Sun Liquor Lounge

Sun Liquor Lounge, now Sol Liquor Lounge, sits at 607 Summit Avenue East on Capitol Hill, a craft cocktail bar that opened in 2006. The name changed in 2018 to differentiate the bar from the Sun Liquor distillery, a point Capitol Hill Seattle News reported at the time.

The room is small and neighbourhood-scaled, a lounge rather than a destination showpiece. That has kept it a steady Capitol Hill local for close to two decades, away from the louder Pike-Pine core.

The method is the selling point. Seattle Met and the bar's own account describe all juices squeezed to order and drinks made without pre-made mixes, with house syrups and shrubs doing the work behind the bar.

The Sun distillery once supplied house spirits, vodka, gin, rum and bitters, before it moved operations off the Hill. The lounge kept the cocktail focus and the fresh-juice approach that earned it a following in the first place.

Come for a properly built classic in a quiet room. For more in the city, see our Seattle cocktail bars guide, the global cocktail bars index, and the cocktail bars near me finder.

Weeknights suit the room best, when the small lounge stays calm and the bar has time to build drinks to order. The fresh-juice method rewards a quieter pace.

Go early in the evening for a seat at the bar. As a neighbourhood spot it does not run as late or as loud as the Pike-Pine cocktail rooms a few blocks south.