By Jeff Josenhans | Downtown News<\/p>\n
As a fellow downtown San Diegan, you already know downtown has been in a constant state of flux for many years. New buildings are constantly going up, hotels popping up, trendy scenes coming and going. The cocktail and beverage scene is highly competitive (in a friendly way) and as a result, the bar for quality has been constantly pushed over the years.<\/p>\n
With summer fast approaching and today\u2019s cocktail scene just as dynamic as downtown has become, a good round-up of the downtown scene is long overdue!<\/p>\n
Here are some new places that have arrived over the last year that you need to check out:<\/p>\n
Lion\u2019s Share<\/strong> \u2013 a gem in the otherwise cocktail-dead area of town close to Seaport Village.<\/p>\n Caja de sal<\/strong> \u2013 an up-and-comer in the new Palomar Hotel (formerly Se Hotel). The new president of the San Diego Bar Guild runs this place, so the quality is obvious.<\/p>\n Here are some places that have been around 2-3 years, and if you still have not been there, it\u2019s time!<\/p>\n Seersucker<\/strong> – the clear trend leader in downtown and the cocktail quality backs up the hype.<\/p>\n Craft and Commerce<\/strong> \u2013 a leader in quality and bar discipline ever since its inception, this is a must-see for anyone in and around the Little Italy area.<\/p>\n Cowboy Star<\/strong> \u2013 not necessarily known for their cocktails first, but certainly could be! If you are an East Village cocktail fan, this is your number one bet.<\/p>\n Noble Experiment<\/strong> \u2013 this is on the edge of Downtown and East Village. It\u2019s small, inspiring, mysterious and top-notch cocktail making.<\/p>\n Vin de Syrah<\/strong>– Still one of the coolest concepts in the Gaslamp, and one of only a few bars that can balance cocktail quality with club life.<\/p>\n Prohibition<\/strong> \u2013 Hats off to former Bar Guild president Tim Stevens, for giving San Diego an answer to the nation\u2019s top spirit-driven bars. This is the true speakeasy bar in San Diego.<\/p>\n These places have been Downtown since the beginning. If you have not been there yet, what\u2019s wrong with you?<\/p>\n El Dorado<\/strong> \u2013 admittedly, somewhat off the beaten path, but worth the trip. This place has been around for a while and was probably the first place in San Diego to bring in Kold Draft ice. It has the atmosphere and location of a casual dive bar, but with the quality and care of a five star hotel. Best of both worlds, really \u2026<\/p>\n Grant Grill at The US Grant Hotel<\/strong> \u2013 an icon in San Diego for 100 years. The cocktail program is now at its best since the prohibition era. Don\u2019t be daunted by the fancy exterior. You haven\u2019t lived in downtown San Diego until you\u2019ve sipped a drink in this hotel.<\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Jeff Josenhans | Downtown News As a fellow downtown San Diegan, you already know downtown has been in a constant state of flux for many years. New buildings are constantly going up, hotels popping up, trendy scenes coming and going. The cocktail and beverage scene is highly competitive (in a friendly way) and as […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1188,"featured_media":235600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Drink Shrink: Time for a Downtown cocktail round-up!","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-235601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1188"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}