Welcome to this new issue of BarNews, your all-bars-and-bartenders newsletter!

Here's what's coming up this month:

• 🍸 Popular cocktails
• 🏆 Loads of awards
• 🚥 A synesthetic menu
• 💎 Gorgeous ice cubes
• 🏅 Plenty of competitions
• 🍊 The cost of a deconstructed Negroni
• ♻ Bartenders switching careers
• ☕ A lazy Espresso Martini

And much more!

💎 Ice Cube Co launches its pro offer at €0.50!

Cocktail lovers, rejoice! Ice Cube - Clear Ice Company continues to make pure ice more accessible and is now announcing a new pro offer at €0.50 per piece for its entire classic range (Perfect Cube, Old-Fashioned, and Collins)! Made in France through a slow, three-day freezing process and available for delivery throughout the country in 24 to 48 hours, these crystal-clear ice cubes will undoubtedly elevate your upcoming creations!

🍹 On the bars and menus front

Midi-Minuit

After her popup at Le Dali in Le Meurice, Margot Lecarpentier (Combat) opened her first bar with Alain Ducasse: Midi-Minuit. For Barnews, she discussed the venue’s evolving concept depending on the time of day, the importance of glassware in creating cocktails and working with ice, the connection with the kitchen, and much more! – Read more

Bar 1802

Donovan Chouari and Paul-Antoine Herbet, the new managers of cocktail (and rum) bar 1802 in Paris, launched an innovative menu titled Matières. It features 12 recipes served in custom-made vessels crafted from various materials (wood, porcelain, earthenware, bamboo, wicker, plastic, …) – Source

Spectrum

In a different style, Fitz's Bar in London launched Spectrum, a menu of 12 cocktails inspired by synesthesia (i.e., where stimulating one sense triggers another). The idea is to create a sensory experience where each cocktail has been designed so that its color (classified as “light” or “dark”) influences the perceived taste (e.g., clear = freshness, etc.) – Source

In brief

• The new Bordeaux spot from Remy Savage and Paul Lougrat, 🟧🟩🟪🟨🟥🟦 (aka un_bar_avec_des_formes_pr_nom), is officially open. Located at 17 quai des Salinières, the bar is open Wednesday through Sunday, from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. – Source
• Jefrey's is offering a nine-cocktail menu inspired by cult films through the end of the month. Created by Anthony Rostoucher, it includes recipes such as the Dude Russian, a twist on the beloved White Russian from The Big Lebowski, or a certain What’s Up, Doc? with mastiha liqueur and carrot syrup, referencing the famous rabbit from Space Jam – Source

📈 Trends

Top Cocktails, and more if you fancy

According to the Global Cocktail 2024 report by CGA by NIQ, a study of 30,000 people in 38 countries, the Mojito is the consumers’ favorite cocktail (40%), followed by the Margarita (32%) – Source

If you’d like to dig deeper, we relaunched the DistilCast at the end of October (i.e., the Jigger Daily / Jigger Daily podcast), joined by the very insightful Chris Jumentier (Trade Marketing & Advocacy Advisor @ Heads & Legs – Spirits Guardians). In the first episode of this new season, we specifically discussed different cocktail rankings and their often very different results from one source to another! For clarity, it’s available in video on YouTube and Spotify, as well as in audio on all your favorite podcast platforms (Apple / Deezer / Amazon Music, etc.).

Beyond that, if you like the format, we then covered in two more episodes: innovation in the mixers segment and mentioning brands in cocktail menus (which can sometimes cost tens of thousands of euros).

In short, feel free to take a look or a listen, and especially subscribe on your favorite platform. We have plenty of topics in the works, and starting next week, an episode dedicated to the Brand Ambassador profession! Don’t miss it!

🏆 Competitions

Trophées du Bar

On Sunday, October 27, the 20th edition of the Trophées du Bar took place. After a day of varied challenges, Guillaume Hervot (Madame Pang, Bordeaux) took 1st place, ahead of Elsa Giraudo (Bootleg Bar, Nice) and Simon Kautz (Aedaen Speakeasy, Strasbourg), while Alice Revol (Alices, Lille) was named Best Rising Star – Source

Wizard Awards

Just before that, on October 22, Gabriel Boudier organized in Dijon the first French final of its liqueur creation contest, the Wizard Awards. The winning recipe, created by bartender Bérenger Bouttier, is a lapsang souchong, hibiscus, and Madagascar pepper liqueur. It will soon join the house’s 2025 range! – Source

Flavour Masters

The final challenge of the international finale of the first edition of the Flavour Masters by Mathieu Teisseire took place on Thursday, October 10. After several stages, French bartender Maxence Piattelli won the title, ahead of Jordan Iwannidhs (Greece), Maxim Yukhno (Dubai), Francesco Manente (Netherlands), and Nguyen Minh Son (Vietnam) – Source

In Brief

• The final of the Angostura Cocktail Challenge, held in Paris on November 4, ended with the victory of Martin Alvaro Estrella (Dirty Dick, Paris), followed by Benjamin Fleuriot (Le Caribou, Marseille) and Maximilien Neuts (GRPS Bar, Lille) – Source
• The Île-de-France final of the St-Germain Spritz Club was won by Joffrey Vertalier, ahead of Louis Gorguet and Nancy Del Gais – Source
• The Association des Barmen de France presented a new competition, the ABF Shaker Challenge, open to all trainees in CAP, BP, or BTS in hospitality and catering. Organized on Tuesday, November 5, its podium honored Clément Pineau, Lucie Schmitt, and Enzo Boutin – Source
• The Calva Club announced the names of the 12 people who qualified for the final of its 4th edition, scheduled for early December: @feather_key, @juliewsk, @monsieur.ippon, @yunona_mari, @ethan.beitz, @les_cocktails_de_charles, @sushi_boy, @julius_achill, @benoitraza, @levicbartender, @jocelyn_deux_trois, @lucas_lichtenberg – Source
• Other notable upcoming finals: Artisan of Taste by Diplomatico on Monday, November 18 at Le Comptoir Général in Paris, followed by The Bartenders Society final on Tuesday, November 19 at the Aquarium de Paris.

🏅 Awards

50 Best Bars

On Tuesday, October 22 in Madrid, the World's 50 Best Bars revealed their 2024 list. After SIPS last year, this time Handshake Speakeasy (Mexico) was named the best bar in the world, followed by Bar Leone (Hong Kong) and SIPS (Barcelona) again. From France’s side, The Cambridge Public House (38th last year) rose to 19th place, Bar Nouveau made its entry at 39th, and Danico advanced to 49th place – Source

A bit further down in the 51st–100th bracket, Little Red Door ranks 59th (vs. 6th in 2023) – Source

Top 500 Bars

Meanwhile, Top 500 Bars unveiled its ranking of bars from 100th to 1st place this Sunday, November 10. After Maybe Sammy in 2023 (7th this year), Himkok in Oslo nabbed the title of the most influential bar in the world, followed by SIPS (Barcelona; 2nd) and Handshake Speakeasy (Mexico City; 3rd). As for France (mainly Paris), several bars stood out in the final Top 100: Danico (23rd), The Cambridge Public House (24th), Bar Nouveau (32nd), Harry's Bar (63rd), Copperbay (69th), Moonshiner (79th), and Candelaria (83rd) – Source

The same Parisian momentum can be spotted in the extended ranking (101st to 150th), with Bar Les Ambassadeurs (112th), Cravan (121st), Le Mary Celeste (127th), and Le Syndicat (133rd) – Source

Pinnacle

To wrap up this awards segment, The Pinnacle Guide announced it’s broadening its scope by opening applications to bars in France (i.e., they weren’t part of the first two sets of PINs mentioned recently). If your establishment is interested, applications are open until November 30 at midnight – Source

📺 To watch, read, or listen

Espresso Martini

Neil Patrick Harris (aka Barney Stinson) appeared in a video on the Thomas Ashbourne account, his RTD cocktail brand, in a spoof challenge to make an Espresso Martini in the most laid-back, effortless way possible 😅 – Watch

Negroni Economics

For lovers of all kinds of infographics, Vinepair surveyed 5 bars to see how they price their Negronis. The result: 5 visual breakdowns of the various costs related to this cocktail, giving a quick look at each establishment’s expenses and the remaining profit. As you’ll notice, it varies a lot! – Source

Tayēr Airlines

Everleaf and London’s Tayēr + Elementary bar teamed up to launch Jasmine + Lily Highball, a limited-edition non-alcoholic RTD featuring Everleaf Mountain. While I’m not putting too much hope in the drink, the way Alex Kratena and Monica Suh promoted it on Instagram is still a lot of fun! – Watch

Infusions all-around

What won’t a bartender try to infuse into a spirit? Judging by a recent Punch post and its comment section, apparently not much! Herbs, fruits, vegetables, breakfast cereals, pastrami, cheese, mushrooms, mustard… everything goes! – Source

Switching careers

Barmag put together a short feature on bartenders changing careers. Four portraits/examples highlight each person’s professional journey, such as Aron Farkas, who went from bar manager to professional photographer; Charlotte Augustin, from bartender and brand ambassador to co-founder of a social-media-focused communications agency; Emmanuel Brandelet, once an industrial designer and graphic artist who then became a bartender and brand ambassador; and finally Frédéric Le Bordays, who went from photographer to bartender, then entrepreneur in the restaurant industry, co-founding several establishments in Paris before moving to Lille to open the bistro Brigand.

🎟 Shows

Cocktail Street

Jigger Daily roamed the aisles of the recent Cocktail Street at the last Whisky Live Paris. If you’d like to relive it with us, we posted a short recap on the site! – Read more

Just a few weeks ago, the venue was hosting medalists and supporters at the Club France, but this time more than 30,000 “cup athletes” roamed the always windy aisles of this record-breaking Cocktail Street: 3 intense days, 72,000 cocktails served, over 50 pop-up bars, and 13 street food stands vying for attendees’ attention.

BCB London

Meanwhile, Bar Convent London confirmed the dates for its first edition on June 30 and July 1, 2025, at Tobacco Dock in London. This event, succeeding the now-defunct Imbibe Live, joins the BCB family that’s already present in Berlin, Brooklyn, Singapore, and São Paulo – Source

The next Bar Convent Berlin will be held from October 6 to 8, 2025. In the meantime, the trade show shared some figures from its latest edition: in mid-October, it attracted 15,114 visitors from 87 countries and more than 500 exhibitors, generating 1,566 business meetings – Source

💌 That’s all folks!

And that’s it for this November edition!

As always, if you enjoyed this newsletter, feel free to share it with your colleagues, friends, and so on!

On that note, have a great shift (with some Ice Cube Co clear ice while you’re at it 😉).