We've seen the trend developing over the past few years, and this year it's become even clearer: Mexico City is where it's at in the cocktail world.
Take a look at the Top 10 Best Bars in North America list, published every year by TheWorlds50Best.com. Mexico City has 4 bars in the Top 10, including the #1, Handshake Speakeasy. New York City also has 4 in the Top 10. That's significant. There are 3 more Mexico City bars in the Top 30, and 2 more in the Top 50. That's 18% of all the Top Bars in North America. Los Angeles has 2 bars on the entire list. Same for San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
Now, New York City has a major presence on this list as well (a total of 12 bars, or 24% of the total) but that's no surprise. New York has been a cocktail capital for decades and continues to hold strong year after year. But the growth in cocktail culture in Mexico City is notable.
Food & Wine says, "Mexico Is the Most Exciting Place in the World to Drink Right Now." Men's Journal says, "Mexico City Is the World's New Cocktail Capital." Even though it seems to many that Mexico City has suddenly burst onto the high-end cocktail scene, the real growth in its cocktail culture goes back to 2011, when the groundbreaking center of cocktail craft, Licoreria Limantour, first opened its doors. That bar paved the way for a flood of new and innovative bars to open, and it ushered in a period of unmatched growth and creativity in the Ciudad de Mexico (CDMX) beverage industry. No longer was the city's bar scene dominated by cantinas serving up syrupy margaritas and spicy micheladas. Instead, Mexico City's most popular bars were featuring premium spirits and more local ingredients, serving up innovative cocktails that rivaled any bar in the world. Licoreria Limantour, for example, became famous for their signature drink, the Margarita Al Pastor, which features ingredients inspired by Mexico City’s street tacos, such as pineapple juice, fresh herbs, and serrano chile
A massive explosion in tourism has also fueled the expansion of CDMX's universe. In 2022 alone, international tourism jumped more than 20 percent to an estimated 66 million visitors. Those patrons have thirsted for a bar culture that promotes indigenous flavors, local ingredients, and cocktail menus that reflect true originality and experimentation. Today, it’s not uncommon to find cactus fruit, tomatillo, fermented mesquite honey, or copal (tree resin) on a cocktail menu.
By highlighting and celebrating relatively unknown ingredients, such as sotol, raicilla, bacanora, local gins, local whiskeys, and a wide variety of local mezcals, rising-star mixologists and bar proprietors have created new markets for Mexican spirits the world over.
Mexico City's Handshake Speakeasy, the "World's Best Bar" according to the website theworlds50best.com, has been in the Top 10 for a number of years. Concoctions such as their Butter Mushroom Old Fashioned (bourbon, brown butter, mushroom and maple served with enoki mushrooms), or their Mexi-Thai, which combines tequila with makrut lime, coconut basil oil, and tomato are just a few of the wonderfully inventive and interesting drinks offered on their menu.
Rayo, which comes in at #5 on the Best Bars list, crafts every cocktail on their menu with agave distillates and highlights traditional Mexican ingredients. Their Number 1 (mezcal, rum, amaro, beef broth, bacon, lacto-fermented vegetables, beer, cilantro, and a beef chicharrón garnish) emulates the flavors of “Carne en su jugo,” a traditional dish from Jalisco, which is agave country.
Mexico at large is also staking its own place in the world of non-agave-based spirits. Today, for example, you can find white (unaged) heirloom corn whiskeys from the states of Michoacán, Guanajuato, Oaxaca, Baja California, and Estado de Mexico, and over a dozen gins that feature uniquely Mexican botanicals.
You don't need to travel to Mexico to appreciate its growing influence in the cocktail world. As the country has gained popularity and notoriety for its traditional flavors and ingredients, those flavors have found their way to bar menus all over North America. So, next time you're in a craft cocktail bar, see if you can spot the sotol, bacanora, or raicilla; they'll offer you an exciting new way to appreciate the stunning diversity of flavors that Mexico has to offer.