Top six Americas bars to visit in 2016

From innovative base spirits to local flavours, the Americas are embracing a return to cocktail roots, writes Tyler Wetherall.

Looking across New York, Mexico City, Chicago and Montreal, we select the best bars to visit in the Americas next year

The US has long led the global cocktail scene, with world-leading bartenders, quirky venues and unique menus setting the country apart.

This year’s Americas report takes in the region more widely, with an overarching move towards simplicity, authenticity and genuine craft shining through across the two continents.

Leading the charge is an array of locally produced spirits, giving bartenders the ability to tailor serves like never before, and this is fuelling consumer interest in the intricacies of base spirits. Wherever you find yourself drinking in 2016, enjoy the genuine cultural revival.

Click through the following pages to discover our pick of the top six Americas bars to visit in 2016, as well as our Americas Bar to Watch 2016. While these bars are not necessarily new, they look set to offer exciting things for discerning barflies in the year ahead.

Sweet Liberty Drinks & Supply Company – Miami, US

This bar was a long time in the making, but now it’s landed, Sweet Liberty is expected to make some noise in the industry next year. This is a neighbourhood spot from a powerhouse team including world class bartender John Lermayer (Regent Cocktail Club and Florida Room), Dan Binkiewicz (co-owner at Blackbird Ordinary) and restaurateur David Martinez of Michy’s. Located in the up-and-coming Collins Park area, Sweet Liberty taps into two big trends right now: firstly, the highbrow-lowbrow concept, as a good times American pub yet offering drinks and bar food of a far higher calibre; and secondly, the rise of the home bar, with a little shop up front selling cocktail paraphernalia such as bitters and coupes for people to recreate their drinks at home.  

Whitechapel – San Francisco, US

With Smuggler’s Cover rum connoisseur Martin Cate created America’s finest tiki bar, not to mention one the country’s best cocktail bars. Now he has turned his attention to “mothers’ ruin” with the upcoming Whitechapel. Revelling in a single-minded focus on one spirit, he aims to provide the largest selection of gins in the United States with a 400-strong collection, at a time when the American gin market is at its most interesting. Themed on a Victorian-era distillery in an abandoned London Underground station, this is bringing the playful escapist bent of tiki to bear on the more serious gin-drinking tradition. As well as a 70-strong cocktail list – thanks to beverage director Alex Smith of Novela and Gitane – the Polk Street Irregulars programme will offer tastings and education, similar to Smugger’s Cove’s Rumbustion Society. 

Leyenda – NYC, US

In a scene often dominated or characterised by men, the female presence at Latin-themed cocktail bar Leyenda is strong. This is a collaborative effort from veteran Julie Reiner of Clover Club – which can be thanked for putting Cobble Hill on New York’s cocktail map – and her long-time employee and protégé Ivy Mix, who was recently named American Bartender of the Year at Tales of the Cocktail. The concept is the brainchild of Mix, who is also a founder of Speed Rack (along with Lynnette Marrero), and she and Reiner have mentored a new generation of women in the industry. When it comes to the drinks, the focus on Latin spirits comes at a time when interest is growing across America in Tequila and mezcal, but also sotol, cachaça, pisco and aguardiente.

Agrikol – Montreal, Canada

It was the involvement of Win Butler and Régine Chassagne of Arcade Fire that first drew the world’s attention to this project; the hospitality incarnation of the Canadian rockers evocative and worldly music certainly piques the interest. But what gives Agrikol credentials is the presence of restaurateur Jen Agg – who already boasts an empire in Toronto with The Black Hoof, Rhum Corner and Cocktail Bar – as well as her partner, artist Roland Jean. Just as Arcade Fire’s last album channelled Haiti, Agrikol will offer Haitian food, rum drinks, and arts, with a second building being used as a cultural space.

Baltra – Mexico City, Mexico

The cocktail culture is Mexico City is quietly claiming a place on the global bar scene, and Licoreria Limantour arguably kicked things off when it opened in 2012, now sitting pretty at number 20 in The World’s 50 Best Bars list. In February 2015, the team opened up a second, more informal, waiter-free outpost, Baltra. Once you’re buzzed into the speakeasy style entrance, the space is inspired by Charles Darwin’s travels through the Galapagos Islands with world maps and taxidermy, but it’s the high standards of cocktails, service and food, which stand out. This is now a stop on the international guest bartending circuit.

Americas Bar to Watch 2016: GreenRiver – Chicago, US

Dead Rabbit Grocery & Grog won the World’s Best Bar title at Tales of the Cocktail’s 2015 Spirited Awards, adding to their already crowded trophy shelf.

Whatever Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry did next was going to be exciting, but when they teamed up with New York’s finest restaurant impresario Danny Meyer – whose Union Square Hospitality Group boasts 13 restaurants including Michelin-starred The Modern and Untitled – it became one of America’s most hotly anticipated launches this year.

Located on the 18th floor of a high rise in Streeterville, GreenRiver sticks with a theme celebrating Chicago’s rich Irish-American history with the same attention to detail and thorough research that Dead Rabbit has become famous for. The restaurant offers traditional midwestern fare thanks to executive chef Aaron Lirette, but it’s the exhaustive hardbound cocktail tome you want to spend time with.

Designed by McGarry and head bartender Julia Momose (formerly of Aviary), it’s an education, with each drink named after an infamous Irish-American figure alongside their life story, packed with historical detail and spirits nous. It’s hard to imagine with GreenRiver’s pedigree – along with Chicago’s growing ascendency in the global cocktail scene – that this spot won’t continue to cause a stir in the coming year.