30 Best Bars 2021 India announces the country’s Best Bars, Bar Tesouro (Goa) tops the list

24th March 2022 , India:
Tulleeho and Man’s World Magazine revealed the much-awaited ranking of the top Indian bars for 2021,  at a well-attended awards show in Gurgaon’s Le Méridien on 23rd March, 2022.  30 Best Bars India is the country’s first and only independent nationwide annual ranking of bars, and a platform that celebrates the best of Indian bar talent. This year’s rankings and awards show honoured the country's  30 best bars along with the best of bartenders and bar teams whose exemplary service has set new standards for the industry.

The rankings and awards were based on a nationwide polling involving more than 200 jury members consisting of bar enthusiasts, beverage industry professionals, and liquor connoisseurs. The three-month polling exercise started with a long list of more than 500 bars spread across 15 cities. The ranking of the Best Bar Team and the Best Bartenders was based on a poll of a  technical jury of 20  industry veterans.

While Goa’s Bar Tesouro emerged as India’s best bar, Sidecar (New Delhi), Copitas - Four Seasons Hotel (Bangalore), The Bombay Canteen (Mumbai), Lair (New Delhi), Hoots’ - Vasant Vihar (New Delhi), Comorin (Gurgaon), PCO (New Delhi), AER - Four Seasons Hotel (Mumbai), Raahi – Neo Kitchen & Bar (Bangalore) make up the list of the top 10 bars of 2021. Delhi, Mumbai & Bangalore topped the list this year with six bars each in the Top 30 list, followed by Goa with five bars; Kolkata with four bars; Gurgaon with three bars while Pune & Hyderabad had one bar each.

Bar Tesouro from Goa won the Best Independent Bar Award, Copitas at the Four Seasons Hotel (Bangalore) won the Best Hotel Bar Award, Byg Brewski Brewing Company (Hennur, Bangalore) won the Best Microbrewery or Taproom Award and Bar Tesouro (Goa) won the Best Bar Design Award. Navjot Singh from Lair (New Delhi) was honoured with the Best Bartender Award, while Bar Tesouro (Goa) won the Best Bar Team Award. Furthermore, Bar Tesouro (Goa) also won the Best Cocktail Menu Award. Apart from this, a new award category—the Best Restaurant Bar Award was won by Comorin (Gurgaon). Meanwhile, Elephant and Co (Pune) and Bira 91 Limited Release Taproom (Bangalore), which won the People’s Choice Best Bar Award and Best Microbrewery/Taproom Award, respectively, emerged as the public favourites. Additionally, The Writer’s Bar, Welcomhotel By ITC Hotels, The Savoy (Mussoorie) won the Best Vintage Bar while Yangdup Lama was awarded as the Industry Legend. In a first, the Best Pandemic Response, specially introduced this year, was awarded to Olive Group.

Back after a pandemic-induced hiatus in 2020, 30 Best Bars India provides the Indian bars and bartenders with a platform for much deserved national and global recognition. It also aims to promote bartending as a serious and respected profession across India and celebrates its promising future amongst industry giants across the world.  The organisers also acknowledged and honoured  the resilience of bar operators and staff through the pandemic-induced lockdowns, by creating a one-off award titled ‘Best Pandemic Response’ Award.

 "Our master list of 500 bars with which we started our shortlisting process and how plenty of bar businesses navigated the last two difficult years, together is a testament to India's growing bar scene. In fact, several winners of tonight's 30 Best Bars ranking even have the potential to match up to the very best globally, and I congratulate all the winners."

Mr Vikram Achanta - Founder & CEO - Tulleeho and Co-Curator of 30 Best Bars

"This year has been challenging for all of us. We started work immediately after the cessation of the second wave when the bars began re-opening. But had to pause again for the third wave. This year's top 30 list represents the best of bars who withstood the back-breaking effects of the pandemic and pulled through. We are also glad to welcome several new cities to the list. Congratulations to everyone who made the list."

Radhakrishnan Nair, Editor & Publisher, Man's World magazine

Voting Process:

The rankings and awards for India’s top 30 best bars are based on a national jury poll of more than 200 bar enthusiasts and industry experts.

A nationwide long list of over 500 bars—from Delhi, Mumbai, Gurgaon to Pune, Guwahati—was initially narrowed down to a list of 100 bars, which was further shortlisted to 50 bars. The jury members were asked to vote in the 9 10 award categories. The two People’s Choice Awards for the Best Bar and Best Microbrewery/Taproom were based on open online polling of bar users from across the country. Best Vintage Bar, The Industry Legend Award, and the Best Pandemic Response Award was nominated by the organisers.

Our Partners:

As in 2019, 30 Best Bars India, 2021, is supported by some of the country’s renowned brands like Teacher's,  Tanqueray, The Singleton, Aperol, BACARDÍ, Smoke Lab Vodka, Bira 91, Svami, Real Juices, Mathieu Teisseire, Himalayan Water, 1868 by Tata Tea, Svish,  Justice and the Le Méridien Gurgaon.

About 30 Best Bars India:

30 Best Bars India (www.30bestbarsindia.in) is India’s first national ranking and awards platform curated to bring the growing bar culture of India to the forefront. Besides giving bars across India special recognition, the awards also celebrate bartending and bar crafts talent that is helping shape the industry. This platform will help the bars gain national and international prominence, showcase their talent, and establish bar crafts as a revered profession.

About Man’s World Magazine:

MW magazine (www.mansworldindia.com), also known as Man’s World, is India’s pioneering men’s luxury lifestyle magazine. Wines, spirits and the bar scene has been part of its extensive coverage since the first issue in February 2000.

About Tulleeho:

Tulleeho (www.tulleeho.com) is a beverage education, training and consulting firm working with the beverage and hospitality industry in South and South-East Asia.

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