Editorial
A bar program is not a menu. It is a philosophy, a sourcing strategy, a team culture, and a set of creative principles applied consistently over time. The best bar programs in the world are the ones where every detail — the spirits selection, the menu structure, the ice program, the garnish approach, the training of new staff — reflects a coherent point of view. We have identified the programs that, right now, are setting the global standard in their respective areas. These are worth travelling for.
The most distinctive bar programs are built around a specific, defensible concept — a spirit category, a culinary tradition, a design philosophy — that makes every decision easier and every visit more coherent. These bars know exactly what they are doing and why, and it shows in every interaction with their menus.
A second category of exceptional bar program is defined not by concept but by process. These bars treat cocktail development as a research discipline — sourcing ingredients the way chefs source produce, testing flavour combinations with the rigour of a test kitchen, and documenting their process in a way that makes the menu a record of genuine intellectual work.
Some of the most compelling bar programs are the ones that draw their identity from a specific cultural tradition and then execute it with enough rigour that they become authoritative on that tradition. These are not theme bars — they are bars run by people who grew up with the culture they are expressing, or who have spent years studying it with an outsider's diligence.
The best bar programs share a common characteristic that transcends concept, research approach, or cultural specificity: they are run by people who have a reason for doing what they do beyond commercial success. That reason — whether it is growing your own ingredients, documenting a cultural tradition, or building the most historically rigorous menu in your city — is visible in every element of the experience. You can always tell when a program has a purpose beyond profit.
Visit as many of these as you can. Each one will change how you think about what a bar menu can be, and that shift in perspective will improve every bar experience you have afterwards, regardless of quality level.
James evaluates bar programs the way a serious reader evaluates novels — by asking what the author was trying to do and whether they achieved it. A technically perfect cocktail in service of a shallow concept does not interest him. A slightly rough cocktail that reveals genuine thinking always does.