To collect the data we curate a 100-strong sample of bars from an even geographical split which have featured in recent editions of The Word’s 50 Best Bars (1-100) and Tales of the Cocktail’s Spirited Awards, plus regional awards such as North America and Asia’s 50 Best Bars and national awards such as the Class Bar Awards. To ensure the best global coverage, about 5% of the 100 were ‘editor’s picks’ – highly rated bars in regions less represented to assure a truly global data pool reflective of the current bar industry.
Of course, the panel rotates each year to not only ensure a fair and accurate set of results, but represent the current geography of the industry’s best bars year on year.
As part of the survey, we ask each bar owner or head bartender to revise their sales spreadsheets and rank the three bestselling products in each spirit, beer, wine and mixer category. A bestselling brand, even in the best bars in the world, earns its place on more than taste, so we also wanted to know the brands that are not necessarily doing huge volumes but are on trend. This is where the trending lists come in. Within these tables are the brands customers are increasingly asking for, perhaps because of word of mouth or even on bartenders’ recommendations. Often the brands that figure highly in the trending list move on to the bestselling list the following year, as curiosity and excitement transition to weight of sales.
GEOGRAPHY
For the 2025 edition of The Brands Report our pool of 100 bars was drawn from 33 countries. When curating our panel of top-level bars we work hard to reflect the current spread of trending scenes.
Using The World’s 50 Best Bars as a template, the biggest portion of our participating brands came from Europe with 37%, including the likes of The Clumsies, Drink Kong, Danico and Scarfes Bar.
Our second biggest region was Asia on 23%, which is slightly higher than last year’s survey and includes some of the region’s biggest hitters, such as Coa, Hope & Sesame, Bar Benfiddich, Zest and Jigger & Pony.
In North America the representation is exactly the same as last year, however there’s an even split between venues in Mexico, Canada and the US – gone are the days when New York City was the voice for the whole continent.
With just one bar from Africa & Middle East featuring in The World’s 50 Best Bars 2024, this was the least-represented region in the Brands Report, while Australasia accounted for just 6%.
South America, meanwhile, continues to grow and makes up around one-fifth of our surveyed bars for 2025, including Lady Bee, Sub Astor and Alquímico.
Each year, as well as adapting our geographical spread, we ensure a percentile of the participants is rotated to ensure we obtain as fair and accurate portrait of the global bar scene as possible and the brands it’s selling.
To view the page-turner edition of the Brands Report click here.
The Brands Report will be serialised on drinksint.com throughout January.
