Santa Fe has lots of fabulous spots to drink and be merry. If you like to imbibe, or just show off to your friends that you’re in the know, try this tour of neat spots for a good cocktail:

Tonic. Walk down an unsuspecting alley, and enter through a low door into a cozy, double height ceilinged room decorated in 1920’s-30’s style housing a wonderful cocktail bar. Craft cocktails with seasonal ingredients are their specialty and what to get, but they also offer an interesting menu of low and no for those who don’t drink. Perfect for a drink before or after dinner in town – if it’s in season, try the Hummingbird’s Reward.

Tequila is always on deck here in Santa Fe, but so is its cousin, smokey mezcal. On a warm summer evening, head to Joe’s Tequila Bar for an incredible selection of over 250 tequila, mezcal and sotol and sit outside on their patio while you try a tasting flight or an excellent margarita. On a night when the weather’s not so great, head over to Paloma’s in the Railyard for an excellent meal while you sip on my favorite mezcal cocktail, the Diablo – a delightful mix of mezcal, ginger, cassis, and lime.

One of the best local secrets in town is the local distillery, As Above So Below. While you can often find their liquors around town, AASB has their own cocktail lounge within their distillery facilities in the Rail Yard district. Take a tour of the distillery and then stay for a cocktail – I love to drink their Big Nose Kate Whiskey neat, but you can also order a yummy craft cocktail with their distinct gin, vodka or whiskey. Before you leave, buy a bottle or two of these special spirits to take home as they’re not distributed outside of New Mexico!

If you’re wandering near the plaza, pop into the tiny speakeasy bar, Bar Norte. Easily missed, this intimate space is accessed through a small doorway of the Los Poblanos farm shop (which has my favorite soaps ever, btw. Get the Man Bar and/or their lavender hand soap!). The bar features gin-forward cocktails with their homegrown and distilled botanical gins, paired with small nibbles. Make sure you try their lavender gin – a specialty of the historic farm which they have been growing since 1999.