Where To Drink in Salt Lake City, Utah

As Utah’s capital and most populous city, Salt Lake City is by no means a small market. But the evolution of the local drinks scene over the last dozen years or so can be seen as both a microcosm of industry trends as well as a wholly distinct landscape. This is due in large part to a young population eager to rise within the industry, and the state’s notoriously strict liquor laws. For example, a cocktail’s base spirit can be no greater than 1 1/2 ounces, and added liqueurs and modifiers must still keep the total alcohol quantity below 2 1/2 ounces.

“I think the restrictions can breed creativity in ways that a lot of people don’t have to think about in other markets,” says Scott Gardner, a longtime Salt Lake bartender and co-founder of Water Witch, with Utah native and cocktail veteran Sean Neves. Neves points to early, influential spots like Bar X, opened in 2011. “They really introduced the classic cocktail phase of Salt Lake City’s drink development,” Neves says.

Today, options abound. “There are the casual places that do off-the-wall kitschy cocktails, you can get tropical cocktails, and you can get a refined experience with table service,” says Gardner. And all those young, eager bartenders that get exported to larger markets? “Within a couple years, they start missing snowboarding and fishing and all the backwoods stuff that makes living in Utah so magical,” says Neves. “We have a really strong base of returning people, which is fun.”

Water Witch

When Water Witch opened in late 2016, the small but lively cocktail bar (“It’s easily the smallest bar in Salt Lake City,” says Neves) signaled a vibe shift on the local drinks scene. “Our bars should be places that we want to hang out in, and that reflect us honestly in terms of what we want to drink and how we want it to look,” he adds. Delivering highly executed cocktails in a casual neighborhood atmosphere, Water Witch found local adoration and national acclaim with a 2022 James Beard Foundation nomination. While many guests still opt to let the bartender guide their experience, the bar’s rotating seasonal cocktail menu features playful creations like the PB&J (mezcal, strawberry, peanut butter, lemon).

Feeling hungry? Pop through the adjoining door into their new sister bar, Bar Nohm, a modern izakaya with Korean-inspired bar food and their own specialty cocktails like the Atari Grouch (aged rum, scotch, matcha milk, sesame, Thai basil). “It’s the secret portal between the spaces, and they are very much linked spiritually, even though they are very different concepts,” says Neves.

Scion Cider Bar

Opened in late 2021 by husband-and-wife Matthew Ostrander (a certified pommelier, or cider expert) and Elisabeth Osmeloski, Scion Cider Bar is leading the charge for the category, not just in the state but nationwide. “They have a super small production facility where they crank out their own ciders with different fruits from local producers, but they also have one of the most advanced cider lists in North America,” says Neves. With regularly rotating taps and a list of bottles and cans more than 225 deep, the ciders on offer span a global spectrum, from modern domestic styles to traditional Basque to classic English. “You can walk in and say, ‘Hey, Rio [cidermaker Rio Connelly], let’s work our way through Estonia today,’ and they’ll walk you through the list,” says Neves.

Fisher Brewing Company

Hugely popular with Utah’s outdoorsy set, Fisher Brewing also stands as a piece of the state’s craft beer history. Founded by German immigrant Albert Fisher in the late 1800s, it became one of the earliest and largest breweries in Utah, operating until 1967. In 2017, a quartet of friends—including Tom Fisher Riemondy, the great-great grandson of Albert Fisher—revived the brewery, opening in an old auto body shop. “Anyone who loves to live in the mountains and explore the beautiful state of Utah seems to be an absolute hardcore Fisher Brewery advocate,” says Gardner. Whether folks choose to enjoy their brews in the great outdoors or simply on Fisher’s spacious patio, the beer options abound. Fisher brews more than 100 unique varieties per year, from their flagship pilsner to experimentally hopped IPAs to a classic British mild. “They are one of our favorite breweries in the state,” adds Gardner.

Duffy’s Tavern

“Bartenders love going to nice places and having great cocktails, but at the end of the night, everyone tends to crave a dive bar,” says Gardner. “My favorite dive bar in the city is called Duffy’s—cheap beers and shots, great jukebox, epic sandwiches, pool table. It’s just a classic, cozy spot.” Established in 1978 and hardly updated since, the welcoming space has notably been a staunch advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, and will host pop-ups for fundraising events such as preserving the Great Salt Lake. “They also have a bunch of feral cats out on the back patio that they’ve been taking care of for like a decade,” says Gardner. “They sleep on the patio and the community loves them.”

Quarters

In the basement of the historic New Grand Hotel in downtown Salt Lake, excellent cocktails are accompanied by the plink of pinball and the soundtracks of classic arcade games. “It’s probably one of the more aggressive cocktail programs in the city, and it just happens to be at an arcade bar,” says Gardner of Quarters, opened in 2018 by bartenders and arcade fanatics Michael Eccleston and Katy Willis. “It’s one of the best arcade bars you’ll go to—they have a really notable, high-quality game selection,” adds Neves. “And they do ripping cocktails. They take the program very seriously.”

The concept proved so popular that Quarters just opened their second location in the Sugar House neighborhood earlier this year. So while you try your luck at Tron or in the monthly pinball tournament, you can also sip a drink like the Dirk Diggler Martini (mezcal, Cappelletti, clarified passion fruit and passion fruit liqueur, lime-vanilla cordial, saline).

Copper Common

Under the purview of celebrated chef Ryan Lowder, Copper Common may take their seasonal food menu very seriously, but it is first and foremost a bar. “It’s the sister bar to one of the founding artisan, chef-driven restaurants in Salt Lake called Copper Onion,” explains Neves. The bar first opened in 2014 as a kind of placeholder while awaiting a full liquor license, with version 2.0 opening its doors in 2022. “Copper Common has a really aggressive and well-thought-out natural wine menu, plus a great selection of creative riffs on cocktails, and some of the best bar food in the country,” says Neves. A casual evening might consist of some oysters and aperitivi at the bar, or tuck in for the night with lamb merguez meatballs, crab beignets, and a bottle of skin-contact Verdejo from Spain or a Malbec from the Loire Valley.