Snooth Talk: An international cocktail bar map, humbly submitted for your use.

Spirits & Cocktails

: An international cocktail bar map, humbly submitted for your use.; Posted by gr, May 17.; RBoulanger, who started the project, and I have been gradually adding depth and breadth to a Google map of bars that can provide quality cocktails. It is, given our passports, US-centric at the moment, although there is a bit of a diaspora. I think it's reached the point where neither of us would be terribly embarrassed for other people to see it, and we would certainly welcome further additions.

It is here: http://tinyurl.com/cocktailsoftheworld

You may note the complete absence of NYC locations on that map. That's because RBoulanger's residence there means that that's kept separately for efficiency (there'd be a separate Philadelphia one because of me if there were enough volume to warrant it, but there isn't... yet). NYC is here: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=111454540108092897000.000461f386c96e6874f67&z=12

10 1139: Reply by dmcker, May 18.; Interesting and useful project! Saw you had the ABSOLUT ICEBAR TOKYO in Nishi Azabu as the only entrant so far for Japan. It's a gimmicky bar (by definition, of course), and I'm surprised it's lasted this long. Every other restaurant or bar or club on that floor in that building (or on *any* floor in that building) has died an early death, and I could rattle off close to 10 earlier business lives lost in that exact same space.

You might consider Agave in Roppongi, and the Old Imperial Bar in the Imperial Hotel in Hibiya as additions for Tokyo. There are others I'll report on when I next check them, but the first two have been around for many, many years and serve the two best Margaritas I've had in Japan (outside my home, that is ;-) ).

10 1139: Reply by dmcker, May 18.; Also, as for Singapore, the Raffles Hotel has several bars. The Long Bar
http://www.raffles.com/EN_RA/Property/RHS/Restaurants_Bars/Long_Bar.htm
is where the Sling was supposedly invented, and they merchandise this fact a bit too much. That bar was a far more interesting place back before the hotel was redone in the '90s...

10 1139: Reply by dmcker, May 18.; So are you going after bars that orginated specific classic cocktails (Harry's that helped popularize the Martini, Raffles for the Sling, El Floridita for the Daiquiri, etc.), or spots that are happening now? Or a little of both? Too bad Trader Vic's isn't still around in the SF Bay Area so you could honor the MaiTai, which when made properly (all too often not these days) is a wicked-good cocktail...

10 1139: Reply by dmcker, May 18.; Thinking about the mai tai a little further, they always seem better in a tropical location, which somehow brings Hawaii to mind in the American context. And they are much better when made in classical fashion than the out-of-a-bottle sweetly monstrous mix that so many bars seem to serve to tourists everywhere, especially Hawaii. Have, however, had good ones at these bars over many years, all on Oahu:

Halekulani Hotel, Waikiki
Pretty close to perfection at the House Without A Key, and a proper clone of Trader Vic's original. The hotel is very upscale for Waikiki, but the bar warrants a special visit.

Jameson's By The Sea, Haleiwa
Up on Oahu's north shore, with the big waves of Sunset, Banzai Pipeline and Waimea closeby, but the lanai at Jameson's is worth a special visit at sundown to catch the crisp curl of their Mai Tais. A perfect Hawaiian sundowner.

New Otani Kaimana Beach Hotel
The very end of Waikiki up towards Diamond Head, on Sans Souci beach. Great tree on the lanai that Robert Louis Stevenson supposedly wrote under. If they still have Aloha Friday with live music, it's a good time to drink their classic mai tais and stare out to sea--also a fantastic sundowner. If the New Otani seems a little too long in the tooth, and not hip enough for you, the W Hotel is right next door and their club will provide a *very* different change of scenery...

10 1139: Reply by dmcker, May 18.; Although it doesn't do a lot of specialty cocktails you should probably add the New York Bar (which has a grill restaurant attached) to Tokyo. At the top of the Park Hyatt in Shinjuku, they serve good martinis, and the barstaff are educated and enlightened enough to adopt suggestions. Decent live jazz vocals and ensembles, and unsurpassed unobstructed views of half of Tokyo (the other half from the restaurant) from their 52nd floor perch in the building. Was where Lost in Translation was filmed, and I feel a personal affinity for the place because I lived for a tumultuous month one floor down...

1665 3027: Reply by Philip, May 18.; Great work guys. Question is, how many have you personally visited?

1665 3027: Reply by Philip, May 18.; I may have been to Aqua, but am not certain. Mark and I went to Bourbon and Branch in SF. Milk and Honey in London of course. I've yet to check the NYC map.

Can you add the Mosquito Bar, Rurrenabaque, Bolivia (a must stop if you are ever in the Amazon!):

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=mosquito+bar,+rurrenabaque,+bolivia&sll=-13.197165,-64.973145&sspn=14.042829,24.301758&ie=UTF8&ll=-15.151672,-67.351685&spn=3.488353,6.075439&z=8&msa=0&msid=111454540108092897000.000465578ea98d08611ed

10 1139: Reply by dmcker, May 18.; The Mango Bar in Tamarindo, Guanacaste, Costa Rica is also a good one. Are as likely to run into drug runners up from Colombia as pro snowboarders who are 'summering' on the surfbreak at the point on the coast here. Oh, and their cocktails are well made. Have had wellmade pina coladas, margaritas and maitais there (and lots of shots of good tequila with cerveza backs...).

83 113: Reply by RachelNYC, May 19.; Agave in Roppongi was more of a cigar / tequila bar rather than a cocktail bar in my opinion, but it has been about 5 years since I was there.