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The top bars, bartenders, brand ambassadors and spirits writers will be honored at the annual Tales of the Cocktail festival in New Orleans this July.
There ought to be a few of drinks on the house tonight at the best bars in the world as the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation announced its nominees for the 2025 Spirited Awards.
Launched in 2007 and considered to be among the hospitality industry’s highest honors, the Spirited Awards are part of the annual Tales of the Cocktail festival held in New Orleans in July, honoring the top bars, bartenders, brand ambassadors, and spirits journalists from around the world. The awards are selected by a jury of hospitality peers—acclaimed bartenders, bar owners, and journalists and authors. (Forbes is the official media partner of the Spirited Awards.)
Once again, there are many familiar watering holes among this year’s nominees. Hong Kong’s Bar Leone (named Best New International Cocktail Bar at the 2024 Spirited Awards) built on its early success and received three nominations: Best International Bartender, Best Bar Team and Best International Cocktail Bar. And Mexico City’s Handshake Speakeasy, which won Best International Bar Team in 2024 and whose cofounder, Eric Van Beek, was named International Bartender of the Year last year, was also nominated for Best International Cocktail Bar.
In the United States, Denver’s Yacht Club, which was named Best U.S. Cocktail Bar last year, received a nomination for Best U.S. Bar Team and McClain Hedges picked up a nomination for U.S. Bartender of the Year. And Allegory, at Washington, D.C.’s Eaton Hotel, which was named Best U.S. Hotel Bar last year and is home to 2024’s U.S. Bartender of the Year, Kapri Robinson, was also nominated for Best U.S. Bar Team.
New York continued to flex its cocktail muscle. Three of the four nominees for Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar can be found in Manhattan: Bar Snack, Clemente Bar and Sip & Guzzle. (The fourth nominee, ViceVersa, is in Miami). And Overstory, in the Financial District, was nominated again for Best U.S. Cocktail Bar. For those who want an atlas of nominees, Tales of the Cocktail built an interactive map of the world’s best bars in 2021.
Most nominees will have to wait until July 24 to learn if they actually won a Spirited Award, but there are at least two bars (The Bar at Keens Steakhouse in New York and Madrid’s Bar Cock) and two bartenders (Lynette Marrero and Ian Burrell), who can raise a glass in celebration tonight. Both Keens and Bar Cock will be celebrated as Timeless bars for their decades of innovation and service.
Burrell, who began his career as a bartender in London in the 1990s, reinvented himself as a “global rum ambassador” some 20 years ago, will be presented with the Helen David Lifetime Achievement Award at the Spirited Awards. The charismatic Burrell has represented many different rum brands over the years—and cofounded Equiano rum in 2020—and is renowned in the industry for a presentation style he calls “edutainment.”
Marrero, meanwhile, is a veteran New York bartender who was named Best Bar Mentor at the 2019 Spirited Awards, and will be honored with the Tales Visionary Award. In addition to cofounding Speed Rack, an international bartending competition for women, she is the mixologist behind Delola, Jennifer Lopez’ line of bottled cocktails.
2025 Spirited Awards Nominees
UNITED STATES
New York's Overstory is nominated again for Best U.S. Cocktail Bar.
Overstory/Adrian GautBest U.S. Cocktail Bar
Best Intentions (Chicago, IL)
Oerstory (New York, NY)
Trick Dog (San Francisco, CA)
True Laurel (San Francisco, CA)
Best U.S. Hotel Bar
Champagne Bar at The Surf Club at The Four Seasons (Miami, FL)
Dear Irving on Hudson at the Aliz Hotel (New York, NY)
Little Rituals at the Residence Inn/Courtyard by Marriott (Phoenix, AZ)
Pacific Standard at the KEX Portland (Portland, OR)
Best U.S. Restaurant Bar
Arnaud's French 75 Bar (New Orleans, LA)
Kumiko (Chicago, IL)
Mírate (Los Angeles, CA)
Palomar Portland, OR)
Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar
Bar Snack (New York, NY)
Clemente Bar (New York, NY)
Sip & Guzzle (New York, NY)
ViceVersa (Miami, FL)
U.S. Bartender of the Year
Christine Kim (Service Bar, Washington, D.C.)
McLain Hedges (Yacht Club, Denver, CO)
Libby Lingua (Highball, Phoenix, AZ)
Takuma Watanabe (Martiny's/L'Americana/Midnight Blue, New York, NY)
Best U.S. Bar Team
Allegory at the Eaton Hotel (Washington, D.C.)
Best Intentions (Chicago, IL)
Service Bar (Washington, D.C.)
Yacht Club (Denver, CO)
Best U.S. Bar Mentor
Colin Asare-Appiah
Meaghan Dorman
Touré Folkes
Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Best U.S. Brand Ambassador
Sullivan Doh (D’USSÉ)
Benny Hurwitz (Campari American Whiskeys)
Mary Palac (Campari Mexican Spirits)
Natasha Sofia (Mijenta Tequila)
INTERNATIONAL
Hong Kong's Bar Leone is nominated for Best International Cocktail Bar
Bar LeoneBest International Cocktail Bar
Bar Leone (Hong Kong, China)
Caretaker’s Cottage (Melbourne, Australia)
Handshake Speakeasy (Mexico City, Mexico)
Satan's Whiskers (London, UK)
Best International Hotel Bar
ARGO at the Four Seasons Hotel (Hong Kong, China)
Charles H. at the Four Seasons Hotel (Seoul, South Korea)
Side Hustle at The NoMad Hotel London (London, UK)
VIRTÙ at the Four Seasons Tokyo Otemachi (Tokyo, Japan)
Best International Restaurant Bar
ARCA Tulum (Tulum, Mexico)
FURA (Singapore)
Le Mary Celeste (Paris, France)
Moebius Milano (Milan, Italy)
Best New International Cocktail Bar
Bar Mauro (Mexico City, Mexico)
Devil's Cut (Madrid, Spain)
Dry Wave Cocktail Studio (Bangkok, Thailand)
Three Sheets Soho (London, UK)
International Bartender of the Year
Lorenzo Antinori (Bar Leone, Hong Kong)
Giulia Cuccurullo (Artesian, The Langham, London, UK)
Miguel Mora (ALQUÍMICO, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia)
Luke Whearty (BYRDI, Melbourne, Australia)
Best International Bar Team
Bar Leone (Hong Kong, China)
Caretaker’s Cottage (Melbourne, Australia)
Panda & Sons (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Satan's Whiskers (London, UK)
Best International Bar Mentor
Kate Boushel
Iain McPherson
Anna Sebastian
Jean Trinh
Best International Brand Ambassador
Claudia Cabrera (Fratelli Branca)
Jesse Estes (Tequila Ocho)
Caitlin Hill (Rémy Cointreau)
Dré Masso (Altos Tequila and Nusa Caña Rum)
WRITING & MEDIA
Harry N. Abrams
Best New Cocktail or Bartending Book
Bubbles: A Guide to Carbonated Cocktails by Bart Miedeksza and Valentino Girotto
Cocktail Theory: A Sensory Approach to Transcendent Drinks by Dr. Kevin Peterson
The Bartender's Pantry: A Beverage Handbook for the Universal Bar by Jim Meehan and Bart Sasso with Emma Janzen
The Martini: The Ultimate Guide to a Cocktail Icon by Alice Lascelles
Best New Book on Drinks Culture, History, or Spirits
A Most Noble Water: Revisiting the Origins of English Gin by Anistatia Miller and Jared Brown
Dusty Booze: In Search of Vintage Spirits by Aaron Goldfarb
Malort: The Redemption of a Revered and Reviled Spirit by Josh Noel
The Cocktail Parlor: How Women Brought the Cocktail Home by Nicola Nice
Best Cocktail & Spirits Writing
“Charting a New Course: In Louisiana’s Sugarcane Country, a New Spirit Emerges from Complicated Conditions” by Christine Sismondo, for Good Beer Hunting
“In War-Torn Ukraine, Nightlife Offers a Fleeting Escape” by Adam Robb, for Wine Enthusiast
“The Hidden Hospitality Hazards When You’re Too Big for the Bar” by Brad Thomas Parsons, for VinePair
“This Martini Costs $22. Here’s Exactly Why.” by Robert Simonson, for The Wall Street Journal
Best Cocktail & Spirits Publication
Class magazine
Drinks International
Full Pour
SevenFifty Daily
Best Broadcast, Podcast, or Online Video Series
Like•a•ble Cocktails by Kaitlyn
Radio Imbibe
The Shaft by Josh Lindley of Bartender Atlas
VinePair's Cocktail College
Best Cocktail & Spirits Writing
“Charting a New Course: In Louisiana’s Sugarcane Country, a New Spirit Emerges from Complicated Conditions” by Christine Sismondo, for Good Beer Hunting
“In War-Torn Ukraine, Nightlife Offers a Fleeting Escape” by Adam Robb, for Wine Enthusiast
“The Hidden Hospitality Hazards When You’re Too Big for the Bar” by Brad Thomas Parsons, for VinePair
“This Martini Costs $22. Here’s Exactly Why.” by Robert Simonson, for The Wall Street Journal
Best New Cocktail or Bartending Book
Bubbles: A Guide to Carbonated Cocktails by Bart Miedeksza and Valentino Girotto
Cocktail Theory: A Sensory Approach to Transcendent Drinks by Dr. Kevin Peterson
The Bartender's Pantry: A Beverage Handbook for the Universal Bar by Jim Meehan and Bart Sasso with Emma Janzen
The Martini: The Ultimate Guide to a Cocktail Icon by Alice Lascelles
Best New Book on Drinks Culture, History, or Spirits
A Most Noble Water: Revisiting the Origins of English Gin by Anistatia Miller and Jared Brown
Dusty Booze: In Search of Vintage Spirits by Aaron Goldfarb
Malort: The Redemption of a Revered and Reviled Spirit by Josh Noel
The Cocktail Parlor: How Women Brought the Cocktail Home by Nicola Nice
GLOBAL
Veteran rum ambassador Ian Burrell will be awarded the Helen Lawrenson Lifetime Achievement Award.
Equiano RumBest New Spirit or Cocktail Ingredient
Mijenta Maestra Selection No. 1
Planteray Cut & Dry Coconut Rum
The Botanist Distiller's Strength Gin
Worthy Park Overproof
World’s Best Cocktail Menu
Bar 1661 (Dublin, Ireland)
Jigger & Pony at the Amara Hotel (Singapore)
Maybe Sammy (Sydney, Australia)
World’s Best Spirits Selection
Cat Bite Club (Singapore)
Eleven Madison Park (New York, NY)
Salón de Agave (Mexico City, Mexico)
Tlecān (Mexico City, Mexico)
Timeless U.S. Award
The Bar at Keens Steakhouse (New York, NY)
Timeless International Award
Bar Cock (Madrid, Spain)
Helen David Lifetime Achievement Award
Ian Burrell
Tales Visionary Award
Lynnette Marrero
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