The Daily Meal walks into a bar and — we peruse the menu, the clientele, and the drinks list; we scrutinize the drink, the place, the vibe; we take mental notes. Then we decide to grab a wad of cocktail napkins and start scribbling notes for a list like this, which we’ve been compiling annually since 2011.

Choosing a bar is a personal matter, and just as every person is unique, so is each bar. Sure, there are plenty of cookie-cutter Irish pubs, tacky tourist joints with sticky-sweet frozen drinks, and lackluster lounges with watered-down booze, but there are thousands of wonderful drinking places across the United States, too.

From simple beach bars and swanky cocktail lounges to innovative houses of "molecular" mixology to dusty dive bars and dens of iniquity, there’s a bar for everyone. Bars are ubiquitous and unifying. They are the great socioeconomic equalizer: Nearly anyone of legal age can enter a bar, pull up a stool and buy him- or herself a refreshing glass of liquid luxury in its many forms: from a budget ice-cold brew to a fine wine to a potent shot to a classic cocktail to a spectacular modernist creation. Bars are relatable and welcoming; they are a comfort to many in good times and bad.

Whether you like it neat, dirty, on the rocks, up, with a twist, shaken, or stirred, there’s a watering hole on this list that’ll have your whistle wet in no time. So pull up a stool, tip your bartender, and check out our annual ranking of the 150 best bars in America for 2019.

For the full methodology, please click here.