What Makes a ‘World Best Bar’ Is Changing. Here’s How.
Earlier this month, hundreds of bartenders, bar owners, and those who love them (read: brand reps) gathered at a giant cruise terminal on Hong Kong’s Kowloon Peninsula to anoint the best in the booze biz. The 17th annual World’s 50 Best Bars ceremony, easily the industry’s biggest night, revealed some results that might seem surprising to some — like the top honor going to a two-year-old Hong Kong bar styled after a Roman trattoria — and some that weren’t a surprise to anyone. (We’re looking at you, Superbueno, up 15 spots from last year to No. 12, and Connaught Bar at No. 6, marking its 17th year on the list.)
The bars are selected by The World’s 50 Best Bars Academy, which encompasses 800 bartenders, journalists, and drinks specialists from 29 international regions. There’s no official criteria for a bar to be nominated, but in order to make the list, it must receive a minimum number of votes. This can put bars in major cities at an advantage over bars in places that might fall under the radar of voters, many of whom travel to the same international bar shows and industry events around the world. That’s gradually changing, but it nonetheless leaves some to allege that the list is little more than a popularity contest.
Still, the list provides a yearly snapshot of the global bar industry, and you don’t have to squint to detect the trends that define how menus are shaped today. Here, we dissect the selections on 2025’s 50 Best Bars list, giving us a glimpse into how and where drinkers will order cocktails in the coming years.
Look out, London, Paris and Tokyo. Second cities are on the rise.
Once upon a time, destination bars were, unsurprisingly, in destination cities, but things are shifting. You can chalk that up to access to information — and inspiration — on social media; a growing interest among travelers to avoid cities that struggle with over-tourism; and tremendous investments from small bars to bring influential figures to town through bar shows and guest shifts.
The Disaronno Highest New Entry Award went to Mirror Bar, a luxurious bar in Bratislava, Slovakia, that specializes in innovative drink-making techniques and theatrical cocktails. It debuted on the list at No. 25. Nouvelle Vague, a playful, unpretentious hangout in Tirana, Albania, entered the ranks at No. 28, and right behind it at No. 29 was new addition Hope & Sesame, located in Guangzhou, a city 900 miles from Shanghai. That nudged some long-ranking bars out of the top 50, like Singapore’s perennially popular gin temple, Atlas Bar (No. 43 in 2024) and NYC’s Martiny’s, (No. 24 in 2024).
“A growing diversity opens the door for cultural diversity and different team identities,” Emma Sleight, head of content for The World’s 50 Best Bars, tells VinePair. “Every team does something different and has its own personality for what to do behind the bar. It’s interesting to see different interpretations of hospitality, and how it’s expressed through different local lenses.”
It’s worth noting that some special awards went to bars that did not notch spaces on the 50 Best list. Two-year-old Backdoor Bodega, in Penang, Malaysia, specializes in eccentric food-inspired drinks and its menu, which doubles as a whimsical guide to the city’s food scene, was awarded the Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu Award.
That’s not to say that major cities don’t still dominate the list. European bars claimed 23 spaces, but London’s cocktail preeminence was cemented with four ranking bars: Tayēr + Elementary at No.5, Connaught Bar at No.6, Satan’s Whiskers at No.21, and Scarfes Bar at No.31. New York City keeps London humble, though, with the city’s bars also claiming four spots: Superbueno at No. 12, (up from No. 27), Sip & Guzzle debuting at No. 39, Overstory at No. 46, and Double Chicken Please, which fell to No. 41. New Orleans’ Jewel of the South (No. 44), rounded out the U.S. presence. But if the second-city trend emerging internationally is any signal, it might not be long before bars in places like Atlanta, Austin, or Kansas City get a nod on the global stage.
From High-Brow to Low-Profile
Few are the conversations where you can talk about some of the most luxurious hotels in the world and no-frills neighborhood joints in the same sentence. But when it comes to ordering a world-class Martini, one could easily recommend the Connaught Bar in London’s ritzy Mayfair neighborhood or Satan’s Whiskers, a homey joint with a graffiti-covered façade in East London. These bars are arguably opposites, but both offer world-class experiences in their own distinct ways, going to show that one person’s treasure might be another’s tedium.
Without any criteria for a bar to be nominated, this year’s list embodies a broad spectrum of venue styles, which marks a change from the contest’s early days when posh hotel bars and moody speakeasy-style spots dominated the top ranks. Other ranking bars that eschew craft-cocktail-bar tropes include Bar Nouveau (No. 17), an Art Nouveau-style jewel box in Paris with an effortless Belle-Epoque-neighborhood-joint feel, and Oslo’s Svanen (No. 32), a charming, low-key apothecary-meets-brasserie hybrid.
Adding Sustainability to the Recipe
Sustainability, as a topic of discussion, is evolving. Environmental awareness has long been a focus in the industry, but now bars are going beyond reducing waste and repurposing citrus rinds. They’re looking at sustainability more holistically, directing attention and resources to developing their teams and making an impact on their communities.
The founders of Paris’s Cambridge Public House (No. 20), the first bar to reach B Corp status, scored the Ketel One Sustainable Bar award for its practice of circular sustainability. It adopted the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as a roadmap to reducing its carbon footprint, fostering community equity, and developing an inclusive bar culture. To that end, it introduced Shaken Leaf, a sustainability-focused, open-source platform with case studies and actionable tips that bars can integrate into their programs. The open access fosters a global community and provides a forum for collaboration and idea exchange.
Paradiso (No. 4), in Barcelona, established the Sustainability Summit in 2022, an industry event with environmentally focused workshops, cementing its reputation as an eco-minded leader.
Other bars are looking at how they affect the surrounding community. Tres Monos (No. 10) in Buenos Aires created La Escuelita, a bartending school for local residents of Barrio Padre Carlos Mugica, a disenfranchised community. Over 500 people have taken part in the program since it launched in 2021. More than 100 currently work in the hospitality sector in Buenos Aires, and some have opened bars in the Barrio.
Beyond Bar Snacks
It’s long been standard for an excellent restaurant to have an impressive cocktail menu. Less common, however, is a distinguished cocktail bar with buzz-worthy food. But that’s changing. At Bar Leone (No. 1), guests might walk away talking more about its bar snacks — the smoked olives in particular — than the drinks.
The Cambridge Public House in Paris brings a fittingly French touch to pub food. Moebius Milano, a high-volume bistro that jumped from No. 38 in 2024 to No. 7, features a vast menu of Milanese specialties that are as much of a draw as the cocktails. And down in Lima, the food at Lady Bee (No. 13) is crafted with local ingredients according to the Peruvian agricultural calendar and designed to complement the drinks. Chalk that up to the collaborative nature of bar manager Alejandra Léon and her sister, co-founder Gabriela, the chef. The lines between the kitchen and the bar also blur at Locale Firenze (No. 22), part of a Michelin-recognized restaurant in Florence that offers cocktail-pairing dinners.
Less Is More
Unless you’ve been living under a whiskey barrel, you know that alcohol consumption is on the decline. And according to the IWSR, the total non-alcohol market will be worth close to $5 billion by 2028. The industry is responding to the increased demand for less alcohol in various ways across the ranking bars. Many have adopted what Sleight calls the “4 p.m. drink-and-snack vibe,” with low-ABV digestivo- and aperitivo-style options. And others are introducing full menus to give no- and low-ABV drinks a space to shine.
Superbueno sits on the inventive end of the spectrum, taking a culinary approach to its non-alcoholic drinks like the La Shamami made with honeydew agua fresca, hazelnut tonic, and NA tequila. The nearly 100-page-long menu at Bratislava’s grandiose Mirror Bar features a non-alcoholic chapter with whimsical creations like the Paragon x Mate, which combines a berry cordial with fermented yerba mate.
Aperitifs move from their preprandial role to playful culinary-minded novelties elsewhere around the globe. At Sastrería Martinez (No. 33), in Lima, the popular Huaca Pietra combines wine, vermouth, coca leaf, passion fruit, Andean honey, limón sidra, and grapefruit bitter. At Sydney’s Maybe Sammy (No. 42), a menu section devoted to coffee cocktails features several drinks that deliver a low-ABV buzz. And a growing number of bars are getting creative with menu sections devoted to highballs in their infinite variations.
As more bargoers around the world practice mindful consumption, it’s likely the non-alcoholic offerings at bars on the World’s 50 Best list will only further expand. Beyond just nixing the alcohol, Sleight notes that the Academy is beginning to see menus that feature functional drinks that incorporate gut-health or mood-enhancing ingredients. “People want drinks to deliver everything,” she says.
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