The Best Cocktail Bars in Edinburgh: A Bartender's Honest Guide to the City's Best Drinks

People often ask me where I like to go for drinks when I am not at Nectar. It is one of my favourite questions to answer, because Edinburgh has quietly become one of the most exciting cocktail cities in the UK, and the honest answer changes depending on what kind of night someone is after.

I have been working in hospitality for years, first in Zurich, then in Edinburgh, and I have spent a lot of time in a lot of bars. I know what separates a good cocktail from a great one, and I know what makes a room feel alive rather than just busy. Edinburgh's cocktail scene has both, in abundance, if you know where to look.

This is not a ranked list. It is not about competition. These are bars I genuinely respect, places I have enjoyed, and venues that are each contributing something specific and valuable to the city's drinks culture. Some are world-class. Some are neighbourhood institutions. Some are the kind of place you stumble into and end up staying far longer than you planned.

If you want to understand what I think makes a great cocktail bar in the first place, I wrote about that here. It might change the way you read this list.

Panda and Sons

You cannot talk about cocktails in Edinburgh without starting here. Panda and Sons has been recognised globally more times than most bars manage in a lifetime. They have been named the number one bar in the world in the Top 500 Bars list, placed consistently in the World's 50 Best Bars rankings, and accumulated international awards that most venues only dream about.

What impresses me most, though, is not the trophies. It is the technical precision behind the bar. Their use of ice, temperature control, freezing techniques and flavour manipulation operates at a level most people have never encountered in a drinks context. It does not feel like showmanship. It feels like genuine craft applied with rigour and intelligence.

The space itself, styled as a Victorian barbershop with a hidden-bar feel, adds to the experience without ever overshadowing the drinks. If you only visit one cocktail bar in Edinburgh, make it this one. Then come back and visit the rest.

Hey Palu

Hey Palu is one of those bars that people travel specifically to the city for, and it earns that reputation every time.

What I admire most is the focus. The menu feels tight, intentional, and full of personality. There is a clear point of view behind every drink, and that kind of editorial confidence is harder to achieve than it looks. A lot of bars try to please everyone and end up being memorable to no one. Hey Palu knows exactly what it is.

The execution matches the ambition. Every detail of the experience feels considered, from the way the menu reads to the way the drinks are presented and explained. It is a reminder that a smaller space with a clear vision consistently produces stronger experiences than a larger one without one.

The Blind Tiger

A true Broughton Street local, and one of the most genuinely atmospheric spots in the city.

The Blind Tiger is a speakeasy tucked inside Thamel restaurant, a few doors down from Nectar. The format rewards people who know to look for it, and that sense of discovery adds something to the evening before the first drink has even arrived.

Fridays are for live jazz, and Saturdays bring a DJ. Both are worth planning around. The atmosphere shifts depending on the night, but what stays consistent is the warmth of the place. It never feels like it is trying to be cool. It simply is, in the way that only genuinely good neighbourhood venues manage to be.

Get the olives. You will understand why once they arrive.

We recommend guests regularly. You can book a table at Thamel here.

Uno Mas

Uno Mas is the late-night option around the corner from Nectar, and I say that with genuine affection rather than reluctant acknowledgement.

It is the place you end up when the evening has been good and you are not ready for it to end. Great energy, music that actually suits the room, and exactly the kind of atmosphere that keeps a night moving forward rather than winding it down. It has been recognised locally and nationally as one of Edinburgh's top late-night venues, which reflects how consistently it delivers.

I have had more than one last drink there after closing at Nectar. I stand by every one of them.

Nauticus

If you want a bar that genuinely celebrates Scottish produce and the identity of the place it sits in, Nauticus is difficult to match.

Their focus on local spirits and Scottish ingredients gives the menu a sense of place that most bars never achieve. It feels authentic to Leith in the way that only venues built from genuine conviction rather than marketing decisions do. They have been recognised within industry lists highlighting the top cocktail bars in the UK, and spending an evening there makes the reason obvious.

For anyone interested in how Scotland's spirits culture has evolved over the last decade, Nauticus is as good an education as you will find in a glass.

Bittersweet Leith

Bittersweet Leith is doing something genuinely unusual, and I mean that as the highest possible compliment.

Their connection to Old Poison distillery means they can create flavour profiles that are entirely their own. No other bar is using the same building blocks, which gives the menu an originality that is increasingly rare. The experimentation never feels forced or academic. The creativity is real, and it translates directly into the glass.

They have been receiving serious national attention, and it is deserved. If you enjoy bars that push at the edges of what cocktails can be, this is one to watch closely.

Bramble

Bramble has been part of Edinburgh's cocktail DNA for long enough that it has shaped what the rest of the scene grew into.

It is the kind of place that understands atmosphere just as well as it understands drinks. Live DJs, a crowd that knows why it is there, and a menu that stays consistent without ever feeling stale. There is history in the walls at Bramble, and you can feel it. That is not something every bar achieves, and it is not something that can be manufactured.

For many people, Bramble is where their Edinburgh cocktail journey begins. It is a good place to start.

Vivienne

Another speakeasy-style venue on Broughton Street, and directly across the road from Nectar.

Vivienne keeps things slick and focused. The menu is clean, the execution is sharp, and the experience feels polished without losing the warmth that makes a bar feel welcoming rather than performative. It is the kind of place that does not need to shout about itself because the quality does the work quietly.

It also means that Broughton Street is increasingly becoming a destination in its own right for cocktail lovers. Between Nectar, Vivienne, The Blind Tiger, and Uno Mas all within a few minutes of each other, you have the architecture of a genuinely good evening without needing to move far.

Tonic

Tonic captures something that is easy to describe but hard to deliver: the energy of a good Edinburgh night out, concentrated and consistent.

Small, often busy, and completely unpretentious about it. Tonic does not try to overcomplicate things. It delivers well-made drinks in a room that feels alive, and sometimes that is exactly what an evening calls for. Not every night needs to be a masterclass in technique. Some nights just need to be fun, and Tonic understands that instinctively.

Lucky Liquor

Lucky Liquor sits slightly off the main routes, and that is entirely part of its charm.

It is a bar for people who are already past the stage of needing to be somewhere obvious. The atmosphere is calmer than many of the others on this list, the cocktails are well crafted, and the pacing of an evening there feels unhurried in a way that suits certain moods perfectly. Some nights call for energy and movement. Others call for a good seat, a considered drink, and a proper conversation. Lucky Liquor is built for the second kind.

And Of Course, Nectar

I would be doing this guide a disservice if I did not write about Nectar properly, rather than just nodding at it at the end.

Nectar is a Mediterranean gastro bar and cocktail venue at 73 Broughton Street. We opened in 2025 with a clear idea of what we wanted to be: a place where handcrafted cocktails and Greek-Mediterranean food sit side by side naturally, where the drinks are taken as seriously as the food, and where the atmosphere is warm enough that people stay long after they planned to.

The cocktail menu is built around technique and story. The Tzatziki Martini uses clarification to produce a clear drink built on cucumber, yogurt, dill and garlic. Chemistry Lessons is a clarified milk punch built on bourbon, cacao and passionfruit. Beach Bonfire is a Negroni variation with mezcal and fig-infused Campari that tastes like a sunset on a Mediterranean coastline. Drops of the River is a botanical gin cocktail built on a memory of summer evenings by the River Limmat in Zurich.

Every drink on the menu has a reason to exist, a story behind it, and a technique that makes it distinct. You can read about how our cocktail menu works here before you visit.

We have over 300 five-star Google reviews, a growing local following, and a room that people regularly tell us they did not want to leave. That is the thing we are most proud of.

Edinburgh's cocktail scene is as strong as it has ever been, and every venue on this list contributes something that the city would genuinely miss if it were gone. The best nights in this city rarely happen in just one place.

Book your table at Nectar here.

A Note on Broughton Street

It is worth saying out loud what Broughton Street has quietly become. Within a short walk you have Nectar, Vivienne, The Blind Tiger at Thamel, and Uno Mas. Four venues with genuinely distinct identities, all within easy reach of each other, all doing something worth your time.

For anyone looking to spend a proper evening exploring Edinburgh's cocktail scene without crossing the city repeatedly, Broughton Street is where to start. Start early, move slowly, and let the evening find its own shape.

That is usually when the best nights happen.

Nectar is at 73 Broughton Street, Edinburgh EH1 3RJ. Open Tuesday to Thursday from 5pm, Friday from 5pm until 1am, and Saturday from noon until 1am.

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