Photo: Philadelphia Distilling, Bluecoat Gin 20th Anniversary, Photo by Philippe LeSaux

Welcome to Cocktails Quarterly — Drink Philly's newest segment showcasing the best bars (new and old) where you should be getting a drink. Every season will feature a new line up of bars so be sure to keep a look out for our next batch of recommendations.

And just like that, it’s fall. This season brings plenty of reasons to raise a glass: sip Pennsylvania-made spirits and cider in Fishtown, celebrate 20 years of locally made Bluecoat Gin, explore Mexican and Italian-inspired cocktail bars, or settle in with an Old Fashioned at a neighborhood comedy club. We’re also looking ahead to Danny Childs’ forthcoming Field Day, a Northern Liberties bar helmed by local Negroni Week scholarship participants.

From spritzes and amari to agave cocktails, gin drinks and fall-ready classics, here are 7 Philadelphia cocktail bars and seasonal drinks to seek out this fall.

Photo via Amy Hartranft

Pip's Cider Bar
Don’t dismiss this bar just because you may not be a cider lover. Pip’s by Ploughman Cider is a sleeper hit in Fishtown’s otherwise buzzy nightlife scene. Yes, there’s a full lineup of regionally-made dry ciders on draft that you should try, but the bar program — led by veteran bartender and Philly Cider Week founder Amy Hartranft — extends to cocktails like a peach wine Fish House Punch and even Espresso Martinis. Industry folks meet up here post-shift late into the night lounging on leather couches, playing pool (it’s free!), or challenging a friend to a board game (many of which are 80s classics).
(1321 N Lee St)


Photo via Bomb Bomb Bar

Bomb Bomb Bar
This South Philly institution is a prime example of keeping their community of multi-generational staff and clientele — despite a change in ownership and menu — thanks to chef-owner Joey Baldino and Jorgen Ericksen (also of Palizzi Social Club). Inside, Bomb Bomb’s no frills Italian-American bar is tiny and consistently packed with old timers and 30-somethings who linger over fried calamari with cherry peppers and onions and order rounds of Pepperoncini Vespers and Manhattan Italian. While the cocktail menu is equally small and straight-forward, we love ordering off-menu, either settling in with a Negroni or ending the night with an Amaro Shakerato.
(1026 Wolf St)

Photo by Gab Bonghi

Mixteca
Puebla-born Euclides Victor Lopez Morales and partner Jeff Bell recently debuted Mixteca, a modern Mexican cantina in East Kensington. The New York team's Philly outpost takes over the former Martha's space with hand-painted tiles, hacienda-style arches, wrought-iron chandeliers, and a projector for rooting on the Birds and Phils. The agave-based cocktail list mixes classics and Mexican riffs like a mezcal-and-Tequila Puebla York Manhattan and the Aeromex, a Paper Plane twist with blanco Tequila, lemon, Aperol and Nonino. Start with La Bandera, a Mexican flag-inspired trio of herbal-citrus, Tequila, and house sangrita shots and chips and guac for the table.
(2113 E. York St)

Photo by Ed Newton

Bar Cicci
Walk too fast along Rittenhouse’s Sansom Street and you might miss the tiny black-and-red café-bar inside. This 30-seat all-day spot pairs Italian-inspired finger foods with crushable, lower-ABV drinks — Negroni’s, Spritzes, Martinis, Amari. We loved the fresh, frothy ice-cold Garibaldi and Amari Shakerato, employing an in-house clear ice cube machine and milkshake blender respectively, to dial in both temperature and texture. Given the space’s limitations (there’s no full bar, seating is tight, and service ends by 10 p.m. on weekends) Bar Cicci is ideal for day drinking and solo visitors.
(1620 Sansom St)

Photo by Drink Philly

Philadelphia Distilling
This year, Bluecoat Gin celebrates 20 years of its flagship American Dry Gin made at the first distillery to open in Pennsylvania since Prohibition, Fishtown’s Philadelphia Distilling. Now through the end of 2026, the distillery and tasting room honors its gin lineup with a special anniversary menu: 20 Bluecoat Gin drinks celebrating the bar community in and beyond Philly. Each cocktail represents different bar and restaurant flavor profiles and Bluecoat Gin uses. Our favorites: smoky white negroni with Bluecoat barrel-finished gin for La Jefa; Vernick Fish’s banana bread pudding milk punch; and Bigger, Badder Clover Club for Bar Betsie in Washington, D.C. with Vigo Amaro and dry Vermouth.
(25 E. Allen St)

Photo by Colin Coleman

Claude’s Comedy Club & Bar
Can a comedy club also serve as a neighborhood bar? That’s what Claude’s on South Broad is betting on, open every day starting at 4 p.m. Just a few doors north of Solar Myth, this retro-styled lower-level venue welcomes walker by’s and comedy fans, no tickets or reservations needed. The bar area—separate from the comedy room — is walk-in friendly with more than 20 seats at the bar and railing, plus a photo booth, pool table, and TV screen to make the most of your time here. The menu is a no-brainer with weekday happy hour (4 to 6 p.m.) and three rotating draft cocktails priced at $13 or less. We say order a Black Walnut Old Fashioned or Citywide riff from their Two Drink Minimum section (Brawler and Bodega Cat Rye, anyone?) and stay a while.
(1123 S. Broad St)

Rending by Laura Weiszer of Betsu Studio

Field Day
Award-winning Slow Drinks author, educator, and bar pro Danny Childs has a new venture: Field Day opening soon in Northern Liberties. The former add-on space next to Cescaphe Ballroom has been turned into a hybrid neighborhood bar and experimental fermentation lab with its own street-front entrance. The “Holler” menu riffs on familiar classics — Rye Daisy, Tangria (orange wine sangria spritz), fig leaf Daiquiri, Pine Barrens cranberry juice Cosmo — all around the $15 mark. The “Field Guide” menu goes more esoteric and envelope-pushing, built around regionally inspired, technique-heavy drinks like the Jenny Lind Tokyo Tea, a high-low riff on the Long Island Iced Tea with house-made Jenny Lind melon liqueur.
(923 N. Second St.)