NiC Combinados y Cócteles

Twenty years without moving

Some openings live off novelty; some places survive it. NIC belongs to the second group. On a street like Castaños — where consumption can be fast, loud, and fairly impatient — staying open for more than two decades requires something beyond a good location. It requires consistency.

The bar has accumulated prizes and recognition throughout its history: gin tonic competition awards, regional prizes, appearances in national contests, and recognition from Lo Mejor de la Gastronomía as the best cocktail bar in Spain. It also received the Premio PLATO for best bartender in the province of Alicante for José E. Box, and the Coaster Award as the best bar in the Levante region. These are old accolades, yes. But precisely for that reason they're worth reading carefully — not as a claim to current relevance, but as the trace of a working method.

NIC seems uninterested in disguising itself as a bar that just arrived on the scene. Its value lies elsewhere: in having been here first, in having kept going, and in retaining a clientele that mixes Alicante locals, visitors, afternoon groups, and people who simply want a well-made drink without walking into an overly intense ceremony.

A broad menu, but with craft behind it

NIC's menu is extensive. There are monthly specials, snacks, gin & tonics, cocktails, classics, mojitos, daiquiris, non-alcoholic options, wines, and sparkling wines. It is a proposition designed for different kinds of drinkers, not for a single type. That is one of its defining traits: NIC works for someone ordering a negroni before lunch, for someone wanting an impeccable gin tonic, for someone after a fresh afternoon cocktail, or for the person who still walks in asking for "something nice" — a phrase as human as it is unhelpful.

The bar works its classics with clear intent: mojito, daiquiri, margarita, caipirinha, negroni — these are not decorative names but drinks that have to leave the bar with structure. In a city where the cocktail has often been reduced to a large glass, fruit, sugar, and a morally questionable little umbrella, this already makes a difference. The merit of a classic is not in reinventing it but in not ruining it.

Alongside that foundation, NIC maintains house cocktails and seasonal specials. This is where a more contemporary side of the project surfaces: macerations, bitters, fruit-infused spirits, foams, and original takes on recognisable recipes. Not everything has to be disruptive to be interesting. Sometimes it is enough to understand where a drink comes from and what you can touch without breaking it.

José Box and the culture of the well-made drink

José Box functions as one of NIC's most visible figures — not only through his presence behind the bar, but through an approach to cocktail education that has found genuine traction online. On TikTok and Instagram he explains recipes, talks about mixed drinks, and brings technical language to a younger audience without turning it all into performance. In 2026, that takes more skill than it might appear.

His defence of the negroni as his favourite cocktail is fairly revealing. The negroni is not accommodating. It is bitter, alcoholic, direct — a rather adult kind of beauty. Choosing it as an aperitif says something about the bar: here, the cocktail is not understood solely as a sweet drink to extend the evening, but also as a way to open the appetite, accompany a snack, or prepare the palate.

Also worth noting is his insistence on apparently secondary matters: the quality of the ice, the temperature of the bottles, the way to pour the tonic, the use of citrus peel rather than an excess of juice or lemon wheels. These are details the customer does not always articulate but does notice. A watered-down, poorly chilled, flat drink loses dignity quickly. And a serious cocktail bar is often recognised by what it does not allow to happen.

Castaños, afternoon drinking, and a city that changed

NIC is on Castaños, and that inevitably shapes how you read the place. The street is one of the natural centres of Alicante's afternoon culture: full terraces, groups moving between bars, lunches that stretch on, drinks that begin before the night officially has permission to start. In that context, a cocktail bar can easily fall into the logic of volume: serve a lot, serve fast, don't ask too many questions.

NIC operates in that terrain but tries to do so with more discipline. It is not a hidden, silent bar designed only for connoisseurs. Nor does it need to affect that pose. Its interest lies precisely in a different tension: maintaining a broad, accessible menu without losing technique. Being popular without giving up on itself. Being on a high-footfall street and still caring about the ice. It sounds like a small thing. It is not.

Gin tonic holds an important place in the bar — which is fairly coherent with the behaviour of the local customer. Box has explained this clearly on occasion: during the afternoon session, many people want something quick, fresh, and easy to take between venues. More elaborate cocktails demand a different pace. NIC accommodates both speeds.

When to go and what to order

NIC works at several points in the day. It opens at midday, which allows for a drink before lunch or a considered liquid aperitif. It also fits well after a meal in the centre, during the afternoon session, or at the end of the night — particularly Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. No reservations are taken, so you accept the logic of the place: arrive, look at the bar, the interior, the terrace, find a spot, and let yourself be taken by that rhythm so particular to Castaños.

For a first visit, it makes sense to start with a well-executed classic. A negroni, a daiquiri, or a margarita says far more about a bar than a cocktail with too many theatrical elements. Those who prefer something more local can ask about house creations like the Maltini de Turrón or the monthly specials. If the visit takes the gin tonic route, the reasonable move is to ask for a recommendation: at NIC, that category is not a formality but an important part of the bar's history.

There are also non-alcoholic cocktails, wines, and sparkling wines — though the centre of gravity remains clearly in the cocktails and mixed drinks. This is not a place to seek an intimate experience or a cult bar with ten seats and half the city whispering. It is something else: a veteran cocktail bar, central, alive, and with craft behind it.

Final verdict

NIC deserves a place in a guide to Alicante because it represents a real part of the city's drinking culture. It is not the most secretive cocktail bar, nor the newest, nor the one that needs to wrap itself in a laboratory aesthetic to appear important. Its merit is more solid: since 2002, it has been defending well-made cocktails on a street where maintaining standards is not always easy.

It has technique, history, breadth of menu, and a recognisable figure in José Box. It also has that very Alicantine mix of terrace, afternoon drinking, visitors, loyal regulars, and nights that start earlier than planned. It may not be the place for those seeking silence, obscurity, or solemnity. But it is for those who want to understand how Alicante incorporated the cocktail into its daily life without turning it into an inaccessible liturgy.

NIC does not live off old prizes or a favourable location. It lives off something harder: continuing to serve structurally sound drinks when everything around invites lowering the bar. And on Castaños, that takes considerably more credit than it might seem.