From the bar on the Navigli to the award-winning speakeasy hidden in the city; from the sign that loves absinthe to the one representing Brutalism. We tell you where to enjoy some of the best cocktails in Milan.
It’s aperitivo time in Milan, or why not, the after-dinner cocktail. Up to us. The atmosphere is lively, and the city comes alive along with its inhabitants. Where to have a good drink? Whether it's a classic or an original creation, perhaps accompanied by selected tastings from Italy and around the world. Let's take a quick tour from Lambrate to the Navigli and back to show you where to sip on some more or less mysterious unusual blends. Here are 5 of our recommendations.
Norah was drunk
We find ourselves at 169 via Porpora in Milan, in the lively Lambrate district, in a warm and international spot where aperitif, dinner, and after-dinner seamlessly blend. The name gives it away with the neon signage glimpsed from the window: "Norah was drunk," the epicenter of exuberant and hospitable mixology in Milan capable of surprising with tailored offerings. Behind the marble counter reinterpreting the great classics of mixology is Niccolò Caramiello, the city's foremost representative and lover of absinthe. This distilled spirit not only finds its way into various drinks on the menu but also invites you to taste it alone, choosing from the ten labels imported directly from Switzerland and France and presented according to the dramatic French tasting ritual.
Not just cocktails, Norah's evenings are also animated by gastronomic delights. Their selection is under the watchful eye of Stefano Rollo: cheeses from small Lombard dairy producers, Portuguese fish preserves, Spanish and Umbrian cold cuts, French oysters, bread from the micro-bakery Le Polveri, and butter from the Green Fantasy dairy, that's what you can order.
The experience at the counter and a taste of the "Croissant Daiquiri" are recommended, an original version of the Daiquiri made with rum infused with croissants from the best Milanese patisseries and enriched with homemade Falernum, a preparation of rum and tropical spices.
Dirty
Don't go if you don't want to have fun. That's the motto of Dirty, the new hardcore cocktail bar led by Mario Farulla, Carola Abrate, Gigi Tuzzi, and Paolo Coppola. Against hypocrisy, white-jacket hospitality, and stereotypes, the signage at Viale Regina Giovanna 14 stands out with a short and simple drink list based on naked and raw house cocktails and classics, all accompanied by delicious food for life and night enthusiasts.
At Dirty, you drink the Super Dirty, a Martini Cocktail eat and drink that is poured directly into a cup filled to the brim with olives, each stuffed differently, while you bite into hot dogs or, why not, bananas, mortadella, and canned meat. The environment is unique: inspired by the Brutalist movement (architectural movement born in the Soviet Union in the 20th century, characterized by monumental and symbolic structures), it features a red butcher's curtain dividing the room into two areas, on one side the more popular bar, on the other the cozy counter.
Transgressive elements portrayed on the counter work grille are added to it. Music is always present with a playlist ranging from hip-hop to punk.
1930 Cocktail Bar
The most secret bar in Milan? 1930, without a doubt. This speakeasy by Flavio Angiolillo and Marco Russo, managed by Fabio Benjamin Cavagna, is among the best-kept signage in the city and ranks 35th in the World's 50 Best Bars 2022 guide.
To enter, you'll have to build a friendship with the staff of the Farmily Group's establishments. Once at the address, you'll find yourself in front of a tiny space full of spices and trinkets: be patient, this is not 1930. As soon as you're recognized, a door will open, and a waiter will take you to the real cocktail bar.
Here, a vintage atmosphere prevails, animated by the notes of a beautiful piano. The bar offers increasingly avant-garde creations that change every six months, an excellent selection of whiskies, and a tempting burger offering: exceptional is the one with beef tartare.
The Spirit
We're in the Porta Romana area, at The Spirit, an elegant and refined lounge that offers classic and original cocktails to be enjoyed in various settings. There's the large mahogany counter where the bartenders work, the lounge, a private area, and again the outdoor area on Via Piacenza, a new space next to the venue but absolutely unique. Hence the choice of Manager Ivan Filippelli's to split the identity of the venue; private and confidential inside, simple and free outside.
So inside, on the comfortable emerald green silk sofas, you can try the Lost in Mexico, with Del Maguey Vida Mezcal with black garlic, pepper cordial, Mexican vinaigrette, and habanero, or the Roasted Gimlet based on Ginarte Dry Gin, Talisker Skye Whisky, and roasted lime cordial. The cocktail list, the food menu, the prices, and the entire outdoor offering are designed to make the historic Milanese club pop(ular).
Ideal for the aperitif, the outdoor area has its own dedicated menu, with simple and effective twists on the best-selling cocktails: there's the Blue Paloma, a variation of the now indispensable tequila-based cocktail with a touch of blue curaçao, and the Ginger Americano, a variation of the evergreen Italian aperitif made with ginger beer instead of soda. Four club sandwiches are also added in half portions. The Spirit is famous in the city for its selection of fine spirits.
Gramm Cafe
Niccolò Mazzuchelli and Eda Akman are the face and hands of Gramm Cafe in Milan, a cocktail bar that makes sustainability and environmental awareness tangible and real cornerstones of its activity. Here, cocktails are developed, and projects focused on waste reduction, resource optimization, and an increasingly conscious use of less impactful technologies are carried out. Not by chance, the name of the cocktail list is "GRAMM GLOBE. THERE IS NO PLAN'ET B," a project that embodies the very definition of environmental sustainability, capable of ensuring the satisfaction of the needs of the present generation without compromising the possibility of future generations.
To try is the Wine bottom, a cocktail based on vodka, with Campari, Cocchi Americano, Persimmon, Cinnamon, and a red wine syrup that uses the unusable remnants of wine bottles. The thought of Gramm Cafe is not summarized in a single drink list. For this reason, while changing inspirations and themes, all the menus offered by the Gramm bar will have sustainability as their reference point.
It's in this perspective that projects like the Mediterranean Fizz are created, a fresh drink ideal as an aperitif, made in the form of ready-to-drink in a can, developed in collaboration with Selvatiq, a brand that produces its very limited production through the foraging of often invasive herbs.
