The much-anticipated awards ceremony celebrating the best of the North American bar community will be held on April 23, 2024
North America’s 50 Best Bars, sponsored by Perrier, will return for a third edition in April 2024. The three-day event program will be held in San Miguel de Allende, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mexico, culminating in the awards ceremony on Tuesday, April 23, 2024.
After the successful inaugural event for North America’s 50 Best Bars 2022 in New York City, the 50 Best organization took the awards ceremony on the road to San Miguel de Allende in 2023, uniting the North American bar community in recognition of the best bars across the continent. The 2024 event program returns to Mexico for a second time to shine a spotlight on the country’s world-leading cocktail scene and to celebrate the best bartending talent over three days of events in the culturally rich city of San Miguel de Allende.
Emma Sleight, Head of Content for North America’s 50 Best Bars, says: “After a successful edition of North America’s 50 Best Bars in San Miguel de Allende last year, we are thrilled to return to Mexico for what will undoubtedly be a captivating event program. In line with the country’s growing international reputation for food and drink, bars in Mexico have climbed 50 Best rankings over recent years. By bringing the biggest event in North America’s bar calendar back to San Miguel de Allende we hope to continue showcasing the city’s vibrant nightlife, as well as the people who make every experience exceptional for visitors and contribute to driving travel and tourism.”
Highlights for the event program in San Miguel de Allende will include the Bartenders’ Feast, which takes place the night before the reveal of North America’s 50 Best Bars 2024. It will be followed by the live countdown and awards ceremony itself on April 23, culminating in the reveal of The Best Bar in North America 2024 and other special award winners.
Mauricio Trejo, Mayor of San Miguel de Allende, says: “We are so very pleased to be chosen again to host North America’s 50 Best Bars. It is such a wonderful and prominent event, and to pick San Miguel de Allende is proof and acknowledgment of the impact our city has made, and continues to make, with regard to our excellent gastronomy, bars, lifestyle and luxurious experiences.
This will not only further contribute to our image but also support our local community to succeed in making this enchanting and cosmopolitan city a great experience for anyone who visits. Similarly to last year, 50 Best has our full commitment to make this event an even greater world-class experience than it was last year.”
Ahead of the awards ceremony, 50 Best will announce the winners of two special awards designed to celebrate the exceptional achievements of one bar and one bartender over the past year:
- Michter’s Art of Hospitality. This award is voted for by all members of the North America’s 50 Best Bars Academy, who are asked to name the bar where they received the single best hospitality experience during the voting period.
- Altos Bartenders’ Bartender. This award is voted for by the bartenders behind those bars on this year’s list, who are asked to name one peer who has done more to further the craft of bartending than any other, with reference to their work to support the ongoing recovery of the bar sector in the wake of the pandemic.
The countdown of the list of North America’s 50 Best Bars, sponsored by Perrier, will also be broadcast live to a global audience who are not able to attend in person. Bars and cocktail lovers are invited to join through The World’s 50 Best Bars Facebook page and 50 Best Bars TV channel on YouTube.
How the Voting Works
The ranking for North America’s 50 Best Bars will reflect the best bar experiences based on the votes of the Academy members, who comprise anonymous North American bar industry experts (including bartenders, bar owners, drinks media and well-traveled cocktail connoisseurs) from the USA, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. In 2023, the Academy expanded to 270 members. This change was implemented to obtain a wider snapshot and ensure a greater number of diverse voices voting for the awards.
Moreover, as per all 50 Best lists for restaurants, bars and hotels, 25 per cent of Academy members are refreshed annually to keep the perspectives dynamic and relevant. Members of the 50 Best organization do not vote and do not control the composition of the list; that is the collective role of the voting Academy. This means that bars cannot apply to be on the list and no sponsors have any influence on the list.
The Academy is divided into 7 regions: USA Northeast; USA Midwest; USA West; USA South; Canada East; Canada West; Mexico and the Caribbean. Each region has its own panel of members including a chairperson, called the Academy Chair. The Chairs each then select a voting panel, ensuring a balanced selection. Each North America Academy member will vote for 7 bars, with a maximum of 5 in the home country (or state in the U.S.) where they are based. Voters also have the option to vote for a further 2 (or more) bars located outside of their home country (or U.S. state) up to a maximum of 7.
Voting is carried out individually and strictly confidentially on a secure site and remains confidential before the list announcement. Academy Chairs are not privy to, and have no knowledge of, the votes cast by the voters in their respective regions. They are neither spokespeople for the 50 Best brand.
The list will be the result of a poll of 270 experts (all within the North American continent), who each cast votes for the bars where they have had their ‘best experience’ during the last 18 months before the voting deadline. The list is a simple computation of votes by North American voters for bars in North America. Further information on the Academy Chairs and how the voting works is available on the FAQs page here.
