The “if you know, you know” of bars, this swanky speakeasy inspired by midcentury Vietnam hides in plain sight right on bustling Northwest 23rd Avenue. The 23rd Parallel is a play on a lemongrass margarita, complete with a spicy chile salt rim. Herbaceous and fruity, Le Colonial gets its spirited punch from the Chinese liquor baijiu and the French liqueur Génépy. A menu of select dishes from the upstairs restaurant Lela’s Bistro serve as drinking supplements — the banh mi is one of Portland’s best and comes with fillings such as steamed pork and chicken pate, BBQ pork, or fried tofu. Hot tip: add the optional crispy-edge fried egg on top.

This sophisticated cocktail bar can be found in the Pearl District right next to its playful sibling bar Pink Rabbit. Fools and Horses serves a cocktail menu laden with American whiskies alongside a Hawaiian Paniolo menu from executive chef Alex Wong. Design features like a sliding ladder across shelves of spirits, a collection of hardcovers by Thackeray perched on the bar, and a living room-like nook make the polished bar an ideal locale for date nights before or after catching a show at the Armory. Don’t miss the Cash & Curry — Roku gin, sherry, toasted rice, coconut, miso, curry, and lychee — a complex but approachable creation poured over one big ice cube.

Bar Comala is restaurant group República & Co.’s rendering of what a bar in the small Mexican town of Comala would be like circa 1821. At the time, the town was a liminal space, caught between Spanish control and the fledgling country of Mexico, and ripe with international influence. The bar serves a menu of classic cocktails which have been taken for a spin. Once visitors have been ushered through a curtain, they settle into the candlelit space with cocktails like the Vieux Carré homage Plan de Ayutla, which swaps the cognac with mezcal, or the menu standout El Obrero, a champurrado-like cocktail which utilizes owner Angel Medina’s Reforma Roasters coffee; it could easily stand in as a dessert.

Pacific Standard’s playful sister bar is a room with a view, although technically not a room at all. The breezy rooftop serves slushies as chill as the vibe, and is currently spinning a frozen watermelon mojito. The rest of the cocktail menu is short and sweet; it’s six drinks total, including a smoky banana margarita, Jamaican daiquiri, strawberry wine cooler, and Pop Warner (vanilla vodka, black tea, limeade), that will all put you in a vacation state of mind. The bar opens daily during the summer season.

The Northeast Portland century-old foursquare house that was once home to the laidback watering hole Beech Street Parlor is once again inhabited by a bar. At Dream House, Brighid King and Tony Lambright shake and stir cocktails like serrano-infused margaritas and hibiscus daiquiris, all in the $9 to $12 range. King is partial to the Evelyn, a play on a French 75 with butterfly pea flower-infused gin and Pernod mist. While you can perch on the house’s front patio or in the living room bar, cozier drinking nooks can be found in the house’s upstairs rooms — be sure to check the bar’s Instagram for the DJ schedule.

A trip below Top Chef alum Gregory Gourdet’s new but already highly lauded Haitian restaurant Kann is primed to transport visitors to the Caribbean, with a cocktail menu incorporating spirits and produce from countries across the region. Gourdet, who is sober, wanted to make sure the bar had an extensive nonalcoholic cocktail menu, and the bar’s collection of zero-proof cocktails are as creative and nuanced as the bar’s spirited offerings. Sousòl’s food menu similarly explores the flavors of the Caribbean, as well as countries that have influenced its culture, with small plates ranging from familiar bar snacks (salt cod fritters and Trini-Chinese chicken wings) to dishes that are harder to find in Portland (Jamaican beef patties and Trinidadian doubles, a flatbread filled with curried chickpeas).

Industry vet Collin Nicholas’s latest venture is his first foray into the east side, leaving the familiar territory of the Pearl District where his bars Pink Rabbit and Fools and Horses reside. At Dirty Pretty, culinary elements like saffron, a pho-wash, and clarified honey are weaved through the cocktail menu, while executive chef Alex Wong serves small plates like a spicy hash anchored by pork and shrimp shu mai and the Hawaiian-inflected fried saimin.

This intimate Woodlawn cocktail bar took over the lobby of a former silent movie theater, tables surrounding the ticket booth at its entrance both indoors and out. The bar excels at simple, beautiful things: a plate of grilled bread and n’duja; a salad of stonefruit, melon, and figs; a floral, Negroni-esque cocktail of Meletti, gin, and vermouth. Seasonal touches here feel genuine and inventive — in the summer, sungold tomato adds a savory acidity to a captivating, somewhat bracing combination of gin, mezcal, and aquavit, while fig leaf syrup adds a vanilla-adjacent note to an aged rum daiquiri. Expect menus to change often.

Fun-loving energy is palpable in the cocktail and food menus at The End, a bar opened by a supergroup of Portland bartending talent and chef Sam Smith. Hey Love co-owner Emily Mistell’s twists on classic cocktails include a s’mores-topped espresso martini, a buffalo wing-flavored michelada with Frank’s Red Hot and blue cheese, and a buttered popcorn Old Fashioned. A daily happy hour from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. knocks down all house cocktails to a mere $10. To snack on, soft pretzels come with kimchi Velveeta dip and Cup Noodles are rigged to taste like esquites, complete with crema, Tajín, and lime.

Oozing a laid-back but charming ’70s vibe, this cocktail bar comes from the team behind White Owl Social Club and Creepy’s. Here, Sumner neighborhood patrons kick back in vintage booths, and next to a corner fireplace with cocktails like the My-O-My-Tai or the White Lotus (mezcal, Coco Lopez, pineapple orange juice) in hand. Outside on the patio, the Monster Smash cart slings crispy-edged smash burgers, which are available vegan, and golden fries with garlic aioli. Minors are allowed until 9 p.m. and can find themselves easily occupied by the bar’s arcade and pinball games.