It’s always wine o’clock in Adelaide, and this unique establishment demonstrates why. Created by a trio of mates, including a local winemaker, food expert and coffee connoisseur, Cantina Sociale serves small-batch and one-of-a-kind wines sourced directly from the vineyard.
From barrels behind the bar, the staff pours drops – ones you won’t find on other wine lists or at the bottle shop – from McLaren Vale, the Adelaide Hills and further afield. Choose a glass, indulge in a carafe or opt for a flight. Keep yourself nicely satisfied with a selection of snacks from the kitchen including truffle oil popcorn, lamb ‘lollipops’ and platters of pintxos (Spanish snacks of anchovies, marinated capsicum and peppers on bread). By the end of the night you’ll have a party on your palate.
Tucked in the Funk Zone, an industrial waterfront area packed with restaurants, bars and galleries, AVA Santa Barbara is the ideal establishment to learn about the region’s famous wines. The first thing you notice stepping into the sleek tasting room is a giant chalkboard behind the bar. On it Los Angeles artist Elkpen has scrawled a map of local wineries complete with the geographical features that influence the wine.
Plonk yourself down at the long wooden table, sip a glass of Californian chardonnay and learn about the different temperatures at which grapes are harvested, the impact of microclimates and the influence of fog, smoke and the ocean. Move to pinot noir, syrah or maybe even malbec, and examine petri dishes stuck to the wall and mason jars studded with soil samples that demonstrate differing terroirs.
What better way to enjoy the sunset in São Paulo than from atop a hotel shaped like a slice of watermelon? Situated on the rooftop of five-star Hotel Unique, this fruity beauty oozes glamour. Take the panoramic elevator to the top and step into a sophisticated sky of ambient beats, cosy lounges and a glowing crimson pool, complete with underwater sound system for your subaquatic pleasure. Come early to beat the queues and grab a seat for sundown cocktails.
Drinks aren’t outrageously expensive, and the glitz and 360-degree views over the city’s 20 million inhabitants make it worth the visit. If you’re feeling peckish, order some treats crafted by French celebrity chef Emmanuel Bassoleil, who commands the adjoining restaurant. Grab an apple mojito and settle in for an evening of sky high jinks.
Where can you chill out after a day sweating it out on the steamy streets of Jakarta? A drink in the freezing Vodka Room at Cloud Lounge & Dining is a good place to start. Knock back a shot in a climate-controlled zero degrees, then head outside into the night’s balmy embrace to thaw out. If the vodka doesn’t get you tingling the views certainly will.
Located on the 49th floor of the Altitude skyscraper, Cloud Lounge has a vantage point unlike any other, with sweeping views across the city. Hold a gathering in one of five ‘living rooms’ that re-create the cosy atmosphere of a private home, or simply relax in the lounge bar and enjoy a cocktail as the sun sets over Jakarta’s skyline.
Iceland braved a beer ban until 1989, but boy oh boy, have they made up for it in the years since. The cool, vintage-styled Kex Drinx, tucked away in a former biscuit factory in downtown Reykjavik, is the place to go for frosty pints of local beer. Find your inner Rocky and get a good ol’ workout with the boxing bag, browse a wine crate stacked with well-loved books, or go for some Jack Daniel’s in a serving of chocolate mousse.
The bar is part of a hostel right by the sea, so you won’t have far to travel if you down a few too many brews to brave the outside chill. And don’t let the hostel part put you off – locals drink here too. Besides, any backpacker who has travelled this far is sure to have a bevy of tales to tell.
Serving drinks from the bow of an abandoned fishing boat, this bar blends traditional with sustainable, shabby with chic, and seaside with signature cocktails. UXUA is sprawled across spotless sand and nestled between the ocean and heritage-protected mangroves.
Lounge on a day bed with an ocean view or beneath a flat-roofed pergola. The open bar is far from crowded, and it’s relaxed enough for locals to drop by for a cold beer. There’s beach volleyball and the sandy banks are used for training in capoeira – a Brazilian martial art.
The moment you arrive at this retro-styled, three-storey cafe, bar, restaurant and exhibition space you’ll know you’re off to a good start. There’s a relaxed vibe, delicious cocktails to try, poetry reading nights, upstairs gallery spaces, a dance floor and a screening room.
The space was established as a creative social club aimed at exposing art to a broader public audience in an informal environment. The strategically chosen name stands for Wonderful Thai Friendships.
Sky bars are so hot right now in Bangkok and sprouting everywhere like fresh foliage in the city’s towering canopy. At State Tower, whiz 64 flights up and emerge from the lift to be greeted by four smiling faces discretely checking how suitably you’re dressed. The punishment for attempting to enter a Bangkok sky bar in thongs is an evening of wearing the establishment’s heavy Amish-style black clogs and a guarantee of going home alone. Swan, preferably in your own footwear, down the broad staircase towards Sirocco’s neon-lit bar, perched on the side of the building like something from a movie.
Chicago winters can be punishing, so what better way to stave off the northern hemisphere chills than with a Painkiller No 3, loaded with two varieties of rum and the tropical bouquet of summer? Award-winning watering hole Three Dots and a Dash has Polynesian mixology down pat, with a heady menu of cocktails that will blast away the winter blues.
Named after a famous cocktail created to celebrate the end of World War II (in Morse code it stands for ‘V’ and, in the 1940s meant ‘victory’), Three Dots and a Dash serves up 20 cocktails and 250 varieties of rum. Park your behind under the thatched canopy at the bar, get both hands around a decorative tiki mug, and try not to be intimidated by the big dudes carved into the decor.
Argentina may be known for its big, bold reds, but expertly crafted cocktails are on the rise, and the best are hiding in Buenos Aires. It will, however, take some work to find them. Concealed behind a nondescript cellar in the back of a sushi restaurant called Nicky New York, The Harrison Speakeasy transports guests from the Palmero Soho neighbourhood to the sultry world of the 1920s Big Apple.
Entry into this land of crystal decanters, champagne and bourbon is exclusive, so unless you’re a member or rub shoulders with the right people, you’ll need to book a meal at the restaurant out front and do your best to charm the waiters. Your efforts will be more than rewarded once you’re sipping a creation poured by one of Argentina’s best bartenders, Seba Garcia.
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