New Delhi’s Lair, the speakeasy-style cocktail bar in Vasant Vihar, was crowned India’s Best Bar for 2024 at a glittering ceremony attended by the bar industry bigwigs and industry luminaries in Goa at the beginning of the new year.

The 5th edition of 30BestBarsIndia, the country’s most prestigious bar ranking and awards platform, also saw Bengaluru make history with two new entrants in the list from the city, Bar Spirit Forward (#2) and Soka (#3).

The other top-ranked bars include New Delhi’s Sidecar (#4), Goa’s Hideaway (#5), Bengaluru’s ZLB23 at The Leela Palace (#6), Pune’s Cobbler & Crew (#7), Mumbai’s Americano (#8), New Delhi’s PCO (#9) and Home (#10).

Gurugram’s Comorin (#13) also made history as the bar that has consistently won the Best Restaurant Bar Award for 4 years. Comorin founder Rohit Khattar, whose company also owns other famous restaurants like Indian Accent, Hosa, Chor Bizarre and Fireback, was awarded the Industry Icon Award for 2024.

The Jim Beam Best Independent Bar (jury vote) went to Bar Spirit Forward from Bengaluru (L). The Heineken Industry Icon honour was bestowed on Rohit Khattar (R), Founder and Chairman of Old World Hospitality and EHV International.

RECORD ENTRANTS

This year’s Top 30 list features a record 10 new entrants. The rankings are based on a poll of a national jury of 275 bar enthusiasts, cocktail connoisseurs, hospitality experts and industry influencers.

Mumbai dominates the Top 30 list with eight bars, followed by New Delhi with six, Goa and Bengaluru with five each, and Gurugram with two. Hyderabad debuted with one bar, alongside single-bar entries from Pune, Kolkata and Jaipur.

Americano took home the inaugural Best Bar in Mumbai honours, while AM PM was declared the Best Bar in Kolkata, Bar Spirit Forward is the Best Bar in Bangalore, Hideaway, the Best Bar in Goa, and Lair, the Best Bar in Delhi NCR.

The ceremony also saw the announcement of 30BestBarsIndia’s partnership with Moonshine Honey Project to support Moonshine’s ‘Adopt a Hive’ initiative this year. As part of this collaboration, Moonshine will adopt a hive on behalf of each of India’s Top 10 bars for one year. The collaboration champions sustainability by supporting bee populations while enhancing bars’ cocktail offerings.

Vikram Achanta, Co-Founder of 30BestBarsIndia said, “Bengaluru is rising, with five bars in the Top 30 and bagging two of the top three slots. The presence of several stalwarts of the bar world in the city also drives the clear demonstration of the inexorable rise of cocktail culture in Bengaluru.”

Overall, it was a great year for South India with a bar from Hyderabad breaking through into the Top 30 and, for the first time ever, a bar from Kerala winning the prestigious Godawan Best Work in Sustainability Award.

Radhakrishna Nair, Co-Founder of 30BestBarsIndia added, “The fact that there are two new entrants in the Top three, 10 new entrants in the Top 30, and 21 new bars in the Top 50, is a testament to not just the rising quality of bars in the country, but also the increasingly intense level of competition for the rankings.”

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

• Bar Spirit Forward (#2) from Bengaluru, and Hideaway (#5) in Goa, bagged the most awards at the event. Bar Spirit Forward took home Best Independent Bar, Best Bar Bengaluru, and Highest New Entry, while Hideaway claimed Best Bar Team, Best Bartender and Best Bar Goa.
• For the first time, a bar from Kerala (The Ivory Club) has claimed the Best Bar in Sustainability award. It is recognised for its dedication to local ingredients, a celebration of Trivandrum’s rich produce and heritage, investment in team development, and seamless integration of brand-level sustainable practices across its operations and hotel-wide training.
• Two Delhi bars, PCO (#9) and Ricks Taj Mahal (#47) won the inaugural Traditions Reinvented Award. The award celebrates bars that skillfully balance modern trends with a deep respect for their roots.
• This edition also marks the third consecutive year that a single bar won both the Best Bartender and Best Bar Team awards, with Hideaway (#5) claiming the honours for 2024.
• Five of the country’s best bars made a different kind of history this year by being the only ones that have featured consistently in the Top 30 list across all five editions of 30BestBarsIndia,: Cocktails & Dreams (#29) and Comorin (#13) in Gurgaon; Sidecar (#4) and PCO (#9) from New Delhi; and The Bombay Canteen (#15) in Mumbai.