When U.N.C.L.E. opened on Sathorn Soi 12 back in 2014, it introduced to Bangkok the cocktail that costs as much as your dinner. Here was a bar that wasn’t in a hotel, wasn’t on a 30-story-high rooftop with killer views, but which still asked you to pay B400 for just one drink.

Fast-forward to today and there’s barely a new cocktail bar that doesn’t cost that much. At Rabbit Hole, something called a Mad Hatter containing Hendrick’s gin, passion fruit, citrus, smoked tea soda and absinthe will set you back B418 once service has been added. Or you could head across the road to Evil Man Blues, where a Honey Badger (rosemary-washed bourbon, yellow Chartreuse, honey, citrus and ginger) will sting you for B456.

But right above Evil Man Blues on the third story of 72 Courtyard, you’ll also find U.N.C.L.E.’s Thonglor follow-up—also conveniently called U.N.C.L.E. Here, the bar team that pioneered Bangkok’s premium cocktail boom dish out a menu of drinks which are virtually all priced at B195—or B228 after tax and service.

Take their Manhattan Latino; a sweeter, rum-based take on the classic booze-forward rye whiskey drink. In that B228 glass you’ve got nothing but alcohol: a shot of Flor De Cana seven-year-old rum, another of Mancino sweet vermouth, and a dash of chocolate bitters. It’s not the super-top-shelf premium spirits you might find at some bars, but it’s not exactly the cheap stuff either.

Dannie Sorum, the boss of U.N.C.L.E., explains, “We are customers ourselves, and are fed up with the expensive cocktails trend. If we were to follow the trend, our prices would have to keep increasing, but we want people to be able to afford it. We don’t use overly expensive imported spirits; we just use the decent normal ones and then get creative with other ingredients. We still keep up with cocktail trends around the world but keep it affordable as well as interesting.”

Sorum’s head barman at U.N.C.L.E, Sebastian De La Cruz, agrees. “As a bartender, I want people to want to come back, I don’t like this whole B450 cocktail trend,” he says. “People should be able to afford drinks and cocktails. I want to have a bar that’s full everyday where people can drink.”

Over on Sathorn, Passapong “Bard” Phetpradit’s Junker and Bar also has a reputation for selling drinks at prices far cheaper than your average cocktail bar. From his barebones shop-house cocktail and burger bar on Soi Suan Phlu, the former W Hotel barman serves up one of the cheapest Hendrick’s and tonics in town; a big, balloon-shaped glass containing 45ml of premium gin and Waitrose Indian tonic water garnished with cucumber—yours for B240 including service and tax.

Head across the road to Suan Phlu’s other popular cocktail lounge, Smalls, and a gin and tonic poured with a 45ml shot of Hendrick’s gin will cost B400 including the service and tax. OK, we get that Smalls is a chic blend of valuable artwork, beautiful people and delicately hands-off restoration, while Junker is a corridor with a chipboard bar and a burger fryer out back. And there are many nights when we’d rather be drinking that expensive cocktail at Small’s instead. But it’s also worth knowing that the price distinction exists.

“I want more people, regular people, to be able to afford good cocktails and enjoy them,” says Passapong. He’s able to keep his cost down for a number of reasons. There’s the decor, for one (don’t expect any fancy expensive paintings hanging off the wall at Junker), but also the bar is set up at his home, so he doesn’t have to deal with crippling rents.

“Places that sell very expensive cocktails, sometimes it’s really just because of the decoration and location,” says Bard. “Personally, I think if I just want to have a drink with my friends and chat. I don’t care about how fancy the bar is, especially if the spirits are the same quality. Why should I want to pay more?”

Sitting somewhere in between these two bars in terms of price is WTF Bar & Gallery. The average cocktail price here, according to bar manager Shane Denoon, is around B300—a price which he feels allows them to deliver a quality drink that people can afford without having to compromise.

"Cocktails are not supposed to just be alcoholic beverages,” says Denoon. “Making proper cocktails is a craft, a work of art. So if I order a cocktail which the bartender really puts a lot of work into, I don’t mind paying more.”

He continues: “Our average cocktail price is B300. We have a lot of cocktails for under B300, but we also have some above B300 that use more premium liquors.”

At B280, The Orchard contains Gordon's gin, lynchee juice, lemongrass syrup, lime juice, and a lemongrass sprig—a single-shot drink containing a 45ml of a not-bad spirit and other quality ingredients. The more expensive Mezcal Margarita (B380), by comparison, contains Alipus San Baltazaar—a costly mezcal that’s still hard to come by in Bangkok—along with triple sec, orange and lime juices, lime wedge and an optional dash of salt.

“If there’s a market for B450 cocktails then sure, go for it," says Denoon. "But not everyone wants to spend B450 on a glass of cocktail.”

De La Cruz at U.N.C.L.E., however, is willing to say that some people are pushing their prices because they can get away with it, not because their drinks are any good: “There are a lot of rip-off places in Bangkok that sell their cocktails at unnecessarily expensive prices when they don’t even use any premium quality spirits or any special ingredients, and I feel sorry for those people who go there.”

Bard at Junker agrees. “Expensive, overpriced cocktails may make you money in the short term, but nobody is going to want to spend that much on drinks forever. At the end of the day it’s down to what the customers want; it’s their choices based on how much they are willing or able to spend.”