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El Gallo Altanero

Guadalajara

Agave galore at this Guadalajara drinking hole

To call El Gallo Altanero just an agave bar is like calling Mardi Gras a simple procession. Yes, its selection of sprits from its native Jalisco ranks among the finest found anywhere in the world, but El Gallo Altanero's charm is that it manages to match that arsenal with the ability to throw a proper party.

Hidden behind the Licoreria Libertino storefront in Guadalajara's Colonia Americana, through an adobe-walled courtyard and up a flight of tiled stairs, El Gallo opens on to a small balcony where a backlit stained-glass agave presides over the 13-seat bar. On the shelves you'll find one of the city's most extensive selections of tequila, mezcal, raicilla and charanda, including many of the bar's own bottlings, often produced with frequent collaborator Cascahuin. 

It's a line-up that could easily make for a drinking experience that leans towards the reverential – instead, it behaves like a late-night cantina. Overseen by industry favourite Freddy Andreasson (who took home the Altos Bartenders' Bartender Award at The 50 Best Bars North America 2026), El Gallo is loud when it needs to be with live music and DJ sets but, with its low-lit corners and open-air courtyard, it can also do intimate and composed. Agave might get you in the door but it's the atmosphere that will keep you there.

The cocktail menu itself moves with Mexico's seasonal larder and changes every other month while focusing on classics twisted through a regional lens. Take the Tuna Sour that marries raicilla with prickly pear, or the Jalisco Old Fashioned with añejo tequila, raicilla, agave nectar and cacao bitters.

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