The Obscure

On our list of the best cocktail bars in Los Angeles.

Founder Theron Regnier built the first cocktail bar to be owned and operated by a distillery, and a visit here runs like a guided tasting rather than a night at a bar: a host leads small groups through a candlelit sequence of rooms, past waterfalls, pouring three house-distilled spirits and three cocktails built from them. One of those spirits, a rye called Rites of Fall, ages on staves of American chestnut, and the distillery gives a share of its sales to the foundation working to bring the tree back. A live artist works the room during the session, and mocktail versions are poured for anyone not drinking.