The most recent addition to the 50 Best Bars awards programme, the Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu award series celebrates the individual brilliance of outstanding drinks lists around the world. Bartenders should apply now to give their bar a chance to be recognised in the upcoming edition. Meanwhile, discover the three venues that have won the accolade to date
The latest edition of the Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu Award is now open for applications until Monday, 22nd August 2022. The ultimate international accolade that a venue can win for the unique concept and execution of its drinks list, the award is open to any bar of any size, anywhere in the world – to apply, simply submit a 500-word statement and supporting piece of media on the online application form.
A selection committee formed of senior 50 Best representatives and its Academy Chairs will then evaluate the entries on five key areas of the menu’s production: Design and Layout; Storytelling; Innovation; Range of Drinks; and Sustainability. The winner of the Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu Award 2022 will be announced at The World’s 50 Best Bars awards ceremony, sponsored by Perrier, in Barcelona on 4th October 2022.
Get inspired by browsing the venues that have won this special award since its inception in late 2021:
Bar Trigona, Kuala Lumpur: Herb Garden in Your Glass
A page from Bar Trigona's award-winning menu
The winner of the Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu for the Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2022 awards programme marks a departure from the traditional format where cocktails are divided by spirits. Instead, indigenous herbs form the basis of Herb Garden in Your Glass.
Individual pages are devoted to pandan – a fragrant leaf often used in Malaysian desserts; pegaga – a common creeping herb; the ambrosial and citric lemongrass; and bunga kantan – known as torch ginger. Each of these effervescent ingredients is used across the menu and adds an esoteric twist to some familiar favourites. Top choices are the Pegaga Sour, with pegaga-cooked wine, honey, bitters and egg white, or the enigmatic Silent Stinger, infused with vodka, lemongrass, tomato, tobacco and Worcestershire sauce.
While Herb Garden in Your Glass gives international guests a moreish taste of Malaysian flavours, the menu is also designed to educate drinkers about food wastage and how to reuse common ingredients that may otherwise be discarded.
Lab 22, Cardiff: Theory + Frontiers
Lab 22's snakebite negroni on the menu and in the glass
This up-and-coming establishment in Cardiff, the capital of Wales in the UK, wowed judges with its artistry, sustainability and incredibly inventive cocktails, winning the inaugural Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu accolade at The World’s 50 Best Bars 2021.
Theory + Frontiers takes cues from science and invention. The cocktails embody practices such as urban farming (Concrete Daisy uses rooftop honey) and marine exploration (Point Nemo is garnished with sea-salted chocolate fish scales). Every page is deeply considered, with beautiful artwork and any extra information, such as the science behind the drink, accessible via a QR code.
Lab 22’s ideological values of accessibility, transparency and community are present throughout the menu. The text is available in both English and Welsh to accommodate its multilingual guests and the flavour combinations are explained in a ‘drop matrix’ in the centre of the menu, to aid drink decision-making. Locally sourced and grown ingredients are found in each cocktail, while the sharing drinks contribute to chosen charities and funds, such as Cardiff Foodbank and The Drinks Trust.
Guests are also encouraged to support more of the city’s local businesses through the ‘decision tree’ flowchart at the denouement of the menu, which suggests where drinkers might want to head to next.
Mace, New York: Mace 3.1
A sneak peek into the Mace 3.1 menu
The most recent winner of the Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu is Mace, which picked up the accolade on 7th June 2022 at the inaugural edition of North America’s 50 Best Bars. Mace is founded on the principle of creating unique drinks with surprising flavour combinations, executed through highly technical processes that are conveyed to guests in a manner that is easy to understand.
In Mace 3.1, simple botanical sketches of ingredients belie the sophisticated techniques at play in the glass. The bar ostensibly identifies itself by combining ingredients that at first seem diametrically opposed, but when exposed to skill, technique and balance, become perfect bedfellows. For instance, the eponymous Mace includes Italian orange liqueur, aquavit, beet juice, orange acid, young Thai coconut cordial and mace mist. Frankincense works to demonstrate the bar’s ability to pair savoury flavours with sweet, featuring brown butter- and cep-infused bourbon, walnut liqueur and frankincense smoke.
The physical menu itself is a work of art. Specially commissioned illustrations highlight each serve’s base spice, with a description of the vessel used to house the drink. The only other information provided is how the cocktail is prepared – shaken, stirred or built – and where the spice finds its origin. It’s a symbiotic experience that tells the bar’s story with minimal words on the page, allowing the ingredients and the bar team’s skill in liquid alchemy to sing.
Can your cocktail menu compete with the best? Submit your application by 22nd August to give yourself a chance to win. To be the first to hear about the latest news and announcements from 50 Best Bars, follow us on Instagram, find us on Facebook, visit us on Twitter and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
