Reading through Esquire's Best Bars 2020 got me a little misty eyed for the years I used to do that gig (2006-2016), and for all the fantastic bars I used to have to stop in at to test the waters--sleek, perfectionist cocktail bars, comfortable old survivors, wild-assed dives....

...I pretty much loved them all. In 2016, the magazine's new editor cut five of them for reasons of his own (he's gone now, too). I came across the writeups the other day and thought I's post them in the spirit of little love letters to some true oases; I hope they make it. 2/7

Let's start with one of those precision cocktail bars, and a really good one: Buffalo Proper, in Buffalo, New York (again, these are from 2016). 3/7

After a place like that, you need a dive to balance it out. You need the Recovery Room, Charleston. 4/7

Ok, back to cocktails, but in San Diego, at the excellent Polite Provisions--"Polite As Fuck," as their logo used to say. 5/7

And let's close with two of my favorite bars anywhere in America, or the world, for that matter, both from Old San Juan: La Factoria... 6/7

...and the magnificent El Batey. Cheers! 6/7

(In the interest of equal exposure, here's the rest of my 2016 picks, some of which had already fallen by the wayside before this annus horribilis.) https://www.esquire.com/food-drink/bars/a44780/best-bars-in-america/