The list was unveiled at a glittering awards ceremony attended by bar and alcohol industry bigwigs at the Le Meridien, Gurugram, on the evening of March 23rd, 2022. The ranking was a six-month effort based on a nationwide poll of more than 200 industry experts, bar enthusiasts, and connoisseurs. They were asked to vote from a slate of 100 bars from over a dozen cities shortlisted from an original list of 300 bars. Awards were given away in 14 categories including Best Bar, Best Hotel Bar, Best Independent Bar, Best Restaurant Bar, Best Microbrewery/Taproom, Best Cocktail Menu, Best Bar Design, Best Bar Team, Best Bartender, People’s Choice Best Bar, People’s Choice Best Microbrewery/ Taproom, Best Pandemic Response, Best Vintage Bar, and Industry Legend Award.

BAR TESOURO IS INDIA’S BEST BAR

Goa’s Bar Tesouro by Firefly emerged as India’s Best Bar for 2021 in the annual 30BestBarsIndia ranking, revealed at a glittering awards ceremony at Gurugram’s Le Méridien in late March. Tesouro’s history-making debut at the top of the list pushed New Delhi’s favorite bar, Sidecar, to the second position. Sidecar had topped the inaugural 30BestBarsIndia 2019 ranking, and had gone on to be declared the 16th best bar in Asia, and the 47th ranked bar in the world. Another big upset of the evening was when Copitas, the bar at Four Seasons, Bengaluru, unseated The Bombay Canteen to claim the third rank. The Bombay Canteen (4), Lair, New Delhi (5), Hoots’, New Delhi (6), Comorin, Gurugram (7), PCO, New Delhi (8), AER-Four Seasons, Mumbai (9), and Raahi-Neo Kitchen & Bar, Bengaluru (10) make up the Top 10 list.

The 30BestBarsIndia rankings, organised by MW and Tulleeho, the country’s leading bar training company, are based on a nationwide poll involving more than 200 jury members consisting of bar enthusiasts and beverage industry professionals and liquor connoisseurs. The three-month polling exercise started with a long list of 300 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 25 industry veterans. Tesouro (which means treasure or treasury in Portuguese) is a classic neighbourhood bar on the otherwise serene Colva beach in South Goa. Over the last two years, it has gone on to become one of the most talked-about drinking holes in the country, much loved for its cocktails, including the famous Midnight Brekkie. The bar was founded by Donovan Vaz, a scion of a Goa liquor distribution family, who quit his racing car career to become a restaurateur, along with mixologists Arijit Bose and Pankaj Balachandran. Besides its coveted top rank, Tesouro won big in other awards categories, including honours for the Best Independent Bar, Best Designed Bar, Best Bar Team, and the Best Cocktail Menu. Copitas, Four Seasons Hotel (Bengaluru) won the Best Hotel Bar Award, and Byg Brewski Brewing Company (Hennur, Bengaluru) won the Best Microbrewery/Taproom Award. Navjot Singh from Lair (New Delhi) was honoured with the Best Bartender Award, while Comorin (Gurugram) took home the honour for the Best Restaurant Bar. Elephant and Co. (Pune) and Bira 91 Limited Release Taproom (Bengaluru) won the People’s Choice Best Bar Award and Best Microbrewery/Taproom Award, respectively, emerging as the two public favourites. Additionally, The Writer’s Bar, Welcomhotel By ITC Hotels, The Savoy (Mussoorie) won the Best Vintage Bar Award. At the same time, the famed Delhi bartender Yangdup Lama was honoured with the Industry Legend Award. The award for the Best Pandemic Response by a bar, specially introduced this year, was won by the Olive Group.

Bar Tesouro’s ascension is part of the surging popularity of Goan bars over the last few years. As many as four others, including Escobar, Miguel’s, Gunpowder, and For The Record Vinyl Bar, made it into the Top 30 bars list for 2021. Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, each have six bars on the list. Kolkata has four, Gurugram has three, and Pune and Hyderabad have one bar each. 

1 Bar Tesouro, Goa 

2 Sidecar, New Delhi 

3 Copitas – Four Seasons, Bengaluru

4 The Bombay Canteen, Mumbai

5 Lair, New Delhi  

6 Hoots’ – Vasant Vihar, New Delhi

7 Comorin, Gurugram 

8 PCO, New Delhi

9 AER – Four Seasons, Mumbai

10 Raahi – Neo Kitchen & Bar, Bengaluru

11 Byg Brewski Brewing Company – Hennur, Bengaluru

12 Cocktails & Dreams Speakeasy, Gurugram

13 The Library Bar, The Leela Palace, New Delhi

14 The GRID, Kolkata

15 Masque, Mumbai

16 PVR Home, New Delhi

16 Toast & Tonic, Bengaluru

17 Whisky Samba, Gurugram

18 Refinery 091, Kolkata

19 Escobar, Goa

20 Bob’s Bar, Bengaluru

21 Someplace Else, The Park, Kolkata

22 Bastian, Bandra, Mumbai

23 The Sanctuary Bar & Kitchen, Hyderabad

24 The Brass Room, ITC Royal Bengal, Kolkata

25 Paasha, JW Marriott, Pune

26 Miguel’s, Goa

27 The Library Bar, The Leela Palace, Bengaluru

28 Gunpowder, Goa

28 O Pedro, Mumbai

29 Perch Wine And Coffee Bar, Mumbai

30 For The Record Vinyl Bar, Goa

BEST HOTEL BARS

1 Copitas, Four Seasons, Bengaluru

2 AER, Four Seasons, Mumbai

3 The Library Bar, The Leela Palace, New Delhi

4 The Library Bar, The Leela Palace, Bengaluru

5 House of Nomad, Taj Lands End, Mumbai

6 The Harbour Bar, The Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai

7 Bar Palladio, Narain Niwas Palace, Jaipur

8 Cirrus

9, The Oberoi, New Delhi

9 7Rivers Brewing Co, Taj, Bengaluru

10 Juniper Bar, Andaz, New Delhi

BEST RESTAURANT BARS

1 Comorin, Gurugram

2 The Bombay Canteen, Mumbai

3 O Pedro, Mumbai

4 Masque, Mumbai

5 PVR Home, New Delhi

6 Toast & Tonic, Bengaluru

7 Olive Bar & Kitchen, Bengaluru

8 Americano, Mumbai

9 Olive Bar & Kitchen, New Delhi

10 Perch Wine And Coffee Bar, Mumbai

BEST STANDALONE BARS

1 Bar Tesouro, Goa

2 Sidecar, New Delhi

3 Lair, New Delhi

4 PCO, New Delhi

5 Hoots’, New Delhi

6 Comorin, Gurugram

7 The Bombay Canteen, Mumbai

8 Toast & Tonic, Bengaluru

9 Joseph Bar, Goa

10 PVR Home, New Delhi

BEST BARTENDERS

1 Navjot Singh – Lair, New Delhi

2 Santanu Chanda – PVR Home, New Delhi

3 Varun Sharma – Comorin, Gurugram

4 Ankush Gamre – Masque, Mumbai

5 Krishna Kumar – Jamming Goat, Goa

6 Cindy Lalramngaihzuali – Formerly from Hoots’, New Delhi

7 Deepak Koranga – The Bombay Canteen, Mumbai

8 Karl Fernandes – Bar Tesouro, Goa

9 Karthik Kumar – Byg Brewski Brewing Company, Bengaluru

10 Prantik Haldar – O Pedro, Mumbai

BEST BAR TEAMS

1 Bar Tesouro, Goa

2 Sidecar, New Delhi

3 The Bombay Canteen, Mumbai

4 7Rivers Brewing Co, Taj, Bengaluru

5 Cocktails & Dreams Speakeasy, Gurugram

6 Lair, New Delhi

7 O Pedro, Mumbai

8 PCO, New Delhi

9 PVR Home, New Delhi

10 The Sanctuary Bar & Kitchen,

BEST COCKTAIL MENUS

1 Bar Tesouro, Goa

2 Sidecar, New Delhi

3 PCO, New Delhi

4 Masque, Mumbai

5 Toast & Tonic, Bengaluru

6 Comorin, Gurugram

7 Copitas, Four Seasons, Bengaluru

8 Lair, New Delhi

9 Saz – American Brasserie, Kolkata

10 The Bombay Canteen, Mumbai

BEST DESIGNED BARS

1 Bar Tesouro, Goa

2 Sidecar, New Delhi

3 Whisky Samba, Gurugram

4 Bar Palladio, Narain Niwas Palace, Jaipur

5 The Bombay Canteen, Mumbai

BEST MICROBREWERIES/TAPROOMS

1 Byg Brewski Brewing Company, Hennur, Bengaluru

2 Toit, Mumbai

3 Windmills Craftworks, Bengaluru

4 Soi 7, Gurugram

5 Toit, Bengaluru

BEST VINTAGE BAR 2021

The Writer’s Bar at Welcomhotel by ITC Hotels The Savoy in Mussoorie

Known earlier as The Savoy, and a history going all the way back to the 1890s, Welcomhotel by ITC Hotels The Savoy in Mussoorie is probably the oldest continuously running hotel in the country. The Writer’s Bar is known to have been in existence in one form or another from the 1920s, making it among the oldest bars in the country. The name comes from the fact that many famous writers have graced its elegant interiors over the last century. Wooden plaques at the entrance of the bar honour many of them, including two Nobel Prize winners: Rudyard Kipling and Pearl S Buck. Others include Lowell Thomas, Charles Allen, Jim Corbett, John Masters, Ruskin Bond, Stephen Alter, and Ganesh Saili. Interestingly, Agatha Christie’s first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was said to have been inspired by a murder that took place at The Savoy.

INDUSTRY LEGEND

One of India’s most respected bartenders, Yangdup Lama is a partner in two of India’s top bars, Cocktails & Dreams Speakeasy, Gurugram and Sidecar, New Delhi. He was the only Indian to feature in the Drinks International Top 100 figures of the global bar industry for 2020. In 2017, Yangdup was appointed India attaché by Tales of the Cocktails, New Orleans, and the American Whisky Ambassador in India by Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD BEST BAR 2021

Elephant & Co. Pune

PEOPLE’S CHOICE BEST MICROBREWERY/ TAPROOM 2021

Bira 91 Limited Release Taproom, Bengaluru

BEST PANDEMIC RESPONSE 2021

Olive Bandra, Mumbai