2 Phoenix cocktail bars advance in national competition
Two metro Phoenix bar owners have cause to celebrate as of Monday, May 4. The Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards, a highly competitive international competition, has announced this year’s Top 10 Nominees.
The annual awards recognize the best and most creative bars, bartenders and talented individuals in the cocktail industry around the world.
Out of three metro Phoenix bars that were named honorees in the award’s first round, two now advance to the next stage in the competition, the second of four rounds.
The metro Phoenix bars that made the cut are:
❚ Bitter & Twisted Cocktail Parlour Best American High Volume Cocktail Bar
❚
Century Grand - Best New American
Cocktail Bar
Each bar was previously named as an honoree in the western region, which includes California, Nevada and 10 more states. Now, the two Phoenix bars made the lists of top bars from around the
country, going up against the best from New York, California and Texas among other states.
A full list of the Top 10 Nominees can be found on the Tales of the Cocktail website.
Phoenix bar Little Rituals, which received an honor in the first round of the competition for Best American Hotel Bar in the West, did not advance to the May 4 round of Top 10 Nominees.
The next round of the competition, finalist announcements, is scheduled for June 1. Winners will be announced on July 25.
“I’m excited and it’s nice to get the recognition right now,” says Jason Asher, co-owner of Century Grand told The Arizona Republic in April. “Any little bit of light in these times is a big deal.”
Which Phoenix bars were named honorees in April?
In the first round of the competition, three Phoenix bars were honored among bars in the West. The award categories are split by region, with Arizona falling into the West along with California, Nevada and 10 more states. The three Phoenix bars are the only Arizona honorees in each of their three categories.
“There’s a lot of great bars from around the country,” says Ross Simon, owner of Bitter & Twisted and co-owner of Little Rituals. “We love to wave the flag for Phoenix.”
Phoenix’s honored bars are:
❚ Bitter & Twisted Cocktail Parlour Best American High Volume Cocktail Bar (West).
❚ Little Rituals- Best American Hotel Bar (West).
❚ Century Grand - Best New American Cocktail Bar (West).
There are several rounds in the Tales of the Cocktail Awards, and being named an honoree is the first recognition a bar can earn. The process begins with nominations, where voters submit bars from around the world for consideration. Then, judges select honorees from that pool.
“There are three more layers to go,” Asher says. “And we still have a lot of work to do, but this is a good step in the right direction.”
The category for Best American High Volume Cocktail Bar, for which Bitter & Twisted has been honored, recognizes “a bar that has taken steps and designed systems in order to excel in the service of cocktails at high volume,” according to the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation website.
Little Rituals’ category, Best American Hotel Bar, recognizes a “hotel bar that offers the best service and consistently well-made drinks in a comfortable setting, ultimately upholding the tradition of the classic hotel bar.”
And the Best New American Cocktail Bar, a category that has honored Century Grand, “recognizes a recently opened American and International cocktail bar that made an immediate impact on cocktail culture and set new high standards for the industry.”
The bar is required to have opened between April 1, 2019, and February 26, 2020. Century Grand opened the doors to its multipart train-themed bar on October 11, 2019.
In the 2019 awards, Little Rituals was nominated in the Best New American Cocktail Bar category. Now that it has been open a while, it’s jumped across to the Best Hotel Bar list.
“I’m super stoked it’s recognized at a new level,” Simon says.
A full list of all the honorees around the world can be found in the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation’s April 14 announcement.
What it’s like being honored during the coronavirus pandemic
Bars across the country have been ordered closed to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. Some have closed altogether, while others have switched to selling premade cocktails and bottles of spirits for takeout.
“Our focus right now is just trying to stay around,” Asher says.
His bar has switched to selling spirits and hosting online happy hours to stay connected with customers. Simon made the difficult decision to fully close both of his bars.
Though he can’t make the drinks that merit the honor currently, being recognized means a lot, he says.
“It’s a little glimmer of sunshine in a cloudy day,” Simon says.
And the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation recognized these are unprecedented times for bar owners, acknowledging the global health crisis in its announcement of the honorees on Tuesday.
“Tales of the Cocktail Foundation is committed to moving forward with the 14th annual Tales of the Cocktail Foundation Spirited Awards in an effort to recognize the depth of talent across our global spirits community,” the statement read. “The Foundation feels it is more important now than ever to continue to honor the professionals, organizations and establishments that have enhanced the industry.”
The upcoming rounds of the competition are scheduled to stick to the original timeline, although a decision about the final event, the Tales of the Cocktail annual festival in New Orleans, will be made closer to the event. The festival is currently scheduled to take place July 21-26.
But just to be recognized in the first step of the process is a huge achievement, Simon says. His bar Bitter & Twisted has now made it to the second step.
“I love it more when our guests love what we do,” he says. “But national recognition re-affirms you’re doing it right.”