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New York’s cocktail scene is having another banner year.
The Tales of the Cocktail Foundation has announced the Top 10 U.S. nominees for its 2026 Spirited Awards—arguably the most prestigious honors in the bar world—and six New York City bars landed nominations for Best U.S. Cocktail Bar.
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The nominees are Bar Snack, Double Chicken Please, Martiny's, Overstory, Sip & Guzzle and Superbueno. Together, they account for more than half of the category’s nominees, underscoring New York’s continued dominance of the national cocktail conversation.
The six bars represent a cross-section of what makes drinking in New York so exciting right now. There’s the ever-packed Double Chicken Please; Martiny’s, where meticulous Japanese-inspired bartending meets intimate townhouse glamour; and Overstory, the sky-high Financial District destination known for panoramic views and polished cocktails. Then there’s Sip & Guzzle, the Greenwich Village favorite that won the Spirited Award for Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar in 2025; Superbueno, which has become one of the country’s most influential Mexican-American cocktail bars; and Bar Snack, one of the city’s buzziest newer arrivals.
Bar Snack, Sip & Guzzle and Superbueno also scored nominations for Best U.S. Bar Team, while Dear Irving on Hudson at the Aliz Hotel and Raines Law Room at the William earned nominations for Best U.S. Hotel Bar. Rounding out the categories, schmuck. and Dolores were nominated for Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar and Bar Madonna was nominated for Best U.S. Restaurant Bar.
New Yorkers also showed up in individual categories. Bartenders Andrea Grujic of Sip & Guzzle, Juliette Larrouy of schmuck. and Shammai Mading of Superbueno were all nominated for U.S. Bartender of the Year.
The Spirited Awards, presented annually by the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation, recognize excellence across the drinks industry, honoring bars, bartenders, teams, writers and spirits professionals from around the world. The newly announced Top 10 nominees will be narrowed down to four finalists in June, with winners revealed during the Tales of the Cocktail conference in New Orleans on July 23.
If this year’s nominations are any indication, New York will head into the finals as the city to beat.