What Makes a Great Cocktail Bar? 10 Signs to Look For in Edinburgh

Oct 8

7 min read

Updated October 2026. This replaces our earlier, shorter version.

You can usually tell within about ten minutes whether a cocktail bar is any good. Not from the awards on the wall or the number of followers it has, but from a handful of small things that are very hard to fake.

I run Nectar, a Greek and Mediterranean cocktail bar and restaurant at 73 Broughton Street. I have a stake in this question, so read what follows with that in mind. But I also drink in other people's bars, and I know what makes me stay for another round and what makes me finish my drink and leave. Here are the ten things I look for, and the ones I think you should too.

If you are looking for a list of venues rather than a checklist, I have written a separate

guide to the best cocktail bars in Edinburgh. This post is about how to judge them.

1. The menu is short and has a point of view

A long cocktail list is rarely a sign of confidence. It usually means a bar is hedging: a little of everything, in case someone asks. A shorter list tells me someone made decisions. They chose what to include and, more importantly, what to leave out.

Every drink should have a reason to exist. If you can read the menu in two or three minutes and feel the personality of the bar from it, that is a good sign. If it reads like a list of every cocktail the bartender has ever heard of, it is not.

How the menu is written matters too. At Nectar we describe each drink in three words rather than a paragraph of ingredients, because ingredient lists can mislead. A drink that has been clarified or infused tastes nothing like its label suggests. I have explained how we think about it in how to read our cocktail menu.

2. The third drink is as good as the first

Consistency is the least glamorous quality in a bar and the most important. Anyone can make one brilliant drink on a quiet Tuesday. A great bar makes the fourth Old Fashioned of a busy Friday taste like the first.

This is the point that award interviews with leading bars tend to come back to. In a 2023 interview, the owner of Satan's Whiskers, then at the top of the Top 50 Cocktail Bars list, said his team had spent years making sure quality held steady across an entire eight hour shift. That is not exciting to read. It is exactly what a guest feels.

You can test it yourself. Order the same drink twice, or order two classics and see whether they are equally balanced.

3. The room makes you want to stay

You can have perfect drinks in a room that feels wrong and the evening still falls flat. Lighting, music volume, seating, temperature and noise all affect how a drink tastes and how long you stay.

I look for a room that feels lively without being loud enough to stop a conversation. A great bar is warm in the literal sense and in the other sense too. You should be able to hear the person opposite you, and you should not feel rushed off your seat.

A good test is whether you would be happy there for a second drink you had not planned on. If the room makes you want to leave after one, it has failed, however good the glass was.

4. Service reads the guest

The best bartenders have a quiet skill that is rarely mentioned: they read people. They notice whether you are celebrating, whether you want to chat or be left alone, whether you know cocktails or are slightly nervous about the menu.

Good service guides without pushing. I have always believed that guests should not feel they need a lesson in mixology just to enjoy a drink. If you tell a bartender what you usually like and they come back with something you did not expect but loved, that is the job done properly.

Watch what happens when a guest asks a basic question. If the answer is friendly and plain, the bar is confident. If it is condescending, it is trying too hard.

5. Technique is used quietly

Modern bars use a lot of technique: clarification, infusions, foams, fat washing, new ways of treating ice. All of these can make a drink better. They can also be a way of showing off.

The test is simple. Does the technique make the drink taste better, or only make the menu longer? At Nectar we work with clarified cocktails because the process produces a texture and clarity you cannot get otherwise, and I have explained what a clarified cocktail actually is. The point is the glass, not the theatre.

The best bars use technique so quietly that you only notice when you ask what is in your drink.

6. Ice, temperature and glassware are right

These are the details most guests never think about, and the ones a bar team never stops thinking about. A well made drink is cold enough, diluted correctly and served in a glass that suits it. A great cocktail in a warm glass or with watery ice is a different, worse drink.

Look at the ice. Is it clear and solid, or is it small and wet and melting quickly? Is the glass chilled? Does the drink arrive at the temperature it should? A martini that is warm by the third sip is a sign the details are not looked after.

7. The food is considered, not an afterthought

A cocktail bar that serves food should treat it as part of the evening. Good drinks and good plates change each other. The right salty, sweet or acidic dish makes a cocktail taste better, and a considered drink changes how you eat.

At Nectar the kitchen and the bar are part of the same idea. Our head chef, Margarita, cooks Greek and Mediterranean sharing plates that suit a drink in your hand, and the cocktails are built to sit alongside them. If you like to eat while you drink, ask a bar what it serves. The answer tells you a lot about how seriously it takes the whole evening.

8. It feels fair

I do not mean cheap. A great bar can charge properly for skilled work and good ingredients. What I mean is that guests should feel what they are paying for. The drink in front of you should justify the effort and ingredients behind it, and nothing about the experience should feel like a trick.

The owner of Satan's Whiskers made a similar point in that 2023 interview: bars are meant for drinking in, so regulars should be able to come back often. A bar that only makes sense for a special occasion has missed something.

9. It has a sense of place

Edinburgh is a good city for this. The scene is small, close, and has real pride. There is respect for the classics and a lot of modern experimentation, and the two coexist. Bars here draw on Scottish spirits, local ingredients and a strong local identity.

A great cocktail bar should feel like it could only exist where it is. At Nectar that means Greek flavours, a Broughton Street room and a team that cares about the neighbourhood. If you could drop a bar into any city and nobody would notice, it is probably not saying much.

10. Everyone is welcome

This is the one I care about most. A great bar does not make anyone feel they are in the wrong place. It welcomes the person who knows exactly what a Vesper is and the person who is nervous about asking. It has something good for someone who does not drink alcohol, and it does not make them feel they are ordering from a lesser menu.

You can see it in small details: how a nervous first time guest is greeted, whether a group of friends is looked after as well as a couple, whether the staff clearly like the place they work. We are also a dog friendly bar, which is a small thing that says a lot about the kind of room we want.

A few red flags

Every bar has a bad night, so I would not judge anywhere on one mistake. But a few patterns are worth noticing:

A menu so long you stop reading it.
Staff who cannot describe what is in their own drinks.
Music that makes talking an effort.
Drinks that arrive warm, or ice that is already melting.
A place that feels like it is performing for photographs.
A team that looks like it does not enjoy being there.

What recognition says, and what it does not

Awards matter, but they are a signal, not a verdict. Edinburgh has a strong local awards scene. At the 2025 Edinburgh Bar Awards, Panda & Sons took both Best Bar and Best Bar Team, which tells you what the city's industry respected that year. We were proud to win Best Bar Team at the 2026 Edinburgh Bartenders Ball, and I wrote about how that night went.

But an award is something that happened on one night. The ten points above happen every night, and they are what a guest actually experiences. I would rather be judged on those.

A sixty second test

If you want to judge any bar quickly, including ours, here is the short version:

Read the menu. Is there a point of view?
Look around. Would you stay for a second drink?
Ask a question. Is the answer friendly and honest?
Taste the first sip. Is the temperature and balance right?
Watch the team. Do they seem to enjoy it?

A bar that does all five has a good chance of being great.

Questions people ask

How do I choose a good cocktail bar? Look at the menu first. A short, focused list usually means a confident bar. Then look at the room, how the team talks to guests, and how the first drink is made and served.

Is a long cocktail menu a good sign? Not usually. A long menu often means a bar is trying to cover every preference. A shorter menu tends to show more care.

Are awards a reliable guide? They are a useful signal, especially team and bar awards voted by the industry, but they reflect one moment. Consistency across many visits tells you more.

What should I order at a new cocktail bar? Either a classic, to judge basic skill, or the drink the team is proudest of. Ask the bartender. A good one will have an answer.

Do I need to know about cocktails to enjoy a great bar? No. A great bar should make that easy. Tell the team what flavours you like and let them guide you.

Come and judge us

The easiest way to see whether I mean any of this is to come in and test us. Reserve a table at Nectar, ask the team what they would pour for you, and tell us honestly what you think.

Nectar Bar 73 Broughton Street, Edinburgh EH1 3RJ Tuesday to Thursday 5pm to 11pm Friday 5pm to 1am Saturday 12pm to 1am Sunday 5pm to 11pm Monday closed team@nectarbar.co.uk