Available here to read, this annual, bar-focused magazine unpicks the global trends that underpin the list. The Global Bar Edition editor, Hamish Smith introduces this year's magazine:
THE GLOBAL BAR EDITION of Drinks International, launching as it does at The World’s 50 Best Bars ceremony annually in October, has a ‘state of the union’ feel to it.
While DI covers bar news daily, sandwiching the official print guide to 50 Best in this magazine are commentaries that take an aerial view.
François Monti’s piece, After the Enlightenment, questions whether the broadening of cocktails into the mainstream has impacted quality, reputation and perhaps even the future of the standalone cocktail bar.
Danil Nevsky too takes a futurist view in his article Do You Speak Cocktail? He says the cocktail industry outside of the west must become ingrained in markets through language and cultural references to lay long-lasting roots.
Nico de Soto – the industry’s protoglobetrotter – also writes about how cocktails should be adapted to the tastes of the market for which they are created.
In a bid to make our industry’s sustainably claims more credible, we deep dive into the world of B Corp. Hyacinthe Lescoët of The Cambridge in Paris lets us in on the process they underwent to become the first bar with the certification.
Meanwhile, Juliane Eva Reichert comes with news of a new pricing policy being trialled in a German bar that allows customers to pay what they want. As accountants globally wince, we should add that, for now, it’s working.
We also wanted to narrow the gaze to regions, continents and countries whose leaps are long, though scarcely documented. There’s no better person than Kenya’s Brian Owango to unveil his vision for African bars and bartenders on the world stage.
Likewise, Sorrel Moseley-Williams writes on the pioneering South American bartenders who are creating their own drinks products. And Nicholas Coldicott reports from Nepal, where determined Kathmandu bartenders are surmounting mountainous challenges.
And of course, there’s our magazine within a magazine, dedicated to the apex of all apexes: The World’s 50 Best Bars. And in reply, my own analysis of how the current class of 50 bars got there.
