• Best Beer Bar

  Puck Fair

  298 Lafayette Street, 212-431-1200

  There’s no shortage of bars to enjoy a cold one from, say, Liechtenstein, but how many establishments can claim that each of its 18 beers is poured at precisely the right temperature?

• Best Wine Bar

  Punch & Judy

  26 Clinton Street, 212-982-1116

  At P&J, the bartenders come across more like surfing instructors than snooty sommeliers. More than 25 wines are available by the glass (but it's more fun to order a flight of three).

• Best Tequila Bar

  The bar at Agave

  140 Seventh Avenue South, 212-989-2100

  This new southwestern fusion outpost offers a dizzying array of 39 tequilas. (And nary a worm in sight.) Order one of the cute margaritas—ranging from basic to prickly-pear cactus flavor—if you’re not into doing shots.

• Best Vodka Bar

  Pravda

  281 Lafayette Street, 212-226-4944

  Gets props for outliving the Keith McNally–fueled hype of its early years. Start with a “rack”—a tray packed with ice into which six shot glasses are plunged. House infusions include black currant, fig, and horseradish-and-chili.

• Best Whiskey Bar

  d.b.a.

  41 First Avenue, 212-475-5097

  For a truly impressive array of Scotch, bourbon, and Irish whiskeys (130-plus!), the East Village’s d.b.a. has no equal. It even hosts regular tastings as a sort of educational outreach for amateur drinkers of brown spirits.

• Best Champagne Bar

  Flute

  40 East 20th Street, 212-529-7870

  You would think that the very notion of a champagne bar would have lost its fizz with the passing of the go-go nineties. But with sparkling wines equitably priced at $7 to $16 a glass, Flute caters to all budgets.

From the 2003 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine