Earlier this year, Christine Sismondo (my fellow 50 Best Canadian Academy chair) and I informally polled dozens of top Canadian bartenders. We asked for their hot takes on global bar trends… and the responses were definitely not the polite, deferential Canadiana you might expect.

Pre-batching drinks “to the point that you’re just pouring: it needs to stop!”. Back bars and anointing startenders “creates financial vulnerability by relying on brands”. Minimalist menus are puzzling, house-canned drinks are superfluous, dehydrated citrus garnishes suck, and the time for flaming, smoking, novelty-glassing and caviar-bumping is over, they told us.

So what does Canada stand for in the global cocktail world? It’s a vast country of vast humility, but our accomplishments are not small. Consider the magic in a bottle of 100% rye Canadian whisky or Ms Better’s Miraculous Foamer. Every time a bartender riffs on our Bloody Caesar, Toronto or Shaft cocktails, you could nod to the influence of Fairmont and Four Seasons, two Canadian-born hotel brands, helping to raise the hotel-bar game worldwide.

A legacy of mentorship has taken Canadian expertise to every corner of the world. Every time a drink is fat-washed or clarified, a bell rings for Cam Bogue, who helped re-popularise the techniques two decades ago (and invented a mini-Clinebell, to boot). Trash Collective founder Kelsey Ramage plants the roots of sustainable drinks around the world. Frankie Solarik brings his Bar Chef dazzle to Netflix’s Drink Masters. Ingenuity, charisma and warmth have produced four recent World Class Global Bartenders of the Year (Kaitlyn Stewart, 2017; James Grant, 2021; Jacob Martin, 2023; Keegan McGregor, 2024) and two recent North America’s 50 Best Bars Michter’s Art of Hospitality Award winners (Botanist in Vancouver, 2023; and Bar Pompette in Toronto, 2025).

In 2025, even as we welcomed the world to Vancouver for North America’s 50 Best Bars and to Toronto for Diageo World Class, no Canadian establishments have cracked the World’s 50 Best Bars 1-50 list. It’s only natural to wonder why.

There’s no single, unified style of Canadian bartending or bar culture that makes it easily identifiable or understood globally, for one thing. “We’re all restricted in some ways in what we have access to – based on growing seasons, local laws around liquor and imports. Because of that, you end up with a sense of creativity that a lot of other places don't need to cultivate as much,” says Josh Lindley. He co-founded Bartender Atlas in 2016, a Canadian-heavy directory that’s grown into something of an IMDB for bar talent. The 20-year veteran of the Toronto scene says: “That makes it exciting, because you're not going to get the same style of drinks in Vancouver as you will in Toronto or Montreal or Moose Jaw,” he says.

Viable career

It’s a huge country of small regions and neighbourhoods, as well. Much of Canada has minimum wage and tipping customs that do make professional bartending a viable career. For many, shiny international awards might seem less important than keeping their bars open, profitable and serving local communities well. Co-founder Jessica Blaine Smith says Bartender Atlas site was built on that very Canadian ethos. “We’re not just after the startenders or the cool kids. No matter whether you're pulling pints and pouring shots, whether you’re in a big city or a small town, you can be listed.” Building a clientele of regulars, who will be there when the guest-shift party ends, is what Sismondo thinks Canadian bars are all about. “Comedy nights, karaoke, spaghetti nights and trivia are becoming more important than what’s in the glass these days,” she notes. Every bar, even a magnet or destination bar, is somebody’s local.

North America’s 50 Best rankings, including the 51-100 list, give regional bars a more accessible shot at recognition. And even global awards don’t need a number in front of them to be meaningful. Calliope Draper won the 50 Best Bars Roku Scholarship 2024 while based in Edmonton, the capital city of agriculture- and oil-rich Alberta. The then-26-year-old won with a cocktail using humble canola oil. In the run-up to the award, the trailblazing founder of the queer and trans cocktail magazine Places You Are Welcome named “social and political activism” and “inclusive community building” as essential skills for modern bartenders.

Next-generation talent may shape the future of Canadian bars in ways that go beyond menus, cocktails and bar design. It could be that thirsting after glittery recognition is the wrong answer to the real question.

“I mean, what’s the rush? If your bar just opened a year ago, maybe don’t expect to be on any lists,” says Blaine Smith. Canadian bars win by succeeding on their own terms: authenticity, hospitality, creativity. For once, we’re not sorry.