In just months, this patio bar has become a fun neighborhood hangout spot. Find a pagoda with mood-setting string lights, covered patio seating with games, a dark and romantic indoor bar, and a refreshing cocktail list. The Mini Hulk Smash is a refreshing combination of bourbon, basil, ginger, lemongrass, and Topo Chico, while the gin-based Hipstrict is made with strawberry, lemon, and coconut. No need to hurry off — the bar offers a worthy food menu with dishes like cheesy spinach and artichoke dip and steak frites, with sage-oil fries covered in a creamy herb-loaded au poivre sauce.

Neighboring its sister concept, Coltivare, EZ’s is a new Heights addition from Agricole Hospitality. Like its name suggests, guests can take it easy here, as the bar offers a casual, albeit well-appointed, space in which to drink and snack. Go for the dulce de leche old fashioned or a hillbilly high ball and take in a game of pool, before stretching out on the back patio.

This attractive cocktail bar is a fancier alternative to some of the bars that line White Oak Drive in the Heights. Its known for its whiskey program, but find so much more on the menu. Along with classics like daiquiris, margs, and mules, Permission serves up an impressive menu of bar snacks, including shrimp cocktail, oysters on the half shell, and oversized grazing boards.

As a follow up from the team who operate Wooster’s and Heights Bier Garten in Houston, it’s no surprise Bayou Heights Bier Garten has quickly become one of the hottest drinking destinations, day and night. Anchored by a central courtyard, the bar boasts dedicated areas for guests to explore its various beverage programs, which include coffee, beer and wine, and cocktails, and its menu of hearty bar snacks curated by chef Teddy Lopez.

Though Julep is certainly not new, this bar has yet to go out of style. The recent recipient of the city’s first national James Beard Award, this bar makes a mean Mint Julep, a refreshing gimlet, a classic Old Fashioned, and dozens of other cocktails. Try more inventive or Southern-style renditions of your favorites, like the Tepache Julep, made with sous vide pineapple, white wine, mezcal, maraschino, raspberry, and tamarindo, or the Jungle Bird — a combination of aged and Blackstrap rums, Campari, pineapple, and lime juice. Take advantage of the Monday through Friday happy hour. From 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., house cocktails and house wines are half-off.

Trendy but vintage, this Old Hollywood-esque bar in the Allen Parkway corridor offers the perfect backdrop while indulging in classic cocktails. Try the espresso martini, topped with a toasted marshmallow; the Mason’s Mayfair, a mix of gin, Peychaud’s bitters, and Fever-Tree tonic; or take it up a notch with a house shot like the “Persian Cowboy,” made with vodka, orange liqueur, and Persian key lime.

With its recent reopening, iconic Montrose dance club, South Beach is back in a major way, with an 8-foot tall crystal chandelier, new DJs weekly, stiff drinks, and enough space on the dance floor to boogie the night away.

Located just upstairs from the lauded cocktail bar Anvil & Refuge, Bobby Heugel has created a delightfully moody “cocktail apartment,” boasting more than 200 spirits, including lesser-known liqueurs, gins, European brandies, and a variety of Japanese distilled spirits — plus, a curated cocktail listing just 20 drinks. Go for an “originals” cocktail like the Pacific Rim, made with shochu, kiwi, and lime, or opt for a cocktail from the “classics and riffs” section, which features a rendition of an Old Fashioned, a sazerac, and Yeugel’s signature martini — made with two gins, vermouth, and accouterments.

Regardless of how many visits you’ve paid to Eight Row Flint in the Heights, you’ll want to check out the bar’s new outpost in Second Ward, which boasts a rooftop patio, and is conveniently located along the METRORail’s Green Line. Expect familiar favorites like the bar’s beloved ranch waters and old fashioneds, along with some new, and interesting cocktails created exclusively for this location.