Cheers to the 2023 Spirited Awards Winners!
by David Klemt
A toast to the nominees and winners!
Cheers to each of the winning bars, teams, and individuals taking home awards from the 17th annual Spirited Awards at Tales of the Cocktail 2023 in New Orleans!
Spirits educator, advocate, and bartender’s bartender Tiffanie Barriere earned the well-deserved Tales Visionary Award. Master Distiller Desmond Payne, MBE, took home the Helen David Lifetime Achievement Award.
Compellingly, a number of so-called secondary and tertiary markets are taking awards back to their home cities. These include Albuquerque, Phoenix, and Portland. Nothing against primary markets like New York City and Los Angeles, but it’s wonderful to see other cities grab the spotlight and shine, make their marks, and let everyone know, “We’ve arrived—don’t sleep on us!”
Unfortunately, Canada didn’t take home any international awards from Tales this year, nor did Las Vegas. Next year, hopefully.
Barcelona, however, can boast that it’s the home of the Spirited Award winner for the World’s Best Bar.
As far as our little experiment with artificial intelligence attempting to predict Spirited Awards winners, the chatbot we selected didn’t do very well. That said, it did accurately guess six out of the 24 awards we presented to the bot for a 25-percent success rate: Best US Brand Ambassador; International Bartender of the Year; Best International Bar Mentor; Best International Restaurant Bar; Best Broadcast, Podcast, or Online Video Series; and Best Cocktail & Spirits Writing.
Raise a glass and toast this year’s Spirited Awards winners. Cheers!
US Categories
US Bartender of the Year presented by Pernod Ricard USA
Christine Wiseman, Marygold’s Brasserie / Broken Shaker (Miami, Florida)
Best US Bar Mentor presented BarSmarts
Best US Brand Ambassador presented Libbey
Vance Henderson (Hendrick’s Gin)*
Best US Bar Team presented by William Grant & Sons
Happy Accidents (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
Best US Cocktail Bar presented by Absolut Vodka
Century Grand (Phoenix, Arizona)
Best US Hotel Bar presented by Grey Goose
Hey Love at The Jupiter (Portland, Oregon)
Best US Restaurant Bar presented by Amaro Montenegro and Select Aperitivo
Café La Trova (Miami, Florida)
Best New US Cocktail Bar presented by Diageo Bar Academy
Martiny’s (New York, New York)
Timeless US Award
Tiki-Ti (Los Angeles, California)
International Categories
International Bartender of the Year presented by The Busker
Giorgio Bargiani, Connaught Bar (London, England, United Kingdom)*
Best International Bar Mentor presented by Tales of the Cocktail Foundation
Best International Brand Ambassador presented by Tales of the Cocktail Foundation
Best International Bar Team presented by Angostura Caribbean Rum
ALQUÍMICO (Cartagena, Colombia)
Best International Cocktail Bar presented by Patrón Tequila
SIPS (Barcelona, Spain)
Best International Hotel Bar presented by Perrier
Jigger & Pony at the Amara Hotel (Singapore)
Best International Restaurant Bar presented by Tales of the Cocktail Foundation
Analogue Initiative (Singapore)*
Best New International Cocktail Bar presented by Diageo Bar Academy
Line Athens (Athens, Greece)
Timeless International Award
Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel (Singapore)
Global Categories
Tales Visionary Award
Helen David Lifetime Achievement Award
World’s Best Bar
SIPS (Barcelona, Spain)
Best New Spirit or Cocktail Ingredient presented by Lyre’s Non-Alcoholic
Martini & Rossi Floreale Non Alcoholic Aperitivo
World’s Best Cocktail Menu presented by Diageo Bar Academy
Double Chicken Please (New York, New York)
World’s Best Spirits Selection presented by Tales of the Cocktail Foundation
Raised by Wolves (San Diego, California)
Writing & Media Categories
Best Cocktail & Spirits Publication presented by Tales of the Cocktail Foundation
Best Broadcast, Podcast, or Online Video Series presented by Tales of the Cocktail Foundation
Best Cocktail & Spirits Writing presented by Tales of the Cocktail Foundation
“The Great Mezcal Heist” by Emma Janzen, for Eater*
Best New Cocktail or Bartending Book presented by Tales of the Cocktail Foundation
The Bartender’s Manifesto by Toby Maloney with Emma Janzen
Best New Book on Drinks Culture, History, or Spirits presented by Tales of the Cocktail Foundation
Modern Caribbean Rum: A Contemporary Reference to the Region’s Essential Spirit by Matt Pietrek and Carrie Smith
Congratulations to each of the venues, teams, and individual winners! Cheers!
Bar Hacks Guests
The following Spirited Awards presenters, winners, and TOTC team have appeared on the Bar Hacks podcast. Give these episodes a listen to learn more about these amazing people!
Episode 48, Episode 65, and the Hurricane Ida Emergency Episode with Eileen Wayner
Kellie Thorn and Lola Thomas (episode 72)
* Denotes an accurate prediction by DeepAI‘s AI Chat chatbot.
Image: Christian Fridell on Pexels
