The global cocktail community is packing its bags for Hong Kong for the reveal of The World’s 50 Best Bars 2025, sponsored by Perrier, on 8 October.
Now in its 17th edition, The World’s 50 Best Bars is heading to Hong Kong for the reveal of its 2025 ranking. After awards ceremonies in London, Barcelona, Singapore and Madrid, this year’s events will see the programme return to Asia for the second time in its history.
This year’s festivities will bring together the bar community through a series of events across the bustling metropolis known for its world-leading hospitality scene, culminating in the coveted awards ceremony on Wednesday 8 October at the iconic Kai Tak Cruise Terminal overlooking Victoria Harbour, where the brand-new ranking will be unveiled.
Other key events around the city will include the Bartenders’ Feast, the first assembly of the teams behind the soon-to-be-ranked cocktail spots that takes place the night prior to the ceremony, and the Closing Party on Thursday 9 October as one final goodbye to the year’s festivities..jpg)
The World's 50 Best Bars will return to Asia for its 2025 reveal
This year’s programme will also see the return of 50 Best Signature Sessions: a series of exclusive one-time-only collaborations between world-leading hospitality establishments, hosted at some of Hong Kong’s hottest venues. During the last 50 Best Signature Sessions series in Hong Kong as part of Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024, closed-loop cocktail specialist Penicillin (No.24) hosted Seoul’s Zest (No.2 and winner of the Ketel One Sustainable Bar Award 2024) and Himkok in Oslo (No.11 in The World’s 50 Best Bars 2024) for a night of ultra-sustainable libations. Nearby, Coa, Sips and Handshake Speakeasy joined forces as the reigning champions of their regions for an evening of cocktails created by Tres Números Unos, or three No.1s.
A host of special awards will be unveiled in the weeks leading up to the live event programme. These will include the Michter’s Art of Hospitality Award, celebrating a bar with exemplary service, and the Altos Bartenders’ Bartender Award, a peer-voted accolade recognising an individual deemed to have had a positive impact on the sector over the past year.
Handshake Speakeasy in Mexico City took the No.1 spot in 2024
The extended ranking of bars ranked 51st to 100th will also be revealed a few weeks ahead of the ceremony, casting a wider spotlight on exemplary drinks establishments across the globe.
The list will be calculated from the votes of the 50 Best Voting Academy: a gender-balanced panel of more than 700 industry experts from 28 regions across the world. The Academy is composed of equal parts bartenders, drinks writers and well-travelled cocktail experts and each voter is simply required to name their eight best cocktail experiences from the previous 18 months. The resulting list is created as a simple computation of these votes, with the process and final ranking independently adjudicated by Deloitte.
Watch the highlights from last year’s events in Madrid:
This list of The World’s 50 Best Bars 2025, sponsored by Perrier, will be revealed at a live awards ceremony in Hong Kong on Wednesday 8 October. Follow 50 Best on Instagram, find us on Facebook, visit us on X and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
