Beer lovers and dog lovers gravitate to this pooch-friendly pub with 32 taps and a never-ending rotation of primarily regional beers. For aficionados, Beveridge is Seattle’s premiere beer bar, but the casual atmosphere is equally welcoming to less discriminating drinkers who want to catch a Sounders game or shoot pool.

Wine bars have struggled to get a foothold in Seattle, but Bottlehouse, tucked away in Madrona, is a notable exception. It’s a casual, homey setting for exploring wines from Washington and all over the globe.

The alpha dog of Seattle craft cocktail bars earns its lofty reputation with a long menu of inventive, delicious drinks you won’t find anywhere else in the city, or possibly the world.

You're in your 20s and you want to spend a night drinking cocktails, eating corn dogs, and showing off your tattoos. For this sizable Seattle demographic, Capitol Hill's Unicorn is heaven. It has over-the-top carnival decor, food that's way better than it has to be, and pinball and live music downstairs.

It’s not seedy enough to qualify as a full-fledged dive, but there’s something admirably durable and dive-like about Linda’s. It’s the wise, seen-it-all matron of Capitol Hill bars, decked out in country-western attire.

The Polar Bar at the Arctic Club Hotel does a bang-up job recreating the atmosphere of a posh, early-20th-century gentlemen's club, with dark paneling, overstuffed chairs, a pool table, and a fireplace. The only thing not keeping with the period is the creative cocktail list. Scott and Zelda wouldn't mind.

Belltown’s spin on a speakeasy is a secret within a secret. It’s a “hidden” bar on an alley between 1st and 2nd Ave, but once you get past the novelty of the location, the real discovery is the fantastic list of skillfully executed cocktails.

Seattle’s selection of dive bars may be thinning, but some impressive old stalwarts soldier on. The Mecca is a prime example. It manages to be charming without losing its edge, and the narrow barroom creates the forced intimacy that you’re looking for (whether you realize it or not) in a dive.

Russell’s is a rare phenomenon: a thoroughly modern neighborhood joint. On most nights you’ll find Joe, the owner, behind the comfortably stylish bar, mixing classic cocktails and pouring a small but choice selection of beer and wine on tap. On the food menu, the pies, handmade by Joe’s significant other, add a dose of Southern charm.

This Fremont institution does a remarkable job of simulating a no-nonsense, working-class English pub, anchored by a sturdy mahogany bar with a dozen or so beers on tap. For soccer-loving lads and lasses, this is Seattle’s best sports bar.

Along increasingly hip and commercial Ballard Avenue, this live music venue represents the best of the good old days. Listen to country, folk, rock, and blues performers while knocking back PBRs served without a hint of irony.

There are places where you can tell someone has seized on a concept and become passionate — really, really passionate — about it. Welcome to Greenwood’s Cozy Nut Tavern. Through an inconspicuous storefront you enter into a woodsy, vaguely Hobbity world full of reclaimed timber and taxidermied forest creatures. It's a friendly, charmingly surreal setting in which to find good craft cocktails and a nice variety of beers on tap.

It's a pleasing contradiction that one of Seattle's most exclusive bars is also one of its least pretentious. The Shanty Tavern in Lake City is a honky-tonk throwback, open only on Friday nights, when it features live music, usually with a country twang. Affable owner John Spaccarotelli has been behind the bar for half a century.