When mezcal started to make waves in developed markets around the world, Del Maguey was the first ashore. Back then, Del Maguey was all rustic and romantic – its story told through the adventures of Ron Cooper and friends who brought these otherworldly, single estate agave spirits to the wider world – but now, owned by Pernod Ricard, has anything changed? It’s kept most of…

Well, that’s five wins on the spin for Bacardi. The Bermuda-headquartered rum is the perennial ­ fixture in bars – at all levels, in pretty much all markets. In a quarter of our sample of the world’s best bars, Bacardi was said to be the bestselling rum. Beyond the house pour, Bacardi’s wide range of styles also makes it a solid second or third option…

You’re drinking Vodka in one of the world’s best bars – but which brand are you drinking? Well, more likely than any other, it is Ketel One. And more likely by quite some way, suggests our poll. This year the Diageo/ Nolet Family-owned pot still vodka was the bestseller in almost 30% of our bars and among the top-three sellers in more than half of…

It’s no surprise that the brand responsible for about half of cognac production is also the bestseller behind the bar. And consistently so – every year we’ve polled on cognac, Hennessy comes back the answer. This year LVMH’s cognac was the top choice in almost a third of bars, while it’s among the top two in more than half. It’s a top-three cognac in almost…

Since we pulled cognac out of the brandy category to get a better look inside, we found a category alive with less-heralded European brands. That’s not to say this is a category doing big business in the world’s best bars, but two-thirds of venues we polled stock a brandy that isn’t cognac, almost half stocked two and a third had three. While Brandy De Jerez…

In all probability pisco will likely never be one of the top tipples in the best bars in the world, but it plays its part. This year, 83% of our sample said they stock a pisco, with more than half having two and more than a third stocking three. The Pisco Sour – number 20 in our classics list in 2022 – is one reason…

It’s eight straight from Don Julio as the Diageo brand tops our tequila chart once again – though, when you look under the table, it’s not the total domination of the category you might think. Actually, unlike gin, rum and vodka, whose leaders are the bestselling in 25-30% of our sample, it’s more of a competitive ­ eld in tequila, with Don Julio just a…

Cachaça is something of an iceberg – what you see internationally is just 1% of this gargantuan beast of a category, which is almost entirely consumed domestically. And when a huge job still needs to be done on educating consumers in international markets, most of the 5,000 or so brands stay home in Brazil. Indeed, even in the world’s best bars, cachaça has yet to…

Campari’s liqueurs list supremacy is inextricably linked to the rise of the Negroni. The Italian bitter liqueur became part of the consumer’s nightlife vocabulary in the last decade or so, according to our cocktail ranking, and around that time Campari – from nowhere – started to top our liqueurs list. That’s eight wins on the trot now. This symbiosis can’t be downplayed, but other Campari…

Perhaps sherry isn’t the number one forti­fied in bars – that rare­fied title goes to vermouth – but this Spanish wine does fulfil a similar, if less prolific, role in the world’s best bars. The Spanish wine is an ever-increasing sight in bars’ new menus, indeed, 84% of our sample stock a bottle, 72% have two sherries and two thirds have three. No doubt some…