Cincinnati Bar Guide
30+ bars across Cincinnati's drinking neighbourhoods, curated by editors who know the city.
Over-the-Rhine went from one of America's most abandoned neighbourhoods in the 1990s to one of its coolest in the 2010s. The German-immigrant bar tradition that built Cincinnati in the 1800s came back as a cocktail-and-craft-beer wave. Today OTR holds the densest serious-bar district in Ohio.
Five neighbourhoods cluster the action. Over-the-Rhine is the cocktail-and-brewery spine. Downtown holds the polished hotel bars. Mt. Adams climbs uphill with terrace bars. Northside is the indie-music quarter. Hyde Park covers the residential boutique-bar layer.
Cocktails run $11 to $14. Pints $5 to $7. Tipping is 20 percent. Most bars run to 2am. Reserve The Hi-Mark and Sundry and Vice on weekends.
Browse by occasion
Cocktail Bars in Cincinnati
World-class cocktail rooms
Rooftop Bars in Cincinnati
Skyline drinks
Date Night in Cincinnati
Romantic spots
After Work in Cincinnati
Apéro-hour bars
Live Music in Cincinnati
Bands and DJs
Craft Beer in Cincinnati
Microbreweries and taprooms
Hidden Gems in Cincinnati
Unmarked doors
Sports Bars in Cincinnati
Watch parties
Top Picks This Week
The Hi-Mark
Cincinnati's most awarded cocktail bar. James Beard semi-finalist. Speakeasy reached up a staircase. Classic-cocktail-leaning menu, twenty-eight seats.
Sundry and Vice
Apothecary-themed cocktail bar with bitters in glass droppers and herbs hung to dry. Reservations recommended. Best for an unhurried evening.
Japp's
Heritage cocktail bar inside a 1879 wig shop. Long mahogany bar, candle-lit, and the most photogenic cocktail room in the Midwest.
Below Zero Lounge
Vodka bar with one of the longest vodka lists in the country. Frozen vodkas served at zero degrees. The most fun room in OTR.
Rhinegeist
OTR's flagship brewery. Fifteen house taps, ping-pong tables, large communal-table room. The most communal Cincinnati weekend.
Sotto
Italian restaurant-bar with one of the city's tightest amaro lists. Long marble bar, candle-lit, and a polished after-work crowd.
Neighbourhood Guide
Over-the-Rhine (OTR)
The cocktail-and-brewery spine north of downtown. Once one of America's most abandoned districts, now one of its coolest. Walk Vine and Main.
Downtown
The central business district. Hotel cocktail bars, polished after-work crowds, and the post-Reds-game scene.
Mt. Adams
The hillside neighbourhood east of downtown. Terrace bars with views of the Ohio River. Best at sunset.
Northside
Indie-music quarter north of OTR. Live-music bars, dive-bar culture, and the most adventurous food in Cincinnati.
Hyde Park
Residential boutique-bar district. Wine bars, neighbourhood cocktail rooms, and a thirty-something local crowd.
The bars worth going to, weekly.
One email every week. The bars our editors are recommending right now, across 72 cities worldwide.
Editorial on Cincinnati
Reach bar-goers in every major city.
Sponsored listings, newsletter placements, and city guide partnerships across 72 cities. Contact us to get your bar in front of the right audience.