Monarch at Sixth and Mission streets is pretty gritty, but this new hot spot is definitely worth the trip. Part bar, part club, part sexy circus — it’s a visual kaleidoscope. You quickly leave the grungy neighborhood behind after passing through the entryway, a topiary of copper pipes and magnifying glasses. Distinctive chandeliers made of sousaphones and swirling copper hover over the upstairs bar. Read More

Jake Cornell’s stay behind the bar at Madrone will be temporary — the owners of the Divisadero Street “art bar” knew the South Bay native wanted to eventually open up his own drinking establishment before they lured him away from 12 Romolo to become Madrone’s bar manager. But Cornell’s tenure will be memorable, for reasons above and beyond the Burberry-colored rifle — with golden banana clip — hanging near the bar’s 300-plus bottles of whiskeys, tequilas, gins, vodkas and other spirits. Read More

Put a Financial District crowd in a cocktail bar with the feel of an old saloon and you have Rickhouse. Dim lighting, exposed brick and a pot-belly stove play up the rustic style of the space without straying into theme-bar territory. There are no wagon wheels nailed to the walls, but there’s an abundance of creatively used whiskey barrels — appropriate for a bar that takes its name from a storehouse where whiskey is aged. Read More

It was St. Patrick’s Day 2010 when David Bates noticed a young bartender struggling to keep up with the thirsty customers at Club Deluxe. “Trying not to be a creep,” Bates, 29, a bartender himself back East, approached the young woman and asked if she needed help. Days later, Bates was hired and today the Boston native, who ironically is a self-proclaimed Manhattan cocktail “kind of guy,” commutes about 45 seconds to work as he resides above the establishment. Read More