The lure of Barcelona's nightlife has destroyed many a reputation. That's why we find the idea of dedicating a bar to creation--at least in terms of architecture--a refreshing concept. Behold Frank's Bar in the Hotel Arts Barcelona, a homage to the creative mind of starchitect Frank Gehry.

The bar honors Gehry's famous fish sculpture that sits on the waterfront adjacent to the hotel. The interiors draw from the palette of colors that the sculpture reflects throughout the day, from graphite to gold, plum to emerald. The arcs of the sofas, the geometry of the decorative moldings, and the diamond tufting of the ottomans draw lines of order, while signature margaritas (named after Gehry's wife, Berta) blur them. Sounds like the blueprint for a top Catalonian night out.

Photo: Davide Lovatti, Courtesy of Hotel Arts Barcelona

Stumptown Coffee founder Duane Sorenson put Portland on the caffeinated world map. But now he's turning his attention to other pursuits, namely those of the alcoholic and gastronomic variety, at the new Woodsman Tavern. The restaurant's roster reads like a who's who of the Portland dining scene, all in one unassuming, reclaimed-wood setting.

Joining Sorenson are chef Jason Barwikowski and bartender Evan Zimmerman from city institutions Olympic Provisions and Laurelhurst Market, respectively. They're serving a mix of drinkin' food such as chorizo crisps and pickled mackerel along with haute tavern fare including guinea fowl with savory bread pudding. Wash it down with a cask ale or a cocktail of rye, vermouth, and cedar-steeped Campari. Or both. You can caffeinate off the hangover back at Stumptown tomorrow.

Photo: Courtesy of the Woodsman Tavern

Just when we considered ourselves fluent in the upscale Mexican nightlife movement sweeping Nueva York, along comes Salón Hecho to school us in a whole new lingua franca of mezcales, micheladas, and curados.

Next to sister restaurant Hecho en Dumbo, the brand-new space is modeled on downtown Mexico City's hip neighborhood cantinas: part local watering hole, part performance space (Thursdays will feature live music), part showcase for the many moods of the agave plant. We're intrigued/borderline-scared about the cantina's signature tipples, abocados--mezcal traditionally infused with out-there flavors like juniper, lamb, and turkey. Owners Ethan Smith and Danny Mena assure us they'll be sticking to more benign spikings, however, including avocado and allspice. How do you say, "I'll ease into it with a margarita?"

Photo: Courtesy of Kimberly Sentner

Your dusty boots have trodden the weathered wood of unruly saloons all over the world. But so far, you've managed to stay on the right side of the law. Well, partner, there's a new bar in town, and it's got danger written all over it. Saddle up for a night at Austin's new Bar Ilegal (609 Davis Street).

This 1920s stone shack lit by a rusted iron candelabra serves up one thing and one thing only: Ilegal Mezcal. The smoky-smooth cousin of that rabble-rouser tequila comes in jicama bowls made for sipping. It's illegal in name only (the brand hails from Oaxaca). But what you do while under the influence? That's anyone's guess.

Photo: Courtesy of Bar Ilegal

Good news for New Yorkers whose favorite annual celebration is Repeal Day (December 5, for those taking notes): There's a new gin joint in town. Subterranean cocktail spot the Tippler has opened in a cavernous 3,000-square-foot space hidden beneath Chelsea Market.

It might be infused with sepia-toned nostalgia--including vaulted ceilings, original 1880s brickwork, salvaged water-tower timber, and railway tracks reclaimed from the neighboring High Line--but this watering hole has none of the speakeasy snobbery of its similarly appointed compatriots. There's Bud in bottles and cocktail categories like Fast & Furious (shots!) and Lushies (spiked slushies). Let's toast underground without the attitude.

Photo: Courtesy of the Tippler

If you had any doubt that the visionaries behind New York's Milk & Honey and PDT would go to the ends of the earth to spread their cocktail gospel, the opening of their latest venture--in Melbourne, Australia--should prove it.

Plush new bar The Everleigh recently opened its doors (at the top of a flight of stairs behind an unmarked street door) on the seedy-turned-suave strip of Gertrude Street. Under the watchful eye of mixology maestro Sasha Petraske, The Everleigh's cocktail list is heavily weighted toward Gilded Era libations such as the Old-Fashioned and the Rum Fizz.

In a town renowned for its fantastic swank-on-a-shoestring bar scene, this joint--sporting now-familiar touches such as hand-cut ice, cozy leather booths, and a whiff of the speakeasy--fits in like a waxed mustache on an old-timey barkeep. And, yes, there will be waistcoats.

Photo: Courtesy of The Everleigh

If there's one thing Brazilians have the lock on (aside from looking effortlessly sexy in swimwear), it's partying. And with more bars per capita than either Rio or São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, the cachaca-charged capital of central state Minas Gerais, is the place to shake your moneymaker--especially now that its famed Roxy/Josefine nightclub has been redesigned and reopened.

The four-year-old club's original architect Fred Mafra has transformed his former vision into a mind-bending array of hexagons and colored LED lighting, as if some honeybees set up shop on the Tron set. Two dance floors, three bars (in acoustically sheltered bays so bartenders can hear your order), and a smoking deck with a retractable roof all include prismatic trickery. In comparison, the beautiful people--straights on Wednesdays and Fridays (Roxy), gays on Thursdays and Saturdays (Josefine)--might as well be window dressing.

Photo: Courtesy of Jomar Bragança

It's game on for Vodvil, L.A.'s newest adult entertainment venue. But before you grab that pile of $1 bills, you should know that this adult entertainment comes with a PG rating. And prizes.

Vodvil is like game night for the stiletto set, with trivia, game show-style challenges, charades, and other classic fun. Tables play against each other for prizes such as penny candy or donations to charities. The look is haute-1960s rec room, with lemon, lime, and orange retro furniture. The menu includes pretzel bites, chips with onion dip, and bowls of punch (try the No Whammies with whiskey, elderflower liqueur, and lemon juice). Add the private karaoke rooms, and it's pretty much the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

Photo: Courtesy of Vodvil

Chicago super-chef Grant Achatz (Alinea, Next, the Aviary) has a new trick up his toque: the Office (955 W. Fulton Market), a basement cubicle-turned-speakeasy that's invite-only (if, like us, you prefer your nightlife mysterious and exclusive).

What awaits in Chicago's hottest inner sanctum? A 14-seat lair of Oriental rugs and battered leather chairs, and a dark wood bar holding exclusive bottlings and one-off runs. The ice is custom-chipped and -molded; the 165 tinctures, 30 syrups, and herbal potions, wizarded in-house. If you're tempted by a tequila-claret-applewood-eucalyptus-lemon balm concoction or a snifter of 70-year-old Chartreuse served in clandestine surroundings, we suggest you call in your connections now.

Photo: Courtesy of Grant Achatz

Looking to add a little dose of intrigue to your average night out? The folks at Wilson & Wilson in San Francisco are mixing up some delicious (and drinkable) mystery on a nightly basis. Hidden down a series of passageways, through an unmarked door in Bourbon & Branch bar, the newly opened Wilson & Wilson got its name from a driver's license found in a purse wedged into the wall of this former speakeasy. How's that for a shadowy origin story?

Cocktails have names like "Truth Serum" (Highland Park whisky, Amaro Nonino, brown sugar cinnamon syrup, sarsaparilla aromatic bitters, licorice root), but this is no kitschy theme bar. Here you'll find some of San Fran's most talented mixologists, and an undercover cool vibe--think Sam Spade's office, only bathed in flickering candlelight. And the three-cocktail tasting menu might just give you the liquid courage to invite that doe-eyed dame by the door for a teapot tipple-for-two. Where it goes from there, well, we'll leave that to you, gumshoe.

Photo: Courtesy of Wilson & Wilson

Beacher's Madhouse, a 1920s-style cabaret in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, is the most over-the-top bar to open in Los Angeles in years (and this is not a city known for subtlety).

Let us show you to your seat--it's just past the sexy librarian, through a trick bookcase wall, and inside a giant golden birdcage. Order at the Midget Bar (we don't make the names, it's labeled that way in neon), where a little person will make you mini cocktails in mini glasses. Looking for table service? A waiter flying through the air on a pulley system delivers the drinks. And don't get us started on the madcap cast of contortionists, monkeys, and mini Lady Gagas onstage. Oh, and half-naked ladies, too. This is L.A., after all.

Photo: Courtesy of Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

 
Blizzards and ice storms and snowpocalypses are giving way to warmth, and with that, the patios and gardens of New York City will fill with sunseekers. The newest alfresco fun? La Birreria, a 5,000-square-foot beer garden set to open later this spring on the roof of the Batali/Bastianich foodtopia, Eataly, in the Flatiron District.

Copper vats will turn out microbrews created by U.S. sudsmeister Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head fame and Italians Teo Musso of Birra Baladin and Leonardo Di Vincenzo of Birra del Borgo. The unfiltered, naturally carbonated brews will be hand-pulled through traditional beer engines and paired with pizza and sausages. And there's a retractable roof, should Old Man Winter decide to make a last-ditch appearance.

Photo: Courtesy of Samantha Decker

 
Today, your average American is gearing up to throw back a green beer (or four) in honor of St. Patrick's Day. But when it comes to drinking, you've always been above average. So we suggest that you celebrate like the real Irish do, with serious alcohol and people who know how to drink it.

Sure, the new Wood & Vine in Hollywood isn't an Irish bar, but that's exactly its selling point on this most green of days. Instead of elbowing through the amateur masses, you can sip one of the bar's small-batch whiskeys from the comfort of a buttery leather armchair. And you can't help but find the craic among the pretty people who flock here for truffled duck-fat fries. Good food, good friends, good drink. Just as St. Patty would have wanted it.

Photo: Courtesy of Wood & Vine

 
Travel lovers can't help but romanticize Ernest Hemingway's wanderings. Three such admirers have turned that adulation into--what else?--a bar.

Located on an up-and-coming foodie stretch in Chicago's River North neighborhood, the Hubbard Inn is decorated with what owners Daniel Alonso, Adolfo Garcia, and David Mitria envision Papa bringing back from his travels. Moroccan tiles line one wall, 1940s-style oil paintings hang on another, and more than 5,000 vintage books fill the bar's carved bookcases. The food served also tips its topper to the writer, incorporating ingredients from his journeys (Cabrales cheese, Medjool dates) as well as less literal interpretations such as stout burgers and earthy bone marrow.

Of course, no Hemingway tribute would be complete without booze--and lots of it. Here you'll find one of Chicago's best bourbon selections, new takes on classics like the Manhattan, and the author's namesake drink, made with 10 Cane rum, maraschino liqueur, and lime and grapefruit juices. Raise a glass (or eight) to big Papa.

Photo: Courtesy of the Hubbard Inn

The Beatles. Deep-fried candy bars. Colin Firth. Our neighbors across the pond have given us many gifts over the years. But this weekend, we're giving thanks for Britain's greatest export, the gastropub.

Philadelphia now has one to call its very own, courtesy of Stephen Starr's the Dandelion. This new watering hole hits all of the haute-pub highlights: cask ales, creative takes on hearty Brit classics (rabbit pie with cipollini onions, oyster mushrooms, and grain mustard), and hangover-curing morning fry-ups. The interiors feel lived-in, with two carved wooden bars, tartan-covered stools, and a mishmash of quirky ephemeraceramic dogs, souvenir plates, a life-size plastic cow. In other words, it's exactly the kind of place you'd raise a pint to.