Hoof Cocktail Bar is a 12 minute walk through Trinity Bellwoods park from them.

Some unusual choices:

Bar Hop. Six cocktails. Well made. Pretty good whiskey selection. We all know about the beer.
Voodoo Child. A coffee shop that also does some pretty damn good bourbon cocktails.

I'd be interested in knowing other people's favourites.

Lister already hit many of the highlights...
Cocktail Bar is probably one of the best.
TTS is where I've had the best cocktails in Toronto, but you need someone with a membership.
Origin Bar further east on King/Church has some surprisingly good bartenders
Cold Tea is a unique option. It has some novelty points as a dive bar hidden in an unmarked door and a nice patio. Half of the bartenders can make great cocktails. The other half can't. Usually 1-2 decent beers on tap.

A place with good beer and whisky is Habits Gastropub, where one of our members is doing the brewing. Having sat at the bar, the bar staff have no idea what they're doing with cocktails though. Also food was a bit meh. The other place I know of with a huge whisky selection is the Caledonian. I don't really recall if they had any cocktails though.

Going East you can try The Comrade or County General. County General has a Queen West location too.

napoleon wrote:Lister already hit many of the highlights...
Cocktail Bar is probably one of the best.
TTS is where I've had the best cocktails in Toronto, but you need someone with a membership.
Origin Bar further east on King/Church has some surprisingly good bartenders
Cold Tea is a unique option. It has some novelty points as a dive bar hidden in an unmarked door and a nice patio. Half of the bartenders can make great cocktails. The other half can't. Usually 1-2 decent beers on tap.

A place with good beer and whisky is Habits Gastropub, where one of our members is doing the brewing. Having sat at the bar, the bar staff have no idea what they're doing with cocktails though. Also food was a bit meh. The other place I know of with a huge whisky selection is the Caledonian. I don't really recall if they had any cocktails though.

The TTS owner is a scummy douchebag.

I was thinking about mentioning Caledonian specifically for the scotch and decent beer selection but I suspect if they do any cocktails that they'd be fairly pedestrian.

I like Habits. The beer is good. The food was fine but there's just not enough on the menu that I'd eat. No idea about cocktails.

Bar Isabel could be an option. Good cocktails and beer plus food. Bar Raval perhaps too but I haven't been there yet (soon!)

Another out of left field option is Buster Rhino's which is along the same College strip as Habits and Caledonian. BR has a pretty good tap list and some decent cans/bottles. They have a pretty decent cocktail selection. I like the food too.

lister wrote: The TTS owner is a scummy douchebag.

I was thinking about mentioning Caledonian specifically for the scotch and decent beer selection but I suspect if they do any cocktails that they'd be fairly pedestrian.

I like Habits. The beer is good. The food was fine but there's just not enough on the menu that I'd eat. No idea about cocktails.

Ooh, what's the dirt on TTS…I'm not a member but I've gone with a colleague who is a few times…feel free to PM if necessary.
Habits will not fulfill your cocktail needs. Having watched multiple bartenders, they really don't know what they're doing. One of them struggled mightily with making Sangria even. Beer and scotch are easily poured, but cocktails take some know-how.

Thanks for all the replies so far!

Both Northwood (Bloor and Christie Pits) and its sister location Northern Belle (Dundas and Grace-ish) have very nice cocktails and pretty solid beer (mostly bottles -- the taps aren't stellar) lists. Also, all bottles are $2 off between 5-7pm (every day, I believe).

nickw wrote:Both Northwood (Bloor and Christie Pits) and its sister location Northern Belle (Dundas and Grace-ish) have very nice cocktails and pretty solid beer (mostly bottles -- the taps aren't stellar) lists. Also, all bottles are $2 off between 5-7pm (every day, I believe).

Right, how did I forget Northern Belle. I love their patio and the cocktails are top notch. Generally very friendly staff (except for my hungover server the last time). Beer list on draft is truly bad though. It's also next to both Rhum Corner (which has the best piña coladas in Toronto) and Cocktail Bar, so quite easy to bar hop.

nickw wrote:Both Northwood (Bloor and Christie Pits) and its sister location Northern Belle (Dundas and Grace-ish) have very nice cocktails and pretty solid beer (mostly bottles -- the taps aren't stellar) lists. Also, all bottles are $2 off between 5-7pm (every day, I believe).

Thanks for the reminder! Been meaning to go to at least one of them.

I love the cocktails at Northwood, but every time I've gone the drinks take 10-15 minutes to make.

Rush Lane has a great cocktail list. Can't comment on the beer menu though.