The Spirited Awards Just Dropped Their U.S. Nominees — And the List Says a Lot About Where Cocktail Culture Is Headed
Every year, the drinks industry has its version of awards season. And for anyone who takes their cocktails seriously — whether that means knowing the difference between a proper Sazerac and a shortcut version, or simply appreciating when a bartender actually cares about what they're putting in front of you — the Spirited Awards are the ones that matter.
The Tales of the Cocktail Foundation just announced the Top 10 U.S. nominees for the 2026 Spirited Awards, and the list covers everything from gritty neighborhood bars in Brooklyn to hotel lounges where the lighting is dim and the ice is clear. This is the 20th year the awards have run, and if the nominees are any indication, American cocktail culture is in a very interesting place right now.
The ceremony takes place July 23 in New Orleans at the Fillmore, as part of the Tales of the Cocktail conference running July 19 through 24. This year marks the conference's 24th anniversary, built around a theme they're calling "Spark" — meant to capture the kind of energy that happens when the global bar community actually gets in the same room together.
What the Spirited Awards Actually Are
Before getting into the nominees, it helps to understand what these awards represent. The Spirited Awards have been running since 2007, making this year's ceremony the 20th edition. They cover a wide range of categories — bartenders, bar teams, hotel bars, restaurant bars, brand ambassadors, mentors, and more — both domestically and internationally.
The program also hands out top honors that go beyond U.S. borders, including World's Best Cocktail Bar and World's Best Cocktail Menu.
What separates the Spirited Awards from a lot of other industry recognition is how the nominees are chosen. There's no public voting, no popularity contest, no gaming the system by rallying your Instagram followers. A panel of more than 250 industry professionals — bartenders, bar owners, educators, writers — evaluates the nominees based on structured criteria. Each vote carries equal weight. The judges are organized by region and category, led by an international committee of chairs and co-chairs who represent everything from Asia Pacific to Latin America to the Middle East.
Tiffanie Barriere, who serves as both U.S. Chair and International Chair alongside Ryan Chetiyawardana, put it plainly: "The magic of cocktail culture has never just lived in what's in the glass — it lives in the people, the stories, and the hospitality that stay with us long after the last sip. This year's nominees embody the passion, creativity, and cultural influence that continue to shape how the world gathers, celebrates, and connects."
That's not just awards-ceremony language. If you've spent time in genuinely great bars, you know exactly what she means.
The Bartenders to Know
U.S. Bartender of the Year
The Bartender of the Year category, presented by Brown-Forman, is where individual talent gets recognized. The ten nominees this year represent a cross-section of American bar culture — major markets like New York, but also cities like Birmingham, Alabama, and Phoenix, Arizona, which don't always get their due in national conversations about cocktails.
The full list of nominees:
Eric Bennett from Continental Drift in Birmingham, Alabama. Linda Douglas from Donna's in Los Angeles. Andrea Grujic from Sip & Guzzle in New York. Juliette Larrouy from schmuck. in New York. Libby Lingua from Highball in Phoenix. Daddy Long Legs from Hawksmoor in Chicago. Shammai Mading from Superbueno in New York. Steve Schneider, also from Sip & Guzzle in New York. Takuma Watanabe, who operates across Martiny's, L'Americana, and Midnight Blue in New York. And J'Nai Angelle Williams from the Chandelier Bar at the Four Seasons in New Orleans.
A few things stand out immediately. Sip & Guzzle in New York has two nominees in this category alone — Grujic and Schneider — which says something real about what's happening at that bar. The fact that Birmingham and Phoenix are represented alongside New York and Chicago is also worth noting. The best bartenders in America are not all working in the same three zip codes.
The Bars That Made the Cut
Best U.S. Cocktail Bar
This category is the one that draws the most attention from serious drinkers, and this year's nominees reflect a mix of established names and newer spots that have earned their way into the conversation.
The ten nominees are: Bar Snack in New York, Best Intentions in Chicago, Double Chicken Please in New York, Martiny's in New York, Overstory in New York, Service Bar in Washington D.C., Sip & Guzzle in New York, Superbueno in New York, Thunderbolt in Los Angeles, and True Laurel in San Francisco.
New York dominates this list — six of the ten nominees are there — but the presence of Service Bar in D.C., Thunderbolt in L.A., and True Laurel in San Francisco shows that the coasts beyond Manhattan are producing serious work. Superbueno and Sip & Guzzle both appear here as well, reinforcing what the Bartender of the Year nominations already suggested: these are operations worth paying attention to.
Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar
This category is where you find out what's coming next. The ten nominees for best new bar are spread across the country in a way that reflects how cocktail culture has been expanding beyond the traditional centers.
Denver shows up three times: Rougarou, Semiprecious, and The Peach Crease Club all made the list. Los Angeles has two nominees — Daisy Margarita Bar and Vandell. New York is represented by schmuck. New Orleans has Junebug. Nashville has Eleven11. Brooklyn has Dolores. And Houston has Donna's.
Denver appearing three times in a single category is a statement. The city has been building a legitimate bar scene for years, and this kind of recognition from the Spirited Awards signals that what's happening there is real, not regional hype.
Best U.S. Hotel Bar
Hotel bars have a complicated reputation. They can be overpriced, generic, and designed more for business travelers who don't know where else to go than for anyone who actually cares about what they're drinking. The nominees in this category are the exceptions.
The ten nominees are: Carousel Bar and Lounge at Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans, Champagne Bar at the Four Seasons Surf Club in Miami, Chandelier Bar at the Four Seasons New Orleans, Dear Irving on Hudson at the Aliz Hotel in New York, Midnight Rambler at The Joule in Dallas, Raines Law Room at the William in New York, The Manor Bar at the Rosewood Miramar Beach in Montecito, California, The Sazerac Bar at The Roosevelt New Orleans, ViceVersa at the Elser Hotel in Miami, and White Limozeen at The Graduate in Nashville.
New Orleans is heavily represented here with three nominees, which makes sense given the city's role in American cocktail history. The Carousel Bar and the Sazerac Bar both carry historical weight — they are the kinds of places that have been doing things right for decades. The Chandelier Bar at the Four Seasons New Orleans also shows up, with nominee J'Nai Angelle Williams making her mark in the Bartender of the Year category from that same room.
Best U.S. Restaurant Bar
Restaurant bars occupy a specific kind of space — they have to work within the demands of a full dining operation while still delivering something worth coming in for on its own. The nominees here are pulling that off.
The ten are: Amazonia in Washington D.C., Arnaud's French 75 Bar in New Orleans, Bar Madonna in Brooklyn, Cobra in Columbus, Daisies in Chicago, Hungry Eyes in New Orleans, Kimball House in Decatur, Georgia, Mírate in Los Angeles, Sunny's Steakhouse in Miami, and Viridian in Oakland.
Arnaud's French 75 Bar is one of the great restaurant bars in the country by any honest measure. Kimball House in Decatur has been a consistent presence in conversations about great bars in the South. Cobra in Columbus, Ohio, representing the Midwest alongside Daisies in Chicago, shows that the restaurant bar category has real geographic range this year.
The People Behind the Scenes
Best U.S. Bar Mentor
This is one of the less-publicized categories, but arguably one of the most meaningful. Good mentorship in the bar industry shapes careers in ways that never show up on any drinks menu. The ten nominees are: Steva Casey, Meaghan Dorman, Kate Gerwin, Iain Griffiths, Amanda Gunderson and Travis Nass, Ignacio "Nacho" Jiménez, Anne Louise Marquis, Jeffrey Morganthaler, LP O'Brien, and Christine Wiseman.
Jeffrey Morganthaler is a name that will be familiar to anyone who has followed the American cocktail industry over the past couple of decades. His influence on how bartenders think about their craft has been extensive. The presence of nominees from across the country in this category reflects the breadth of mentorship happening at the regional level, not just in the biggest markets.
Best U.S. Brand Ambassador
Brand ambassadors exist at the intersection of the drinks industry and the broader bar community — they represent specific products while also serving as educators and advocates for the craft. The ten nominees are: Erik Andersson for Hendrick's Gin, Joe Brooke for Fords Gin, Kiowa Bryan for Saint Benevolence, Tad Carducci for Gruppo Montenegro, Benny Hurwitz for Campari American Whiskies, Alexander "Zan" Kong for Worthy Park Estate, Jessi Lorraine for Old Forester, Mary Palac for Campari Mexican Spirits, Cesar Sandoval for Casa Lumbre Spirits, and Erin Schaeferle for Mr Black Coffee Liqueur.
The range of brands represented here covers gin, rum, whiskey, amaro, and coffee liqueur — a snapshot of what's moving in the American market right now.
Best U.S. Bar Team
This category recognizes that a great bar is almost never the result of one person. It takes a team. The ten nominees, presented by William Grant and Sons, are: Bar Snack in New York, Cobra in Columbus, Highball in Phoenix, Lady Jane in Denver, Nickel City in Austin, Pacific Cocktail Haven in San Francisco, Service Bar in Washington D.C., Sip and Guzzle in New York, Superbueno in New York, and Yacht Club in Denver.
Cobra in Columbus earns nominations in both the Bar Team and Restaurant Bar categories, which reinforces that what's happening in Ohio deserves national attention. Highball in Phoenix shows up here and in the Bartender of the Year category with Libby Lingua, another sign of a bar operating at a high level across the board.
What Comes Next
The awards process doesn't stop with the Top 10 announcements. On June 8 and 9, the list narrows to Top 4 finalists in each category. Those same dates will also see the announcement of the Helen David Lifetime Achievement Award, the Tales Visionary Award, the International Timeless Award, and the U.S. Timeless Award.
The actual winners are announced July 23 at the 20th Annual Spirited Awards Ceremony at the Fillmore New Orleans. That evening is the culmination of what the Tales of the Cocktail conference has been building toward all week.
For anyone attending the conference, the official host hotel is The Ritz-Carlton New Orleans, which has a room block available through Marriott. The deadline to book is June 22, 2026, and reservations go first come, first served.
The full list of Spirited Awards sponsors includes Food and Wine, Brown-Forman, Pernod Ricard, William Grant and Sons, and Australian Bitters Co.
Why Any of This Matters
The Spirited Awards are not just industry back-patting. For anyone who spends real time at bars — who plans trips around where they want to drink, who seeks out places where the bartender actually knows what they're doing — this list is a practical resource.
The Tales of the Cocktail Foundation has been running a Spirited Awards Directory that tracks winners and nominees going back 20 years. It is, by any measure, one of the more useful tools available for figuring out where to drink well in America.
The 2026 nominees tell a story about where American cocktail culture stands right now. New York still dominates certain categories, but Denver is emerging fast. New Orleans remains central to any honest conversation about American bar history. Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Phoenix, Columbus, Austin, Nashville, Miami, and Oakland all have representatives making a case that great drinking is not confined to any single city.
The people running these bars, mixing these drinks, and mentoring the next generation of bartenders are not just making cocktails. They are, as the awards have always recognized, shaping how Americans gather, celebrate, and spend time together.
That's worth knowing about. And now there's a list to start from.
