North America's 50 Best Bars Reveals Its 2025 List; Crowns Industry Icon
The winners are revealed at a gala in Vancouver on Tuesday, April 29th, 2025
The 2025 list of North America's 50 Best Bars has just been revealed. And for the second year in a row the top spot belongs to Handshake Speakeasy, a sleek and moody parlor in the Colonia Juárez district of Mexico City. Number two on the list was also a repeat performance from last year: Superbueno--a playful Mexican-American cocktail lounge in New York's East Village.
Though the Mexican capital again bested the Big Apple when it comes to holding the number one watering hole, New York can still claim the greatest number of top 50 bars of any city in North America, with 11 in total. That number includes notable newcomers such as Clemente Bar and Sip & Guzzle, craft darlings which are expected to climb higher towards the top of lists like these in the months and years to come.
Over on the West Coast the biggest winner was Mírate. Number 12 on the list, it's the biggest climber this time around, jumping 34 spots from its premiere at the 2024 North America's 50 Best. The stylish restaurant and bar in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles boasts one of the country's broadest collections of agave spirits. And beverage director Maxwell Reis is shaping these stellar liquids into an inventive stable of cutting edge cocktails.
2025 Roku Industry Icon Julie Reiner
Meanwhile, the highest honor for an individual bartender in 2025 went out to Julie Reiner. The founder of Clover Club and Milady's in New York was named the Roku Industry Icon. The award takes its name from the Japanese gin brand from Suntory that's been a hit with craft mixologists ever since debuting back in 2017. To chose the winner, 300 members of the 50 Best voting academy are asked to nominate someone who has made the most significant contribution in advancing the bar industry. Reiner garnered more votes than anyone else.
"Receiving the Roku Industry Icon Award was an honor, but I was more honored to be there among my friends and family and peers to see how far we've all come," says Reiner, of receiving the recognition at a packed gala at the JW Marriott in Vancouver, Canada. 'It's a privilege to work in this industry. It's hard. It can be defeating. It can be backbreaking. But it can also be fun. And exciting. And enlightening. So to still be here kicking around with all the great new faces that are constantly discovering their love of bartending is something I certainly don't take for granted.'
This mark's the fourth iteration of North America's 50 Best Bars. It was launched in 2022 by William Reed Ltd, the same organization responsible for World's 50 Best Restaurants and World's 50 Best Bars. The runaway success of those ongoing ventures has led the company to create more specific regional offshoots, including Asia's 50 Best Bars, Asia's 50 Best Restaurants and, most recently, the World's 50 Best Hotels.
Previous winners for North America's 50 Best Bars--prior to Handshake Speakeasy--include Double Chicken Please (2023) and Attaboy (2022). For the complete 2025 rundown, from 1-50, click here.
Julie Reiner and Lynette Marrero attend(s) CAMPARI's 150th Anniversary at Bowery Hotel on May 16th, ... More 2010 in New York City. (Photo by WILL RAGOZZINO/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
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