The best bartenders in the world

The profession of a bartender is an amazing combination of the work of an artist, a cook and a psychologist. Real masters create masterpiece drinks, showing the wonders of imagination. The hospitality industry has special awards that honor the best cocktail maestros.

Alex Kratena

The very appearance of this English bartender resembles an original mixture - intelligent glasses, a laconic shirt, hands completely covered with tattoos. Alex's career took off when he took the London bar Artesian to the international level.

Thanks to Krateny’s creative drinks, the establishment received the “Best Bar in the World” award for four years in a row. Alex has been awarded several personal awards including "Best International Bartender" in 2012. The famous bartender recently moved to the USA, where he develops iconic cocktails for the Langham hotel chain. The signature drink invented by Alex is Lady Pink, which is made from citrus juice, rhubarb, agave, and dry sherry.

Constante Ribalaiga

Ribalaig, the owner of the Cuban establishment “Floridita,” is deservedly called the first bar star of the Western Hemisphere. Constante becomes a bartender during Prohibition, when Americans flocked to Cuba for good drinks. Ribalaig's bar was visited by celebrities, including the writer Hemingway. Constante left dozens of interesting recipes, including the legendary “Longines” - a mixture of iced tea, aniseed vodka, brandy, and sugar.

Harry Johnson

History remembers this man as the “father of American bartending.” He began his career in 1852, working as a peeler in the restaurant of the Union Hotel.

14 years later, Harry opened his own saloon, where he became famous for his unusual drink recipes. At the New Orleans competition, Johnson shocked the jury by building a pyramid of 12 glasses with different cocktails. Later he worked in hotels in Philadelphia, Boston, and New York.

Harry Johnson wrote several books, including The Bartender's Guide, complete with illustrations. Johnson's most famous cocktail is the Glorious Morning Fizz, consisting of absinthe, Scotch whiskey, Vichy mineral water and a raw egg.

Martin Hudak

The King of Coffee Cocktails is the name given to this charming Australian mixologist. His career behind the bar began immediately after finishing school in Slovakia. Martin then moved to London, where he became a member of one of the best bar teams in the world - Savoy's. Martin has participated in international bartending competitions. In 2017, he became the World Coffee Champion in Good Mood. Now lives in Sydney, running his own cocktail bar. His establishment received first place at the international TOTS competition.

Giuseppe Cipriani

This Venetian bartender had a well-deserved nickname - “the man-legend”. He came up with recipes for new drinks that delighted the customers of his “Bar Harry”. There were many stars among them - Humphrey Bogart, Winston Churchill, Ernest Hemingway. Giuseppe's most popular invention is the Bellini cocktail, which is made from white peaches, prosecco, sugar, and ice. “Bar Harry” still operates under the leadership of Giuseppe’s descendants. It is considered one of the iconic restaurant establishments in the world.

Jim Meehan

The celebrated mixologist of modern Manhattan began his career in the out-of-the-way cafes of the Midwest. When he moved to Wisconsin, he realized he wanted to work behind a bar for the rest of his life. Meehan enthusiastically studied all types of cocktails - beer, wine, fruit. Since 2002, Jim's place of work has been a New York restaurant. Five years later, he opened the PDT bar, which became extremely popular for its exquisite cocktails. Meehan has won several major awards and written two bartending manuals. He claims that he does not have a signature cocktail, he just likes to create new drinks.

Fernand Petiot

The world remembers this man as the inventor of the legendary Bloody Mary. But the life of Fernand Petiot is replete with no less interesting events. He worked in iconic bars in Paris and New York, serving celebrities including Erest Hemingway and the “king of gangsters” Frank Costello. Petiot served drinks to every US president in office from 1934 to 1972. As for Bloody Mary, Fernand did not invent the cocktail, but only improved the recipe. He supplemented the mixture of vodka and tomato juice with salt, Worcestershire sauce, and two types of pepper.

Eric Lorenz

This handsome young bartender in a stylish suit looks as sophisticated as his drinks. Eric grew up in a place where there were no cocktail bars for a long time - Slovakia. After studying the profession of a bartender in Prague, Lorenz went to London. His passion for mixology helped him become a bar chef in one of the best bars in the world - American Savoy Bar. Now Eric is the winner of many international bartending competitions and a social media star. Lorenz's most famous recipe is the Manhattan cocktail, consisting of Johnnie Walker whiskey, bitters, and sweet vermouth.

Johnny Brooks

To aboutTo gain popularity during Prohibition, the American bartender needed to be a mixology genius. Johnny Brooks succeeded - he mixed unique cocktails in famous clubs, restaurants, and casinos. Legends claim that Presidents Kennedy and Roosevelt, Ernest Hemingway, and Marlene Dietrich enjoyed Brooks' drinks. After 35 years of working behind the bar, Johnny wrote a book with 200 cocktail recipes. It was he who came up with a spicy addition to martinis - squeezing aromatic oil from a lemon peel.

Ryan Chetiyawardana

Among modern bartenders, Ryan stands out for his unusual ingenuity. His London bar Dandelion is a real laboratory of tastes. There are no usual attributes of the bar industry - ice, shakers, citrus juices. Refusing traditional ingredients, Chetiyawardana boldly experiments with yeast, fermented rice, and various wines. The mixologist has won many international competitions. The 2015 Tales of Cocktailes conference named him the world's best bartender.

Jeremiah P Thomas

He was the first to show miracles of dexterity, staging colorful shows of glasses and shakers. He dropped his flyers from a hot air balloon and spent $5,000 on a single bar set for performances. New York newspapers of the late 19th century simply called him Jerry Thomas, but described him as a great artist.

Jeremiah P Thomas worked as a bartender all over America, collecting a variety of recipes. He created a chain of saloons, wrote the world's first textbook for bartenders, amassed a huge fortune, but died a poor man. Thomas came up with many drinks, but his best creation, popular to this day, is the burning Blue Blazer cocktail.

Vyacheslav Lankin

It is called the living history of Russian bar art. Lankin's career began in the nineties, when private bars began to appear. Vyacheslav founded the cult establishment “Delicatessen”, which was later included in the list of the 50 best bars in the world. Now Lankin is one of 200 bar academics in Russia, the founder of the national Barproof award. In addition to signature drinks, he created curious cocktails described in the book “Moscow-Petushki”.

Frank Meyer

The Ritz Hotel in Paris is famous for its Hemingway bar, named after the great writer. But the true hero of the establishment in the middle of the last century was the unsurpassed master of cocktails - Frank Meyer. The art of the bartender was so great that even the Nazis did not touch him, despite his Jewish origin. Meyer continued to work during the occupation, secretly helping the French Resistance movement, British intelligence officers and Jews.

Even before the war, he published the book “The Art of Mixing Drinks,” outlining all the nuances of the bartender profession. Meyer's most popular recipe is Bees Knees. The cocktail consists of gin, honey, lemon juice.