Barcelona cocktail bars with pedigree

Making cocktails can be compared to symphony music because you have to be very precise if you want the mixture to attain the perfect harmony. You can't just mix for the sake of mixing; you have to mix with mathematical rigour and in-depth knowledge. The colour, aroma and flavour can vary depending on the order in which you combine the ingredients. It's an exact science and that's why great cocktail bartenders are fully concentrated on this strange alchemy and have to act with the precision of a surgeon.

If you want to visit some of the city's shrines to cocktails, keep on reading, sit at the bar and watch how the cocktail waiters in their uniforms perform magic in their laboratories.


Boadas
The classic. A true survivor which has kept its spirit alive since 1933, the year Miguel Boadas decided to open a cocktail bar inspired by the legendary Floridita in Havana. Small and with an atmosphere redolent of the Great Gatsby, it has a long bar with professional bartenders behind it, wearing tuxedos and ready to make the best Vodka Collins, Bloody Mary, Gimlet, Rob Roy or any cocktail you fancy.

Address: Tallers, 1
How to get there: Catalunya (L1, L3)


Dry Martini
This jewel in the Eixample featured on the list of the World's 50 Best Bars (50 World Best Bars) in 2012, and this is no mean feat. Just like its famous bar top which is considered one of the most important on the planet. Elegant, classical and timeless. This is certainly a temple to cocktails. So remember to genuflect before you go in.

Address: Aribau, 162
How to get there: Provença (FGC), Diagonal (L3, L5)


Tandem
An old-school cocktail bar. Discreet, with no garish signage, but with an exquisite variety of cocktails for lovers of good drinks. The cosy bar, run by impeccably dressed, cool and collected barmen, is the perfect place to have a drink and a relaxed conversation. The Gin Fizz comes highly recommended.

Address: Aribau, 86
How to get there: Provença (FGC), Diagonal (L3, L5)


Negroni
It has only taken a decade for this small bar in the Raval to become one of the city's classics. This may be because it combines, like nowhere else, the old school and the new. However, the best thing is the service. You go in, sit at the bar, and after taking the barman's advice, he'll serve you and tell you in detail about the cocktail that only existed in your dreams.

Address: Joaquín Costa, 46
How to get there: Universitat (L1, L2)