This Montreal bar is ranked the best in Canada; seven others made the top 50

The Cloakroom Bar in Montreal was named the top watering hole in the country. Owner Andrew Whitbley speaks about the honour and his other bar, Dominion.

A Montreal bar topped the list of the best establishments to grab a cocktail in 2026.

The Canada’s 100 Best site posted the top 50 bars in the country on Tuesday, and the 25-seat Cloakroom Bar on Montagne Street in the heart of Montreal’s downtown was chosen no. 1.

“It’s fitting that this chic 25-seat bar is hidden behind Maison Cloakroom, a menswear shop in a striking century-old Golden Square Mile building,” the site says. “As with top suiting, this bar takes a technical, yet invisible, approach to ingredients and preparations, relying instead on a deep library of house-made amari, liqueurs and tinctures made using low-temperature distillation to capture delicate, precise flavours like lime leaf or pandan."

Owner Andrew Whitbley said he wanted to bring some elements from bars he frequented in other cities, like New York, home to Montreal a decade ago.

“It’s a ton of work,” said Whitbley. “When we opened Cloakroom, there wasn’t really much like that in Montreal, and you kind of had to stick to your guns a little bit, and I was trying to do things really, like a lot of bars that I loved in other cities, and try to bring a little bit of that home here, and it was always pretty well received.”

Whitbley also owns Bar Dominion near Dorchester Square, which made the list for the first time in 2026 at no. 37.

“I’m really fortunate and privileged to have a great staff,” said Whitbley. “A lot of them have been with me for a long time. We treat them well and try to put them in an environment that they’ll want to stay in and want to work and want to grow with us.”

• READ MORE: Toronto dominates list of Canada’s best bars. These are the 21 local watering holes that made the cut

The Cloakroom has always made the top 10 on the list, getting as high as no. 2, but has never been ranked the country’s best bar.

The Atwater Cocktail Club also made the top 10 at number seven and six other joints were in the top 50.

Here is the list of Montreal bars on the list:

• 1 - Cloakroom (no. 2 in 2025)
• 7 - Atwater Cocktail Club (no. 5 in 2025)
• 17 - Bar Numéro (not on the 2025 list)
• 24- Bisou Bisou (no. 47 in 2025)
• 30 - Bar Bello (no. 39 in 2025)
• 32 - The Coldroom (no. 19 in 2025)
• 37 - Bar Dominion (not on the 2025 list)
• 40 - La Majestique (not on the 2025 list)

A pair in Quebec City

The cocktail/oyster speakeasy JJacques on Notre-Dame-des-Anges in Quebec City’s Saint-Roch neighbourhood was chosen 11th, and highest ranked outside of Montreal in the province.

1608, located at the Chateau Frontenac, also made the list at 41.

“According to local lore, this elegant turret room in the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac is where Winston Churchill strategized the end of the Second World War, Scotch and cigar in hand,” the site says. “These days, the setting remains as refined as ever, although the whisky list stretches far beyond Churchill’s beloved Johnnie Walker.”

Toronto (21) had the most bars on the list, and Vancouver also had eight establishments mentioned.

Canada’s Best produces lists of the best restaurants, bars, sommoliers and other aspects of the industry.