Bristol's best gin bars
Posted on: 07 Jun 2017The perfect coincidence of the peak in the latest surge in gin popularity and the lengthening summer nights means one simple and salient thing: there has never been a better time to enjoy a G&T. Below, we have listed six of the best places to do so in Bristol – enjoy.
Flipside Cocktail Club
Situated halfway up Whiteladies Road is Flipside Cocktail Club, a one-stop shop offering some of the best drinks in the city set within charming surroundings and hiding a brilliant garden out back. Whilst fans of other spirits would not find themselves out of place, the bar has the most obvious affinity with gin and has the back-bar to prove it – with world-class products like Sacred and Williams GB occupying pride of place upon it. The Club has also played host to some infamous gin-centric celebrations down the years, most recently in the ‘80s game show-themed ‘Gin for the Win’ – which was flippin’ marvellous!
Manos
Another Sacred-stockist is Manos, the bar on the Clifton-side of the Triangle, which is also known for its fine selection of white satins. With well-drilled bartenders and a décor that can lend itself to a quieter moment just as well as it can a louder one, thus it is just as suited to delivering a finely-measured G&T as it is to hosting Park Street pre-drinks.
The Rummer Hotel
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Contrary to its spiced, brown title, The Rummer specialises unapologetically in gin, with a glittering selection of the more transparent spirit up on display behind the bar. It is not just for these, however, that the hotel has grown to be considered one of the main reasons for which Bristol is now so renowned for its gin. The hotel plays host to a microdistillery, which is put to good use in creating its own eclectic range of alcoholic idiosyncrasies.
Hyde and Co.
If we are to take a literary reference more literally, Hyde and Co. is much more like Dr Jekyll than his dastardly alter ego, on account of the bar’s suave elegance and propriety. Easily the best of Bristol’s famed speakeasy establishments, this Triangle joint oozes class about as readily as it does quality gin. With names on the back-bar including Aviation, Plymouth and Sacred (is there a trend developing here?), they are well-placed to justify this accolade.
Red Light
Though the premise of Red Light, to which you gain entry to the secret bar (marked by the light, which just so happens to be red in colour, above the door), through picking up a telephone outside, could be considered slightly whimsical – the quality is anything but. That’s why it is so often the destination for industry events, such as the Sacred gin-tasting and cocktail competition last month. Widely-held to home some of the best bartenders in the city, these guys know their stuff – that’s why they stock the best gins in the business.
The Pump House
Occupying pride of place on the shores of the Avon, The Pump House’s surroundings are most opportune. Well-aware, however, that style means little without the substance to reinforce it, they stock a mean selection of gins – and know how to use them.
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An ardent Geordie minus the accent, Sam seemingly strove to get as far away from the Toon as possible, as soon as university beckoned. Three undergraduate years at UoB were more than ample time for Bristol (as it inevitably does) to get under his skin, and so here he remains: reporting, as Assistant Editor, on the cultural happenings which so infatuated him with the city. Catch him at sam@365bristol.com.
