Food recs: Kansas City’s best bars and restaurants for cocktails

The garnishes in these mixed drinks are bigger, and the flavors are bolder — they might even be 'fat-washed' or clarified with Hidden Valley Ranch. Whether they include alcohol or are making mocktails, bars and bartenders are becoming more creative than ever.
What makes a cocktail amazing is up for debate, but one thing’s for certain: The experience is paramount.

“I want my bar to feel like your friend's basement or your friend's house because, at the end of the day, that's what we're doing; we're throwing a house party every night,” Jay Sanders, co-owner of Drastic Measures, tells KCUR.

Sanders should know. His cocktail bar in Shawnee, Kansas, was a 2023 finalist in the James Beard Award category for Outstanding Bar.