Semi-secret tip: while the dining room at Ann Kim’s newest restaurant in Uptown is a highly sought-after reservation, Sooki and Mimi’s basement bar is one of Minneapolis’s classiest speakeasies. Look for a light in the alley off 31st Street, step through the door, and descend into the ‘70s-style rec room-meets-cocktail lounge, complete with vinyl tunes and vintage wooden furniture. The basement bar is first-come, first-served. Upstairs at the walk-up bar, you’ll find cilantro sours and the pineapple-based drink tepache — which the team ferments on-site — served on tap with mezcal, tequila, or vodka.

Meteor made for an inspiring story during the pandemic. A long-time dream by expert barmen and co-owners Robb Jones and Elliot Manthey, the bar almost didn’t come into fruition due to COVID-19 — but a year and a half later, Meteor is one of Near North’s best cocktail bars. The interior is all walnut and brick and black leather stools — nothing that’s trying too hard. But the drinks are imaginative and complex, changing week to week with the bartenders’ latest obsessions. Recent inventions include a hot cider laced with gin, Cocchi Americano, and saffron liqueur, and a Tom Collins-style “bow chicka cacao” cocktail made with Cynar, lemon, and cherry-cacao syrup.

This reborn neighborhood bistro has a cozy bar, where co-owner Travis Serbus’ citrus-forward drinks help patrons survive a long, hard winter. As of late, cocktails feature notes of avocado, dragonfruit, grapefruit, and lemon — the Moon Dog, made with mezcal, green chartreuse, and tamarind is a highlight. For more classic takes, try a non-alcoholic Negroni with grape, juniper, and bitter orange, or a strawberry caipirinha. Food from former Surly Beer Hall head chef Jorge Guzmán makes for excellent pairings.

Brother Justus — named for a 1920s Benedictine monk who flouted Prohibition and bootlegged moonshine in central Minnesota — is a true innovator in the Cities’ whiskey scene. Founder Phil Steger made Minnesota’s first single malt whiskey a few years back and has since expanded the company’s offerings to a barley-based single whiskey, an American with notes of butterscotch, and a cold-peated whiskey, made with peat from the black spruce bogs of Aitkin county. Brother Justus’s whiskey room offers classic and original cocktails like harvest pear (poached pear puree and guajillo syrup) and the Mama Vang (silver whiskey and rice water).

Twin Spirits is the Twin Cities’ first one-woman-owned distillery — a rarity in a very dude-dominated field, and Twin Spirits holds its own. Top-tier rum, whiskey, vodka, and gin focus on sustainable and ethical sourcing. The cocktails are delicately herbaceous — look for notes of rosemary and mint complementing fruity bases and house-made syrups. Outside, the bar has set up cozy greenhouses for the winter months — make a reservation ahead for these. (Walk-ins can enjoy the communal bonfire space, but bundle up.)

For whatever reason you’re looking to change your drinking habits, the low-proof and zero-proof cocktails at W. A. Frost and Company won’t have you missing liquor. The mature, complex flavors of drinks like the rosemary aperitif or their take on a Negroni don’t need to hide behind by booze to be knockout cocktails. If you’re in search of something stronger, try the Jungle Bird, made with pineapple rum, sugarcane, and bordiga aperitivo.

St. Paul’s chic Emerald Lounge follows up on the promise of its name with green details throughout the cozy living room-esque space. Here, cocktails include a version with three rums, lime, and honey-passionfruit syrup, its take on an Old Fashioned, and a drink, fittingly, with green chartreuse. Oh, and the bar claims to make the coldest martini in town. Emerald Lounge also offers food and desserts — curl up in one of the booths with a coffee liquor pudding.