Mexico City’s Handshake Speakeasy claims the North American crown at The World’s 50 Best Bars, signaling a genuine shift in global cocktail gravity toward Latin America.

When a Mexico City bar lands at #6 globally and claims Best Bar in North America, it’s not hype—it’s a structural signal about where bartending excellence is being built right now. Handshake Speakeasy’s rise reflects something I’ve watched unfold across judging panels over the past decade: Latin American bartenders and operators are no longer chasing European or American templates. They’re setting them. The fact that Mexico City placed three venues in the global top 50—including Bar Mauro at #10 with the Highest New Entry Award—tells you this isn’t a one-hit story. It’s a scene.

What matters to distributors and bar operators reading this: when a city’s cocktail culture reaches this level of international recognition, it typically precedes measurable shifts in spirit demand, training talent flow, and premium positioning across the region. Handshake’s recognition as the continent’s best venue means buyers in the on-premise channel will watch their playbook, their spirit selections, and their operational model. Monkey Shoulder’s positioning as the Official Scotch Partner of the 50 Best Bars creates a direct through-line between bartender innovation and brand visibility—the kind of B2B signal that influences portfolio decisions across bar groups and hotel chains.

The broader play here is Monkey Shoulder’s two-year partnership with The 50 Best Bars—direct sponsorship of the Best Bar in North America award creates authentic touchpoints with bartenders and operators at the highest level, steering conversation toward Scotch in markets where it typically competes against agave, rum, and local spirits. For distributors, this matters: category leadership follows venue leadership. Watch where Handshake Speakeasy sources, what they pour, and how they train. That’s your market signal for the next 18 months.