The World’s 50 Best Bars awards ceremony, taking place on 7th December in London, will see the announcement of the inaugural Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu winner. After assessing hundreds of entries from across the world, today the shortlist of five bars in the running to lift the title is announced…
In a first for the 50 Best programme, an award that celebrates the brilliance of an individual bar’s cocktail menu will be announced to the world. Judging for the Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu has been taking place for the past three months, with 190 bars from 43 countries submitting their menus and supporting materials to be assessed by 50 Best and its Academy Chairs from across the globe.
Bars are evaluated on five key areas of the menu’s production: Design and Layout; Storytelling; Innovation; Range of Drinks; and Sustainability. They also each drafted a statement that addresses these criteria as well as provide any research and development materials that informed the menu’s production. The menu has to be available after the winner is announced on 7th December, so guests are able to sample what will be named The World’s Best Cocktail Menu.
Shortlist in brief
Bar Trigona, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Herb Garden in Your Glass
Bövem, Pessac, France
Functionalism
Himkok, Oslo, Norway
NFT & Blockchain 2021
Lab 22, Cardiff, UK
Theories + Frontiers
Little Red Door, Paris, France
Grounded
Meet the bars and their menus:
Bar Trigona
Menu: Herb Garden in Your Glass
Herb Garden in Your Glass, this Kuala Lumpur bar’s latest menu, focusses on four common Malaysian herbs that are used in kitchens up and down the country. The menu looks to educate guests around food waste by showing different techniques to reduce surplus at home. As a previous winner of the Ketel One Sustainable Bar Award, Bar Trigona’s environmentally positive credentials are at the forefront of its operation. 
Bövem
Menu: Functionalism
This bar in the town of Pessac, Bordeaux, in southwest France, is all about great design and well-conceived drinks. The latest menu, Functionalism, draws on the Pantone colour chart and pairs this with a pH reference to denote the strength of each drink in an easy-to-understand manner. A large and considered selection of no-alcohol cocktails feature as many technical processes as the alcoholic serves, giving a great range of options to guests.
Himkok
Menu: NFT & Blockchain 2021
A bar with originality and bespoke design at its core, Oslo’s Himkok released its latest menu in collaboration with Norwegian artist Esra Røise as a non-fungible token (NFT). NFTs are unique, digital items with blockchain-managed ownership – guests and consumers have the opportunity to purchase the original artworks, where the proceeds will be split between funding Himkok’s recovery from pandemic-enforced closure and a charity. The menu itself runs the gamut of the house-distilled spirits and tinctures for which Himkok is known. Alongside great design, the bar enacts an advanced sustainability policy, designed in conjunction with Wecycle and Norwegian Trash. 
Lab 22
Menu: Theories + Frontiers
This diminutive bar in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, UK, pushes the boundaries with each menu it creates. For this incarnation, each cocktail is based on a different ‘theory’ or ‘frontier’ expressed in either the ingredient choice or the serve itself. Minimalism is the focus – no superfluous information adorns the page and extra scientific information about the processes behind the drinks is available via a QR code. A hugely innovative ‘decision tree’ flow chart concludes the menu, which supports fellow local hospitality businesses and helps guests decide which bar, club or restaurant they should visit next.
Little Red Door
Menu: Grounded
This 50 Best regular in the French capital updates its menu annually and it is always one of the most anticipated releases in the cocktail world. For Grounded, the team explores the dynamic between producer, produce and product. Each drink champions a specific grower, with their ingredient the focal point of each of the 10 cocktails – the producers are immortalised in portraits by renowned French photographer Roman Jehanno. The result is a diverse selection of drinks connecting heritage, culture and the French bar sector’s supply chain.
The list of The World’s 50 Best Bars 2021 will be announced on Tuesday, 7th December at a live awards ceremony in London. To stay up to date with all news and announcements, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
