Do you like showing off how many bars on a list you’ve been to? Are you annoyed by having to arrange all the little checkmarks manually in your phone’s photo app? Well, be annoyed no more – this form lets you easily track your bars!
Check off which of the 2026 North America’s 50 Best Bars 51-100 you’ve been to, then screencap or download it to share with your friends (don’t forget to tag @Bar_Notable!). A more polished and automated version of this will be a premium feature of our site, but you get to test this rough and ready version for free.
(On iPhone, this opens zoomed in and the check squares look like circles, so the checkmarks look a little odd. I’m working on a fix but since I learned all of this in like four hours, I’m going to be happy for what *does* work.)
Several years ago, when I first started my spreadsheet to track The World’s 50 Best Bars, I was excitedly telling a friend about it and he said
You know, nobody cares about this stuff as much as you do.
His tone made it clear that this wasn’t meant as a compliment and for a long time, that reaction made me embarrassed to tell people about my work.
If I visited a bar because it was on a list, I was hesitant to admit as much for fear of seeming….what? Pedestrian? Hung up on awards? An outsider? It’s taken several years of travel, many excited responses about what I’m doing, having my data used in a seminar at Tales of the Cocktail, and a good therapist to get me to the point where I will proudly talk about my comprehensive database of bar awards.
At some point there was a generational shift away from caring, or at least admitting to care, and I think we need to swing the pendulum back in the other direction. There’s enough apathy and the negativity in the world already, joy is revolutionary. Yes, admitting you care about being recognized or awarded for your work means openly admitting that you’ll be sad and disappointed if you don’t win or get ranked – but that’s not a weakness – it’s a sign that you want to do your best.
At some point there was a generational shift away from caring, or at least admitting to care, and I think we need to swing the pendulum back in the other direction. There’s enough apathy and the negativity in the world already, joy is revolutionary. Yes, admitting you care about being recognized or awarded for your work means openly admitting that you’ll be sad and disappointed if you don’t win or get ranked – but that’s not a weakness – it’s a sign that you want to do your best.
Looking back on the statement “No one cares about this as much as you do,” I see it very differently today. So many amazing things in the world only exist because someone cared more than anyone else. (See: John Fulton’s Orrery)
As I’ve spent more time digging into awards, I’ve seen this attitude of “too cool to care” surface over and over. No one cares about awards (until they win one) and few people will admit that they want to win. I’ve watched bartenders travel the world, spending more days away than at home, building hype for their bar and then going on a podcast to say they don’t care about winning awards. I’ve heard stories about the steps a bar took to get a global audience and then watched their head bartender sit on a panel and say none of it is for the awards.
Now don’t get me wrong – winning awards should not be the primary focus of a bar. We don’t want bars that only care whether or not the next person through the door is a voter, but neither are we served well by people refusing to admit they care about something. I recently had a lovely chat with a bar owner about how soulless some top bars can feel when they become the sort of place you go once, but they don’t have the space or ability to create a culture of regulars. As a random middle aged white woman from the Midwest, I’ve experienced what it feels like to walk into a bar and be sized up as a nobody. Sometimes that tune changes when a bartender realizes I know a thing or two about bars, cocktails, and hospitality – but sometimes it doesn’t.
Banana Daiquiri made with local bananas at The Hitching Post in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico – a hidden gem of a bar/restaurant.
External validation shouldn’t be *the* driving force behind a bar program, but it’s okay for it to be *a* driving force. Deep down, I believe it’s human nature to care about recognition. There’s nothing wrong with just keeping your head down and getting on with it but there’s also nothing wrong with wanting to hear your community say “hey, great work.” And if, at the end of the day, you really don’t give a shit? That’s fine – but maybe try to find a talking point that doesn’t make someone else feel embarrassed when they do care.
Cool shit happens because someone cares enough to make it happen. So be cool, care deeply, and make shit happen.
It’s been an exciting couple of weeks for bar awards! The Spirited Awards regional top 10 honorees were announced on April 18th. (I’m still trying to figure out a way to turn these into a spreadsheet – it’s a lot harder than the simple ranking of 50 Best!) North America’s 50 Best of 2024 were announced on April 23rd (and my full tracking spreadsheet was immediately updated as well). And next week, we have the first ever announcement of “Pins” from The Pinnacle Guide – a brand new ranking in the style of Michelin stars. Since bars do the work to nominate themselves for a pin, I’m hoping to see more regional diversity from them in the long run. Fingers crossed!
Cocktails from the new menu at Meteor – one of the Spirited Awards Regional Honorees for Best Bar Team
For reasons unbeknown to my sanity, I also decided to start a public Google calendar of all these awards. I’ve been making notes on my personal calendar when nomination periods open and close, and realized that might be useful for others as well. If I’m really ambitious, I’ll also try to add open cocktail competitions. Deep down I believe that the way we make these awards truly valuable is by making sure our bartenders, enthusiasts, and bar owners are putting in the work to nominate themselves and others who deserve recognition. The data speaks volumes about the diversity of bars reflected in awards with public nominations vs. private voting and while there still have to be checks and balances to avoid these awards turning into a social media popularity contest (I’m looking at you, Bar Boss), I want the net to be cast a little wider.
Anyway, I’m way behind on updating my travel maps (Singapore recap and Toronto planning, coming soon!) so instead of doing that, here’s a totally different project, my award tracking calendar. It’s pretty sparse right now because a bunch of nominations seasons just ended – but the Scottish Licensed Trade News noms are open and I’ll keep adding whatever I can find so subscribe for updates
