10 bars with the best drinks to share in Montréal
This article was updated on November 18, 2022.
Whether you have something to celebrate or you and your group are looking to get the vibes up for your night out, Montréal bars mixing up drinks to share are the perfect reason to mingle. There are lots of places to get pitchers of sangria, but only so many will put their mixology skills to task, crafting sizeable cocktails that require more than one straw. Refreshing in the summer and worth cozying up to one another during winter, these are the addresses you’ll want to gather together over. Remember to drink them responsibly—they all pack a punch!
Snowbird Tiki Bar
6388 Saint-Hubert Street | Website
One of the more idiosyncratic bars in Montréal, while this one makes all kinds of classic tiki cocktails worth sharing, they also have a portion of their drinks menu devoted to drinks to dive into with friends. From the Volcano Bowl with three types of rum, gin, fruit juice and ginger beer to the boozy fish bowl called Drinking Nemo and the swimming pool-shaped Garden Party and Bermuda’s Triangle, they’ll all festively get the job done.
Atwater Cocktail Club
512 Atwater Avenue | Website
Elegant in the earlier hours and a non-stop party from late in the night until close, Christophe Beaudoin’s beverage direction keeps all of Montréal on its toes with a constantly shifting menu. While the options change regularly enough, there’s always a cocktail to order up for sharing that can be so sizeable that they’ll require a ladle to serve it out. Don’t be shy about asking the bartenders to create something on the fly, either.
JackRouge
4560 Saint-Laurent Blvd. | Website
This tropically inspired bar with chic fixtures in the Plateau prides itself on being a great spot to grab a drink and while the hours way with friends or dates, but nights here are sometimes best when ordering one of their signature ‘sangrias’ served in animal-shaped containers. Try the Pink Flamingo, Yellow Duck or Blue Dolphin; each of them is a levelled-up version of your classic red or white variations. Unfortunately, no, you can’t take the cute glassware home with you.
Le Mal Nécessaire
1106 B Saint-Laurent Blvd. | Website
This bar stands out for a lot of reasons in Chinatown. A discreet, speakeasy-style environment, creative bar flair that leans towards tiki vibes, great music, a direct line to delicious Chinese food; it’s got all that, and a bunch of drinks to share that will turn heads whenever they’re brought over to your table, like pool of booze shaped like a dragon and topped in flaming citrus. Many of their drinks come in more than one size as well, which means you can split just about anything here.
Apt 200
3643 Saint-Laurent Blvd. | Website
Come for the vibe, stay for the drinks: While this bar and nightclub fashioned after a Montreal loft is big on its bottle service, their cocktail pitchers are generous options when you and your friends are looking to get a night started on the right foot. Their boozier-than-usual sangria and jugs of classic mojito go great with whoever is DJ for the night and the handful of arcade games and pool table available to meet new people over.
Nhâu bar
600 William Street | Website
Gorgeously adorned by a lantern-covered ceiling, this Old Montréal speakeasy combines a picturesque interior with a rocksteady cocktail menu. When it comes to drinks to share, grab one of their intimate tables and order up drinks of pan-Asian persuasions that come with ingredients oolong tea along with pandan garnishes, all served in adorable Buddha or conch-shaped vessels. It’s a charming spot for a getaway with drinks, and even more so for a long night out.
Milky Way Cocktail Bar
1886 Centre Street | Website
When this Pointe-Saint-Charles bar opened, a whole new bar was set for Montrealers who like to go out for great drinks. Climb up their glowing neon staircase, grab some stools, and enjoy watch as day turns to night through their skylight as you sip at and switch up your choices from a long and ever-changing menu of cocktails. They’re perennially creative here, so no two seasonal visits are going to be alike, and that makes for a fresh spot to share drinks at.
La Distillerie
(various locations) / 300 Ontario Street East | Website
Long recognized in Montréal for their massive mason jars of supremely boozy drinks, while they may be presented as libations you can keep to yourself, they come in portions large enough that you can easily share amongst yourself and your friends. It’s so popular that one of its four locations across the city may see a line-up, but the next address is only a hop, skip and jump away. Just be sure to order up bowls of goldfish crackers to soak up what you drink up!
Perles et Paddock
403 des Seigneurs Street | Website
This Griffintown spot earn top marks alone for its stupendous interior, and that makes for a great reason to get together over a couple of drinks to share. Two primary options are available, coming either in large conch shells which can contain anything your heart desires, or a complete infusion tour of negronis. Their bar menu is always changing as well, so order up a few of their signature creations and create your own cocktail flights.
Le Petit Moscou
Le Petit Moscou
323 Ontario Street East | Website
It’s a small place with big offerings: This Moscow-inspired bar puts emphasis on the ‘petit’ when it comes to their interior, but that’s where it stops. Their Moscow mule menu has more than a dozen different flavours to pick from, and they’re all available in either one-litre or three-litre pitchers to split. If you and your friends love a good brew of vodka, ginger beer and lime juice, you need to try this place out.
JP Karwacki
JP Karwacki is a Montréal-based writer and journalist whose work has appeared in Time Magazine, the Montreal Gazette, National Post, Time Out, NUVO Magazine, and more. Having called the city home for over a decade and a half, he regularly focuses on spreading the good word about the amazing things to eat, drink and do in Montréal. One half raconteur and the other flâneur (with just a dash of boulevardier), when he wasn’t working on the frontlines of the city's restaurants and bars, he spent his time thinking about, reading about and writing about restaurants and bars.