BURST
The Vancouver Convention Centre was abuzz with a booze-loving crowd on Wednesday night for the North America’s 50 Best Bars awards ceremony.
For the second consecutive year, the awards were held in Vancouver where teams from across the continent gathered to celebrate the best and the brightest bars and bartending teams in the region.
Odds are, the event won’t be back in the city for a while, so that carpe diem vibrance was alive in the air.
The Keefer Bar, at 135 Keefer St. in Chinatown was crowned the Best Bar in Canada during the awards ceremony. The establishment also ranked No. 7 on the 2026 best bars list. The announcement garnered much excitement from the hometown crowd.
The buzzy restaurant and bar June on Cambie joined the list at No. 17.
Prophecy Bar, located in the Rosewood Hotel in downtown Vancouver, ranked No. 32, while Botanist Bar, located in the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel was ranked No. 38 on this year’s list.
Additional Canadian outposts to notch a spot in the top 50 included: Civil Works in Toronto (No. 29); Mother in Toronto (No. 22); Library Bar in Toronto (No. 19); and Bar Pompette in Toronto (No. 8). Each new Canadian ranking prompted joyous shouts among the crowd. The Canadian pride was electric.
The No. 1 spot on this year’s list went to Sip & Guzzle in New York City.
The list is compiled by votes cast by more than 300 independent cocktail experts, bartenders, educators and drinks writers from across North America.
Last month, the bars placing No. 51 to 100 were announced, and drinking outposts in Vancouver and Victoria earned accolades.
Vancouver is home to four on the 51-100 list — Bagheera (No. 59), Meo (No. 64), Laowai (No. 72) and Mount Pleasant Vintage & Provisions (No. 91). Meo and Laowai also made the 2025 list.
Victoria, punching above its weight, has two listed bars, Humboldt Bar (No. 53) and Citrus & Cane (No. 87).
Canada claims a total of 19 entries, including others in Toronto, Montreal and Calgary. The United States leads the list with 25 bars, Mexico has four. Bars in Puerto Rico and Grand Cayman round out the list.
See the full list online at Theworlds50best.com.
—With files from Mia Stainsby, Special to Postmedia News