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Cheers to the Spirited Awards Winners!

Cheers to the 2023 Spirited Awards Winners!

by David Klemt

Bartender presenting cocktail

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

Chris Patino

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

Agostino Perrone*

Best International Brand Ambassador presented by Tales of the Cocktail Foundation

Nicola Riske (The Macallan)

Best International Bar Team presented by Angostura Caribbean Rum

ALQUÍMICO (Cartagena, Colombia)

Best International Cocktail Bar presented by Patr​​ón 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

Tiffanie Barriere

Helen David Lifetime Achievement Award

Desmond Payne, MBE

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

Punch

Best Broadcast, Podcast, or Online Video Series presented by Tales of the Cocktail Foundation

The Speakeasy Podcast*

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!

Vance Henderson (episode 20)

Episode 48, Episode 65, and the Hurricane Ida Emergency Episode with Eileen Wayner

Lynn House (episode 52)

Kellie Thorn and Lola Thomas (episode 72)

Roberta Mariani (episode 84)

* Denotes an accurate prediction by DeepAI‘s AI Chat chatbot.

Image: Christian Fridell on Pexels

KRG Hospitality. Bar Consultant. Nightclub. Lounge. Mixology. Cocktails.

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