Nine Great Southern Bars

On the lip of the Caribbean, New Orleans has been a rum-washed town since long before Pat O’Brien poured the first hurricane. Cane and Table, the latest project from the team behind Cure and Bellocq, celebrates the city’s West Indies heritage with rum cocktails that range from citrus-based colonial-era stirred drinks and punches to tiki drinks of more recent vintage. The menu follows suit, with fish dishes and Caribbean stews that would have pleased the pirates and planters who once steered their ships in and out of the port. caneandtablenola.com

In the 1920s, the building housed a factory that produced the ice that chilled local seafood for shipping. Today it’s an airy bar and restaurant where bartenders chisel three-hundred-pound frozen blocks into four varieties of ice—shaved, rocks, long rocks, and spheres—that cool down Sunshine State–inspired cocktails such as the Florida Mule, with Tampa-made Cane vodka, and the Red Bandana, spiced with St. Augustine’s famous datil peppers. iceplantbar.com

At this sun-bathed suburban bungalow in the historic Clarksville neighborhood, the servers are impeccably uniformed, a leafy oak shades the patio, and the food and cocktails are clean and seasonal. Try the spiced apple toddy with calvados, maple syrup, apple juice, apple bitters, and Chinese five spice bitters, or sip a classic sparkling wine cocktail. Nibble on a cheese plate or a bowl of hand-cut noodles. And enjoy the Hill Country breezes drifting across the yard. josephineofaustin.com

Miles Macquarrie, formerly of Leon’s Full Service, is one of Atlanta’s most respected bartenders. Now he’s carrying the torch for craft cocktails as a partner at a refined new venue that would have fit right in at the nineteenth-century hotel for which it’s named. Each drink at Kimball House includes at least one ingredient concocted on- site, such as a juniper tincture or a coconut cordial, and arrives in
 a vessel from the bar’s collection of vintage glassware. To complement your cocktail, the extensive oyster menu features dozens 
of domestic varieties, including Virginia’s Rappahannock
 River oysters. kimball-house.com

With all the ongoing attention to the drinks of yesteryear, aperitifs such as Madeira, port, and sherry are returning to bar menus. And no one is quite as serious about bringing fortified wine back to American glasses as veteran bartender and restaurateur Derek Brown, whose outpost in the up-and-coming Shaw neighborhood is inspired by an age-old Spanish pairing: ham and sherry. Come for the library of imported sherries poured by whip-smart bartenders; stay for a selection
 of domestic ham that draws heavily from D.C. and the surrounding states. drinkmoresherry.com

Take note, bourbon fans. Shots have been fired down in Texas, where bartenders Bobby Heugel and Alba Huerta have opened a tequila bar that may finally earn one of the Lone Star State’s favorite spirits a place alongside whiskey in the South’s pantheon of liquor. Eschewing many of the big-name brands in favor of small-batch tequilas and mescals, including vintage bottles of Herradura Blanco and Del Maguey that command Pappy-high prices, the team mixes creative seasonal margaritas like habanero and mango, and brews house-
made tepache from fermented pineapples. thepastrywar.com

Every week, Adam Bernbach hand-draws a new menu for his discreet cocktail bar tucked beneath the popular Doi Moi restaurant. His illustrations, combined with the vintage glassware he sources personally, fuel the unpretentious vibe that makes 2 Birds 1 Stone feel like a cocktail party thrown by a friend who just happens to have worked in some of the city’s best watering holes. In addition to a daily punch that nods to the season—ale-based in winter, fruit-based blends when the weather heats up—
Bernbach serves up house-made cordials and sodas, and one heck of a lime rickey (gin, lime juice, and carbonated water), D.C.’s signature cocktail. 2birds1stonedc.com

In food-crazed Charleston, a roster of creative snacks is especially appreciated, and Warehouse has some of the city’s best. Think pimento cheese on pork rinds, confit wings paired with ramp-tinged ranch dressing, and grilled cheese sandwiches stuffed with brisket, house-made horsey sauce­, and ­candied pieces of North Carolina bacon. Add cocktails like the popular Dirt 
Nap, with fernet menta and rye, outstanding beer-based shandies, and tables for foosball, pool, and shuffleboard, and you have a clubhouse fit for foodies and cocktail enthusiasts alike. wearewarehouse.com