What makes a great drinks list? Ahead of this year’s Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu Award opening for submissions, here’s a look at just some of the most compelling shortlisted menus from 2024
For the top bars around the globe, the house cocktail menu serves a range of purposes beyond simply listing drink offerings. When smartly designed, with an eye on storytelling, menus can serve as a bar’s primary calling card as they reveal the prevailing ethos behind the programme, share its ambitions and innovations and give guests a taste of the bar’s surrounding terroir.
Today, bars are investing more time, energy and resources in their menus than ever before – sometimes eschewing printed versions altogether as they explore provocative new mediums of delivery. From menus that take inspiration from sound to those that take visitors on an adventure into a city’s history, here are eight outstanding examples of great cocktail lists from around the globe that made the final shortlist for the award in 2024.
Songbird Bar & Lounge, Perth – Songbird Signature Cocktail Menu
Songbird's signature cocktails are inspired by some of Australia's feathered friends
Simply assembled with a soothing and almost ethereal vibe, the signature cocktail menu at Songbird Bar & Lounge in Perth is designed as a field guide to Australia’s most famous feathered friends. Its uncluttered layout keeps the focus on beautiful artistic renderings of the birds that inspired the 11 cocktails. From the Pink Robin and Kookaburra to the Galah and Rainbow Bee-Eater (rosebud-infused gin, rose syrup, yuzu purée, lemon juice), each drink is made with local ingredients, in some cases including a house-made gin featuring pink finger lime, sea parsley and pepi leaf. Wines from Western Australia, alcohol-free options and local craft beers round out the offerings.
Mimi Kakushi, Dubai – Kikuchi
Cocktails at Mimi Kakuchi come paired with a record
Named after Kikuchi Shigeya, Japan’s ‘father of jazz,’ Mimi Kakushi's Kikuchi menu brings the bar’s Jazz Age theme to life through a menu of 13 vinyl records, each featuring a cocktail option paired with a kindred song, which can be played at the bar upon request. Every record features a creative description of both song and drink as it aims to communicate the overall vibe of both to the guest. For example, the Shoka cocktail, made with gin, umeshu, nori syrup and yuzu juice – described as ‘soft and silky, with a hint of yuzu sharpness and ume plum sweetness’ –is represented by the song Early Summer by Ryo Fukuoi, which sounds ‘as light and dreamy as the name suggests.’
Florería Atlántico, Buenos Aires – Migration to Argentina since the return to democracy 1983-2024
Drinks such as the Uganda (pictured) highlight immigrant communities in Buenos Aires
As part of Florería Atlántico’s ongoing efforts to celebrate the culture and ingredients of Argentina through the lens of cocktails, its newest menu explores the influence of 13 different immigrant communities on the culture and gastronomy of the country. With a simple and stately design to keep the focus on the stories, each drink features an in-depth description of the migrant group in question as penned by famous Argentinian historian Felipe Pigna, plus historic photographs to bring the stories to life. As Argentinian spirits and produce collide with those from Venezuela, Brazil, China, Nigeria, Romania and beyond, a small assortment of details including flavour profile, allergens and the names of producers responsible for certain ingredients deepen the guest’s understanding of what’s in the glass and behind every element.
CAAA, Lucerne – Flavor of Sounds
Each guest is given a tablet with their cocktail to experience the Flavor of Sounds menu
The screech of crickets in a nighttime forest; the low rumble of an earthquake loosening rocks from the earth’s tight grip; the smouldering crackle of a burning fireplace – these are the sonic inspirations behind the Flavor of Sounds menu at CAAA in Lucerne, Switzerland. As part of the bar’s avant-garde ethos, the menu – delivered digitally via a tablet accompanied by pair of headphones – invites guests to choose from 14 drinks modelled after various audio themes (eight include alcohol, while six are zero-proof). Each sound is enhanced by a short video loop that brings the concept to life, with ingredients listed without embellishment to help guests make quick decisions. To mimic the soaring crush of a crestfallen wave, for example, the Maverick promises ‘a burst of absolute freedom on your taste buds with viscous yoghurt, salt and sucro seafoam.’
Dr. Stravinsky, Barcelona – La Bitácora del Dr. Stravinsky Vol I
Dr. Stravinsky's menu opens with a flavour map of the cocktails within
A journey into the world of Dr. Stravinsky is never dull. In the first volume of La Bitácora del Dr. Stravinsky, guests are whisked through a journey across Spain in search of the country’s most traditional and iconic ingredients: goats cheese from Cadiz, vinegar from Albacete and butter from Chantada. Alongside pertinent details about glassware, technique, flavour profile and alcohol-free options included, there is also a section for the bar’s signature drinks and a glossary that explains some of the more obscure liqueurs, tinctures, shrubs and other ingredients. Sketched out in charming handwriting, it is a playful and entertaining glimpse into the personal notebook of an intrepid globe-trotting bartender.
The Bombay Canteen, Mumbai – Make Mine a Bombay
The colourful sights and sounds of Mumbai inspired The Bombay Canteen's 2024 menu
The fifth edition of the Bombay Canteen’s printed Canteen Cocktail series, the Make Mine a Bombay menu was inspired by the phrase ‘Bombay is not a city. It’s an emotion!’ With each cocktail taking inspiration from a local cultural treasure or endemic quirk of city life – think flaming yellow marigolds glowing bright at famous flower markets transformed into the Phool, a gin spritz supercharged with umeshu and floral soda. The loud graphic design and playful illustrations bring the concept to life in a riot of joyful exuberance and colour. A smart touch: the inclusion of alcohol percentage helps guests make informed decisions about their consumption.
Cece, Almaty – Peace Signs
View this post on Instagram
Made from recycled plastic and featuring abstract illustrations in a rainbow of pastels designed by local artists, the groovy Peace Signs menu from Cece in Almaty, Kazakhstan, reimagines the cocktail experience by presenting every drink first without alcohol, because, as the menu reads: ‘Looking at the world and noticing beauty is always better with a fresh mind.’ After detailing the core flavour profile, each option includes several boozy riffs – such as highballs, sours and stirred numbers – for guests to choose from if they are in the mood for cocktails. With each drink inspired by a different interpretation of the ‘peace’ theme, including olive branches, doves or flower power, it is a harmonious collection from start to finish.
Meo, Vancouver – Fruits are not Vegetables
Sweet vegetable-based cocktails and savoury fruit concoctions subvert expectations at Meo
Designed by graphics company Glasfurd and Walker, the inaugural menu for Meo in Vancouver matches the energetic frequency of the interior design of the bar, which takes design notes from the look and feel of 1970’s Chinatown. Evoking the vibe of an artful pop culture magazine, the menu is a pastiche of historic photos sourced from the Beijing Silvermine (an archive of negatives salvaged from a recycling plant on the edge of the city), many arranged in intentionally nonsensical collages to represent the character of each cocktail. As an extension of the irreverent style of the graphic design, the Fruits are not Vegetables concept serves as a clever switch up as each cocktail features a fruit treated in a savoury way or a vegetable interpreted through a sweet lens. Its take on the espresso martini, for example, brings new depth to the concoction through the addition of carrot reduction.
The Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu Award 2025 is open to any style of bar across the globe and will open for submissions on Monday 13 January 2025. Follow 50 Best on Facebook, Instagram and X to stay in the loop.
