The barsforKings Awards

The 2025 Awards

An annual reckoning. The 2025 barsforKings Awards recognise the bars, bartenders, drinks and rooms that earned the editorial team's votes across 72 cities of regular reporting. Six categories. One winner each. Three finalists.

The Awards are independent. No fees, no submissions, no pay-to-play. Winners are decided by the five regional editors after the year's final round of visits, ratified at our December editorial meeting, and published the second Tuesday of January.

2025 categories

Bar of the Year

The single bar our editors voted as 2025's best room, anywhere.

See the winner ›

Bartender of the Year

The bartender behind 2025's most-discussed list of cocktails.

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Cocktail of the Year

The single drink our editors keep coming back to in 2025.

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Comeback of the Year

The room everyone had written off — and the team who quietly fixed it.

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Newcomer of the Year

The 2025 opening that mattered.

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The bars in our index that have earned a permanent place in the canon.

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By city

In addition to the global awards, we publish a Bar of the Year for each of our 20 priority cities. See all 20 city awards.

Past winners

The 2025 awards are our inaugural edition. Future years will appear here as they publish each January.

For press

Embargoed press preview opens four weeks before each January announcement. Email the editorial desk via the press kit for early access.