Tales of the Cocktail | Spirited Awards

Since its founding in 2007, the Spirited Awards® have become one of the industry’s most sought-after awards, recognizing beverage professionals, products, and establishments across every facet of the spirits and cocktail community on a global scale. The award categories spotlight a range of talent from bartenders, journalists, and brand ambassadors, and entities from bars, to brands and media, to ensure each aspect of the industry is well represented and recognized for its contributions.

“The annual Spirited Awards® come with a legacy and deep-rooted traditions that have been forged over the course of the past decade,” said Tales of the Cocktail Foundation Board Member, Gary Solomon Jr. “We’re looking forward to upholding that tradition, but more than that, we’re excited to diversify the international pool of committee chairs and judges who have the impossibly hard job of selecting the best and brightest across the industry.”

Organized into four pillars, the Spirited Awards® are comprised of industry accolades — American and International — writing awards, and a few highly coveted, overall awards that transcend regionality including World’s Best Cocktail Bar and World’s Best Cocktail Menu. A full list of categories can be accessed here.

“Safeguarding the integrity of the Spirited Awards® is incredibly important to us,” added Board Member Neal Bodenheimer. “We are updating our policies and criteria this year across all categories to make sure they accurately represent the organization’s values and further its mission.”

Winners will be voted on by two panels of over 100 industry experts, led by Charlotte Voisey (Chairperson), Jacob Briars (Spirited Awards International Chairman), Paul Clarke (Writing and Media Committee Chair) Bridget Albert and Kiowa Bryan (U.S. Committee Chairs).

“The Spirited Awards have allowed the industry to recognize excellence and celebrate advances in the cocktail industry around the world for the past eleven years and I look forward to that continuing this year with a broad group of judges representing regions across the USA and throughout the rest of the world,” said Charlotte Voisey, Chairperson of the Spirited Awards®. “ As always nominations are encouraged from far and wide to truly capture the very best of the bar world.”

Tales of the Cocktail will be hosted in New Orleans from July 17th to 22nd, 2018, and the Spirited Awards® will occur on July 21st, 2018. To view the past Spirited Awards® winners, click here. To learn more about Tales of the Cocktail, please click here.