Justini’s is the brainchild of Jessica Robinson, who is honoring Black women with both menu items and in this Bywater space itself — with a brown sugar old fashioned named after local civil rights movement leader Oretha Castle Haley, and a lavender French 75 named after the late Dooky Chase chef and civil rights activist Leah Chase. The chic new hotspot, which also serves food, is open Tuesday through Thursday from noon to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday until midnight; and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; closed Mondays.

American Townhouse is the Quarter’s newest queer-owned bar and restaurant set in a renovated 1857 Greek Revival townhouse across from Armstrong Park. The bar is part of the Rampart Street Renaissance, home to a classic French Quarter courtyard and first-rate craft cocktails, not to mention strong bar food. Go for the Friday $5 martini happy hour and stay for the loaded waffle fries and kale Caesar.

The recently reopened Frenchmen Hotel has a new bar to offer a respite from Frenchmen Street chaos, a tropical, tiki-themed spot that extends to the hotel’s rooftop. Walk through a cool clock-lined carriageway to find a funky backyard bar and sample extravagant drinks like a Parakeet: rum, Velvet Falernum, Le Verger Liqueur, lime, tiki spice syrup, and egg white. There’s also a show-stopping volcano bowl, the Mount Pelee, a few frozen options, and a few intricate non-alcoholic cocktails.

There’s an exciting new cocktail bar in the heart of the French Quarter, so conspicuously positioned on the edge of Jackson Square that it's actually easy to miss. Elegant and old-school, Fives specializes in oysters and other small plates like beef tartare and crab claws, aka excellent drinking food, but cocktails steal the show. A beautiful, fully-stocked bar puts out classics, New Orleans cocktails, and specialty drinks including the Mama Don’t Smoke with aged rum, Amaro Ramazzotti, smoky Lapsang Souchong tea, and tobacco; the Gin Joint, with Chartreuse, celery, sage, and lemon; and the Columns Martini made with vodka, gin, dry vermouth, brine, and pickled vegetables. A dip into the savory cocktail trend is one good reason to visit.

The Will and the Way is technically a revamp — the space was previously home to Longway Tavern before the restaurant group behind it, LeBlanc + Smith, decided to rethink the concept amid the pandemic. In addition to shifting the focus to wine and cocktails, the group has redone the inside to expand the centerpiece L-shaped bar, add texture and moody colors, and create additional “nooks and crannies,” for patrons to post up in. The beautiful courtyard remains a draw, and the new food and bar programs are backed by serious talent.

The former lauded craft cocktail destination Victory Bar is now a 100 percent woman-owned cocktail lounge, Baroness on Baronne (or the Baroness for short). There’s new, romantic decor, moody lighting, and a menu stacked with fresh, creative house cocktails, well-done classics, and even a specialty shot, the Gas Masque, with Chartreuse and Stroh rum and lit on fire.

It’s not exactly a rooftop bar, because it’s just inside, but the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the river sure feel on top of the world. Observatory 11 at the Westin is more than a convention hotel bar, thanks to the swank setting and the live music that gives it a true New Orleans sense of place.

A new cocktail menu is enough to warrant a revisit, or a first-time visit, to Donald Link’s Four Seasons Hotel restaurant, just a little over a year old. Designed to complement a food menu drawn from Link’s travels tracing the roots and pathways of Creole cuisine through the Caribbean and Europe, the new drinks menu leans heavily on refreshing aperitifs, low-ABV cocktails, and European-style concoctions. Try a Parisian Cobbler made with Lillet, cassis, citrus, elderflower, and local strawberries, best enjoyed in the restaurant’s Purple Grackle lounge.

This is Mark Latter and company’s revamp of the short-lived Claret Wine Bar space, an extension of the existing Bower on Magazine Street. While it serves food from the Bower kitchen, the focus here is drinks — the 20-seat bar serves sophisticated cocktails like the Hydrix — bourbon, mint-infused contratto, amaro, and aquafaba. The swanky bar shares an outdoor space with both of its sister spots, the Bower and Birdy’s.

At this Freret Street restaurant showcasing seafood from the Atlantic Ocean, customers can try four — that’s right, four — types of Negronis: amber, white, yellow, and red, all excellent. Beyond those deliciously bitter-but-balanced concoctions, there’s a slew of cheekily-named, intricate drinks, like the Catwalk in the Club with bourbon, Gran Classico, and Cocchi Teatro or the Juice Box, made with gin, Boomsma, and St. Germaine, poured out a glass juice box. Bartenders can also whip up a delightful non-alcoholic spritz, perfect for sipping at the bar alongside caviar service or oysters on the half shell.

At new restaurant Hungry Eyes, drinks play a central role, from classic martinis to inventive cocktails to fresh wines. It’s an ’80s-themed spot from the Turkey and the Wolf Team, headed up by acclaimed chef Mason Hereford, and is the group’s first foray into dinner and drinks. They call the menu “drinking food,” built to compliment offerings like an espresso martini on tap, a pandan old-fashioned made with rum and bourbon, and an Ube Baby Baby made with coconut, pineapple, and rum. It doesn’t take reservations, so expect a bit of a wait, but it can be spent next door at Second Vine Wine. Sitting at the bar makes for a particularly enjoyable experience.