The Cocktail Lovers

Today, 4/11/2026, sees the launch of Sublime 100, a new and exciting global platform bringing a fresh perspective to rankings across hospitality.
Conceived by Mark Sansom and Roger Betriu, both formerly of The World's 50 Best Bars, along with fellow tastemaker Cristina Jolonch, it sets out to recognise venues and categories that other awards fail to reach.

To find out what it is, why it's been set up and who it's aimed at, we spoke to Roger and Mark ahead of the official announcement at the Athens Bar Show.

Keep up-to-date at sublime100.com and follow @sublime100bars, @sublime100cafes

For more from The Cocktail Lovers, visit thecocktaillovers.com

The Cocktail Lovers theme music is by Travis 'T-Bone' Watson
Edited by Christian Fox
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With a legacy of philosophy, art and iconic architecture, Athens is rightly renowned for culture in many forms. But over the last decade or so it’s become increasingly renowned for its cocktail culture, with three of its bars listed on the World's 50 Best Bars list, and five on the inaugural Europe's 50 Best Bars list.

It's also home to the Athens Bar Show, one of our favourite of its kind in Europe. Currently celebrating its 16th year and running right now, to our minds, this is the perfect time to celebrate the fantastic cocktail culture of Greece’s capital city.

So in today’s show we’ll be opening up a classic Greek spirit in the shape of Metaxa 5 Stars, rounding a up a few of our very favourite Athens bars and sharing a few memories along the way. As for our guests – we're joined by Lefteris Lisgaras and Elvis Zeneli of Athens star bar and one of our all-time favourites, The Clumsies.

For more from The Cocktail Lovers, visit thecocktaillovers.com

For the products featured in this episode, see websites below:

What we're drinking:

Greek Salad Cocktail/Mediterranean Gimlet (created by Nikos Bakoulis)

50ml gin
50ml Greek salad water (see extraction note below)*
15ml simple syrup (1:1 sugar and water)
10 ml Kalamata olive brine
3-4 drops extra virgin olive oil (for topping)
Garnish – cube feta cheese and Kalamata olive on a cocktail stick

Method:
Shake first four ingredients over ice. Double strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add droplets of olive oil to the surface and garnish with the feta cheese and Kalamata olive.

*Greek salad water
To make 100ml (two serves) of clarified liquid
Blend one medium ripe tomato, 10 cm piece of cucumber and half a green bell pepper
Pour the puree through cheesecloth over a fine mesh strainer into a bowl allowing the juice to strain through.

Athens Bar Show
Athens Bar Week
Avra Bar at Four Seasons Artir Palace Hotel Athens
Baba Au Rum
Barro Negro
Café Rue de Marseilles
Dos Agaves
Galaxy Bar, 10 Stadiou Str, Athens
Imeros Cocktail Bar
In Love Again
Jazz In Jazz
Line
The Bar In Front of The Bar
The Clumsies

The Cocktail Lovers theme music is by Travis 'T-Bone' Watson
Edited by Christian Fox
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Autumn is always a time for exciting new projects on the cocktail front. We’ll be talking about five new, destined to be hot spots around the world in our news section, before talking to the uber talented Mr Joe Schofield about the opening of the much anticipated Schofield’s bar making its way to London next month

Also new, we’re giving the bottles a rest in this episode, instead our product section sees us delving into the recently published ‘The Irish Whiskey Cookbook – 50 recipes to cook, sip and savour’ by proud Irishman, Oisin Davis. With everything from double barrel hot sauce, chicken with whiskey and mushroom sauce, and Irish coffee brownies – as well as some tasty tipples, it’s one we’ll be making good use of during the chillier days and nights ahead.

And then there’s our featured establishment, the beauty that is Ugly Butterfly… More than a restaurant or bar, Chef Adam Handling’s masterpiece is truly a work of art – not just in looks or the masterful tastes that come from the kitchen and bar, but the entire experience. While its second home at the Headland Hotel may have come a year ago, for all intents and purposes – it’s new to us, plus its in Newquay so it fits the theme perfectly. We urge you to visit and try for yourself.

For more from The Cocktail Lovers, visit thecocktaillovers.com

For the products featured in this episode, see websites below:

What we're drinking:

New Fashioned

60ml Woodford Reserve bourbon
30ml Disaronno
15ml simple syrup
Orange peel to garnish

Method:
Stir ingredients over ice. Garnish with orange peel

Bar CC
Beaufort Wine Bar
Bruma
Dos Agaves
Tayer + Elementary Vibes Only Negroni
The Irish Whiskey Cookbook – 50 recipes to cook, sip and savour by Oisin Davis
Ugly Butterfly
Utopic

Competitions:
Celebrate Her x Fernet Branca
Celebrate Her have teamed up with Fernet-Branca on a collaborative competition inviting the industry to design a limited-edition Celebrate Her x Fernet-Branca coin.
Submissions open until 27th November. Submit your designs here

Rise To The Table from Rosewood Foundation
Created to help connect emerging female talent with the skills, networks, mentorship and opportunities needed to build lasting careers. Open to women from all backgrounds and countries, the program welcomes applicants with a minimum of five years’ industry experience, regardless of educational background. Applications open, close 28th October. Find out more here

Events:
Until 25 October: Venice Cocktail Week. For tickets and details
26-27 October: Tales on Tour Miami. For tickets and details

The Cocktail Lovers theme music is by Travis 'T-Bone' Watson
Edited by Christian Fox
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rather fittingly for 2026 The 50 Best Bars which took place in Milan last week, featured bars from 26 countries. Which is not only neat as far as numbers go but also makes us think just how global this whole cocktail malarkey has become.

We remember when the list was dominated by bars from two cities: namely London and New York. These days it’s exciting to see representation from all kinds of venues – from fancy five-star hotels to unapologetic dive bars – from all corners of the globe – we’re talking from Buenos Aires to Bratislava and Sao Paulo to Seoul as well as Tirana, Lima, Guangzhou and Medellin.

So on to the meat and potatoes of this year’s newly branded, The 50…

In total, there were 14 new entries on this year’s list, all of which deserve a huge shout out
Angelia from Madrid at number 50
Bar Snack from New York at no 49
Gokan, Hong Kong at 41
Barro Negro, Athens 40
Bar Carmen, Medellin, no 39
Montana, no 36
Waltz, London 32
Victor Audio Bar, Buenos Aires, no 31
Schmuck, New York, no. 11
Dry Wave Cocktail Studio, Bangkok, no 27
De Vie, Paris 23
Mamba Negra, Medellin, 22
Eximia, Sao Paulo, no 20
schmuck, New York, 11
Bar Mauro, Mexico City, 10

And just as worthy of a mention are the re-entries:

Martiny’s at no 46
Argo, Hong Kong 25

We also have to highlight this year’s Special awards which went to some of our favourite people in some of our favourite bars. Congratulations to
Shingo Gokan, Roku Industry Icon
Takuma Watanabe, Altos Bartenders’ Bartender
Panda & Sons, EdinburghSiete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu
Alquimico, Cartegna, Michter’s Art of Hospitality
Line, Athens, Ketel One Sustainable Bar
Seven rooms Best Bar Design, Saikindo, Abu Dhabi
Three Horse, Melbourne Campari One to Watch
The 50 Best Bars Scholarship, Isa Mejia
Paradiso, Remy Martin Legend of the list award

For the full list, see thecocktaillovers.com but if you haven’t already heard who made the top 10
the rundown goes as follows:

10. Bar Mauro, Mexico City
9. Lady Bee, Lima
8, Connaught Bar, London
7. Zest, Seoul
6. Handshake Speakeasy, Mexico City
5. Line, Athens
4. Bar US, Bangkok
3 Alquimico, Cartegna
2. Moebius Milano
1.Bar Leone, Hong Kong

We caught up with the winners, good friends Lorenzo Antinori and Paola Mariotti from Bar Leone Hong Kong; brothers Ricardo and Eduardo Nava, and their proud mum, of Bar Mauro, winners of the Disaronno Highest New Entry Award, and husband and wife team Giacomo Gianotti and wife Margarita Sader, owners of Paradiso, Barcelona, recipients of the Remy Martin Legend of the List award. Which goes to prove: work with people you know, love and trust, and ideally

For more, see The 50 Best Bars 2026
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We make no secret of the fact that the Martini is our favourite cocktail. It’s a classic that been around and enjoyed for well over 100 years. But, right now, it seems that everyone is getting in on the Martini action with all kinds of variations taking star billing on cocktail menus around the world. So rather than wait for World Martini Day to roll around in June, we couldn't think of a better time to celebrate this truly iconic drink.

We open the episode by highlighting some of our favourite gins and vodkas for making our Martinis at home. Then, as well as our bar review, which sees us heading to the recently opened Brutes of Mayfair, we highlight some of our top spots for enjoying a Martini in London. One of which is Hawksmoor St Pancras & Martini Bar, where we meet this week's guest, Liam Davy. As Beverage Director of the Hawksmoor Group he's the man behind the dedicated Martini menus across all of the sites in the UK, Ireland and US and one of the nicest people to share our favourite cocktail with.

For more from The Cocktail Lovers, visit thecocktaillovers.com

For the products featured in this episode, see websites below:

Liam's Ultimate Home Martini Batch (for a 700ml Bottle)

450ml Good Quality Gin or Vodka (we love Fords or Finlandia)
100ml Vermouth (Dolin Dry is our house pick)
150ml Filtered Water (unless you live somewhere with great tap water!)
Optional extra: replace 50ml of the water with preserved lemon brine.

Beefeater Crown Jewel
Beluga Gold Line Vodka
Brutes of Mayfair
Connaught Bar
Claridge's Bar
Donovan Bar
Dukes Bar
Gordon's Export Strength Gin
Fords Gin
Hawksmoor Group
Hawksmoor St Pancras & Martini Bar
Jo Vodka
Stolichnaya Elit Vodka
Rules
Sacred Gin
Sipsmith Gin
Tanqueray Gin
Twenty8 NoMad
X Muse Vodka

The Cocktail Lovers theme music is by Travis 'T-Bone' Watson
Edited by Christian Fox
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.