Tales of the Cocktail announces top 10 Spirited Award nominees; Miami’s Broken Shaker & John Lermayer nominated!

For those that don’t know, Tales of the Cocktail is the world’s premier cocktail festival held in New Orleans.  Industry professionals and cocktail enthusiasts flock to New Orleans for five days of seminars, tastings, networking events and some of the most amazing parties you will ever go to!

Today they have announced their Spirited Award nominees.  The Spirited Awards are comparable to the Academy Awards but for the industry’s finest in many categories including:  World’s Best Bar, Best International Cocktail Bar, Best American Cocktail Bar, Best Bar Mentor and many others.  Below you will find this year’s nominees.  When you are in any part of the world, reference this list, it won’t steer you wrong as you will find some of the best bartenders in the world.

Miami was not forgotten!  The Broken Shaker at the Freehand Hotel was nominated for Best American Hotel Bar and John Lermayer was nominated for American Bartender of the Year!

And here are you nominees:

2015 Spirited Awards® Top 10 Finalists

American Categories

Best American Bar Team
ABV (San Francisco)
Anvil Bar & Refuge (Houston)
Attaboy (New York)
Clover Club (Brooklyn)
Dead Rabbit (New York)
Drink (Boston)
Employees Only (New York)
Herbs and Rye (Las Vegas)
The NoMad Bar (New York)
Williams & Graham (Denver)

American Bartender of the Year
Jeff Bell (New York)
Tim Cooper (New York)
Marcovaldo Dionysos (San Francisco)
Chris Hannah (New Orleans)
Bobby Heugel (Houston)
John Lermayer (Miami)
Ivy Mix (New York)
Jeffrey Morgenthaler (Portland)
Leo Robitschek (New York)
Pamela Wiznitzer (New York)

Best American Brand Ambassador
Brooke Arthur (House Spirits)
Colin Asare-Appiah (Bacardi)
Elayne Duff (Diageo)
Jamie Gordon (Absolut Elyx)
Guillaume Lamy (Cognac Ferrand)
Bernie Lubbers (Heaven Hill)
Anne Louise Marquis (Marnier Lapostolle)
Johnnie “The Scott” Mundell (Bowmore)
Chris Patino (Pernod-Ricard)
Nicola Riske (Edrington)

Best American Cocktail Bar
Anvil Bar & Refuge (Houston)
Attaboy (New York)
Aviary (Chicago)
Canon (Seattle)
Maison Premiere (Brooklyn)
Prizefighter (Emeryville)
Smuggler’s Cove (San Francisco)
The Varnish (Los Angeles)
Trick Dog (San Francisco)
Williams & Graham (Denver)

Best American High Volume Cocktail Bar
Celeste (Chicago)
Employees Only (New York)
Flatiron Lounge (New York)
Harvard & Stone (Los Angeles)
Herbs & Rye (Las Vegas)
Honeycut (Los Angeles)
Pegu Club (New York)
Shady Lady (Sacramento)
Sportsman’s Club (Chicago)
Three Dots and a Dash (Chicago)

Best American Hotel Bar
15 Romolo (San Francisco)
Ace Hotel Downtown LA (Los Angeles)
Bellocq (New Orleans)
Breslin at Ace (New York)
Proof on Main (Louisville)
Sable Kitchen and Bar (Chicago)
Sazerac at Roosevelt (New Orleans)
Spare Room (Los Angeles)
The Broken Shaker (Miami Beach)
The Hawthorne (Boston)

Best American Restaurant Bar
Acorn (Denver)
Bestia (Los Angeles)
Betony (New York)
Eastern Standard Kitchen & Drinks (Boston)
Eveleigh (Los Angeles)
Gramercy Tavern (New York)
No. 9 Park (Boston)
Nopa (San Francisco)
Scopa Italian Roots (Los Angeles)
The Rieger Hotel Grill and Exchange (Kansas City)

Best New American Cocktail Bar
ABV (San Francisco)
Boilermaker (New York City)
Dear Irving (New York)
Julep (Houston)
Latitude 29 (New Orleans)
Lost Lake (Chicago)
Seamstress (New York)
The Happiest Hour (New York)
The NoMad Bar (New York)
The Normandie Club (Los Angeles)

International Categories

Best International Bar Team
28 Hong Kong Street (Singapore)
American Bar at the Savoy Hotel (London)
Baxter Inn (Sydney)
Black Pearl (Melbourne)
Le Lion Bar de Paris (Hamburg)
Licoreria Limantour Roma (Mexico City)
Nightjar (London)
Schumann’s American Bar (Munich)
The Connaught Bar (London)
White Lyan (London)

International Bartender of the Year
Marian Beke (London)
Ryan Chetiyawardana (London)
Gareth Evans (London)
Shingo Gokan (Shanghai)
Zdenek Kastanek (Singapore)
Chris Moore (London)
Tim Philips (Sydney)
Carina Tsou (Paris)
Hidetsugu Ueno (Tokyo)
Charles Vexenat (Ibiza)

Best International Brand Ambassador
Ian Burrell (Global Rum)
Dean Callan (Monkey Shoulder)
Max La Rocca (Diageo World Class)
Louis Xavier Lewis-Smith (Sailor Jerry)
Joe McCanta (Grey Goose)
George Nemec (Becherovka)
Shervene Shahbazkhani (Bacardi)
Claire Smith-Warner (Belvedere Vodka)
Camille Vidal (St. Germain)
Max Warner (Chivas)

Best International Cocktail Bar
Artesian (London)
Buck & Breck (Berlin)
Candelaria (Paris)
Happiness Forgets (London)
Hemingway Bar (Prague)
High Five (Tokyo)
Le Lion Bar de Paris (Hamburg)
Nightjar (London)
The Baxter Inn (Sydney)
White Lyan (London)

Best International High Volume Cocktail Bar
Callooh Callay (London)
City Social (London)
Eau de Vie (Melbourne)
Lidkoeb (Copenhagen)
Ruby (Copenhagen)
The Black Pearl/The Attic (Melbourne)
The Diamond (Vancouver)
The Everleigh (Melbourne)
The Lobo Plantation (Sydney)
Trailer Happiness (London)

Best International Hotel Bar
American Bar, The Savoy (London)
Beaufort Bar, The Savoy (London)
Black Angel’s Bar, Hotel U Prince (Prague)
Coburg Bar, The Connaught (London)
Lobster Bar, Island Shangri-La Hotel (Hong Kong)
Manhattan, Regent Hotel (Singapore)
Ohla, Ohla Hotel (Barcelona)
The Punch Room, The Edition Hotel (London)
Widder Bar, Widder Hotel (Zurich)
Zetter Townhouse (London)

Best International Restaurant Bar
Blind Pig at Social Eating House (London)
China Tang (London)
Delicatessen (Moscow)
Duck & Waffle (London)
Hawksmoor Spitalfields (London)
Le Mary Celeste (Paris)
Mash (London)
The Red Bar at Bam-Bou (London)
Tippling Club (Singapore)
Zuma (Dubai)

Best New International Cocktail Bar
Bar Termini (London)
Baton Rouge (Paris)
Cocktail Trading Co. (London)
Dandelyan (London)
Le Syndicat Cocktail Club (Paris)
Mabel (Paris)
Operation Dagger (Singapore)
Seiberts Classic Bar & Liquid Kitchen (Cologne)
The Clumsies (Athens)
This Must Be The Place (Sydney)

Writing

Best Cocktail & Spirits Publication
Alcademics.com
Australian Bartender
Difford’s Guide
Food & Wine Magazine
Ginger Magazine
Liquor.com
Punch Drink
Saveur Magazine
The Cocktail Lovers
The Spirits Business

Best Cocktail & Spirits Writer
Jeff Berry
Dave Broom
Wayne Curtis
Simon Difford
Camper English
Amy Hopkins
Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Leslie Pariseau
Robert Simonson
Naren Young

Best New Cocktail/Bartending Book
Celebrity Cocktails by Brian Van Flandern
Classic Cocktails (Updated Reissue) by Salvatore Calabrese
Cocktails on Tap by Jacob Grier
Death & Co: Modern Classic Cocktails by David Kaplan, Nick Fauchald, and Alex Day
Futurist Mixology by Fulvio Piccinino
Liquid Intelligence: The Art and Science of the Perfect Cocktail by Dave Arnold
Shrubs: An Old-Fashioned Drink for Modern Times by Michael Dietsch
The 12 Bottle Bar: A Dozen Bottles. Hundreds of Cocktails. A New Way to Drink.by David Solmonson and Lesley Jacobs Solmonson
The Bar Book by Jeff Morgenthaler
The Old-Fashioned by Robert Simonson

Best New Spirits Book
American Spirit by James Rodewald
Brooklyn Spirits: Craft Distilling and Cocktails from the World’s Hippest Borough by Peter Thomas Fornatale
Distilled by Neil Ridley and Joel Harrison
Gentlemen Bootleggers: The True Story of Templeton Rye, Prohibition, and a Small Town in Cahoots by Bryce T. Bauer
Proof: The Science of Booze by Adam Rogers
Sherry by Talia Baiocchi
The Curious Bartender: An Odyssey of Malt Bourbon & Rye Whiskies by Tristan Stephenson
Thinking Drinkers: The Enlightened Imbiber’s Guide to Alcohol by Ben McFarland and Tom Sandham
Whisk(e)y Distilled, A Populist Guide to The Water Of Life by Heather Greene
Whisky: The Manual by Dave Broom

Overall Categories

Best Bar Mentor
Bridget Albert (Chicago)
Jacques Bezuidenhout (San Francisco)
Tony Conigliaro (London)
Jason Crawley (Sydney)
Philip Duff (New York)
Francesco Lafranconi (Las Vegas
Jim Meehan (Portland)
Agostino Perrone (London)
Andy Seymour (New York)
Angus Winchester (God knows)

Best New Spirit or Cocktail Ingredient
Amaro di Angostura
Balsam American Amaro
Grey Goose V/X
J. Rieger & Co. Kansas City Whiskey
Mister Katz’s Rock and Rye
Mr. Lyan’s Bottled Cocktails
Redemption Rye Barrel Proof
Small Hands Foods Yeoman Tonic Syrup
Suze Bitters
The Bitter Truth Cucumber Bitters

World’s Best Cocktail Menu
Anvil Bar & Refuge (Houston)
Artesian (London)
Beaufort Bar at the Savoy (London)
Canon (Seattle)
Dandelyan (London)
Dead Rabbit (New York)
Nightjar (London)
Pouring Ribbons (New York)
The NoMad Bar (New York)
Trick Dog (San Francisco)

World’s Best Spirits Selection
Anvil Bar & Refuge (Houston)
Canon (Seattle)
Eau de Vie (Melbourne)
Jack Rose Dining Saloon (Washington DC)
Multnomah Whiskey Library (Portland)
Scopa Italian Roots (Los Angeles)
Silver Dollar (Louisville)
The Baxter Inn (Sydney)
The Office at The Aviary (Chicago)
Tommy’s (San Francisco)