Minnesota’s Best Hidden Bar is About an Hour From Owatonna

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If you'd like to enjoy a drink without being seen by everyone else, perhaps you'd like to wet your whistle at Minnesota's Best Hidden Bar, which is only a little over an hour from Owatonna.

That's the word, anyway, from the crew over at Livability.com. They just put together a list of the Best Hidden Bars in Each State, and Minnesota's entry is a hidden bar that's about 62 miles away from Owatonna, in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis.

According to Livability, Volstead's Emporium, (located in the alley off West Lake Street and Lyndale, just to the left of the garbage dumpsters) is the Best Hidden Bar in Minnesota. It says the hidden cocktail bar takes you back to the "1920’s with a secret room in the bar, mirrors that open outwards (just in case you need to dump your drink if there’s a raid), and dim candlelight," Liveability noted.

Meanwhile, on Yelp, customers of Volstead's (which opened back in 2016 and is currently open Thursday through Mondays from 5 pm to 2 am, its website says) rave about the cocktail bar, as well: 

"I love the fact the door is tucked away in an ally and the only indicator is the red light above the door," and "There are curtains on the booths and I'm told the mirrors open outward so you can dump your drink in case of a raid."

I haven't been there, but if you like a cocktail bar that takes you back to the roaring 20's here in Minnesota, you could also check out Volstead's Whiskey Bar and Speakeasy in Eagan. Though they share the a similar name, I'm not sure if there's another connection between the two businesses. Volstead's in Eagan is also hidden (though not as much as Volstead's Emporium), seeing as you have to enter the bar through a red door located in another business, Burgers and Bottles. (I've been there, and it IS a pretty cool place!)

Now while many of these cocktail bars take us back to the days of the speakeasy, born in the 1920's, many of them are known for serving many classic drinks like the Side Car, a Manhatten or Old Fashioned. But do they serve Minnesota's signature drink? Keep scrolling to see just which drink it is here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, along with the signature drink in every other state too.