What unites the Best New Bartenders class of 2024 is less a stylistic approach to cocktails and more a shared belief that drinks offer the perfect platform to connect—with guests, local communities, even their own heritage. For this class, the narrative of each ingredient is as considered as its flavor. A New York Sour, for instance, made with Puerto Rican rum and Brooklyn amaro pays homage to the Puerto Rican diaspora in New York City; toasted rice–infused rye sweetened with pandan syrup makes for an Old-Fashioned that nods to two popular ingredients in Vietnamese street food; and a dark and brooding nightcap reflects the dark and brooding song that inspired it. Taken individually, these drinks tell personal stories. Taken together, they offer a snapshot of bartending’s bright future.
Jordan Valls | Portland, Oregon
According to Jordan Valls, this frozen drink was inspired by two iconic coffee cocktails—the Irish Coffee from San Francisco’s Buena Vista Cafe and the Frozen Irish Coffee from New Orleans’ Erin Rose—with a distinctly Palomar twist. Aged Jamaican rum forms the base, complemented by coffee liqueur and brandy, sweetened with the bar’s coconut masala syrup and enriched with sweetened condensed milk. Blended to order, the drink is decadent, yet refreshing.
Kitty Bernardo | New York City
Created for the first bar program Kitty Bernardo ran in New York City in 2023, this simple, thoughtful Martini variation might seem like a surprise coming from a bartender at Paradise Lost, better known for a maximalist approach to drink-making. But according to Bernardo, the simplicity of the drink aligns with a style of bartending they have been developing since moving to New York in 2018, and reflects the types of drinks they personally enjoy. Inspired by their late best friend, who pushed them to pursue their passion for bartending, the Tiny Sparrow Martini “is a love letter to our friendship—this cocktail combines elements of both our Vietnamese and Filipino cultures, creating a more sessionable and unapologetically Southeast Asian Martini.”
Thi Nguyen | Washington, D.C.
“Sticky rice and pandan are popular ingredients in Vietnamese street food, known for their distinctive flavors and aromas,” explains Thi Nguyen, who uses both in this twist on the Old-Fashioned. The base consists of toasted rice–infused rye, sweetened by a simple pandan syrup and finished with two dashes of Angostura bitters. “The toasted rice adds a delightful nutty and toasty flavor,” says Nguyen, “while the pandan syrup brings a vanilla-coconut essence.”
Allison Everitt | Detroit
Allison Everitt describes her low-ABV, refreshing Bamboo Spritz as “a thirst-quenching patio crusher.” A sparkling riff on the classic Bamboo, Everitt opts for a split base of manzanilla sherry, for salinity, and bianco vermouth, for an herbaceous, citrusy quality. A topping of both cava and hop water brings the drink into spritz territory, while aromatic cucumber rounds out the drink by way of a long ribbon garnish.
Jackson Mercier | Milwaukee
This equal-parts cocktail was conceived as a nightcap, something that Jackson Mercier could serve to guests as the last drink of an evening, or enjoy himself after closing Bryant’s Cocktail Lounge. The name comes from the title of a song by punk rock band the Misfits. “A dark and brooding song became the basis for a dark and brooding cocktail,” explains Mercier of his drink, which combines bonded apple brandy, Averna and génépy (Mercier prefers the Wisconsin-made Heirloom génepy brand). Finally, a few dashes of Peychaud’s bitters bring an aromatic nose that acts as “the rug that ties the room together,” says Mercier.
Antonio Jimenez | Philadelphia
“As a proud Boricua, I always try to find ways to incorporate my own culture [into] whatever I create,” says Antonio Jimenez, head bartender at Bolo in Philadelphia. This take on the New York Sour, a Whiskey Sour variation topped with a float of red wine, is no exception. Made with a Puerto Rican rum—“my hometown rum,” says Jimenez—and an amaro from Brooklyn, this recipe pays homage to the Puerto Rican diaspora in New York City.
Shaun Williams | New Orleans
“Pam is my mom and she can’t have citrus in her drinks, so making things for her can be difficult,” says Shaun Williams, bartender at Jewel of the South in New Orleans. Pam’s go-to order is a “gin and cranberry,” which this large-format drink builds on. In lieu of fresh orange juice, Williams calls on homemade Sunny D, while she adds ginger ale for effervescence and absinthe “to give a little warmth typical of a punch.”
Justin Brody | Mystic, Connecticut
“What does it even mean to be a tiki drink?” is a question that’s been around for almost as long as the style has. It’s also a question that this recipe poses. Its creator, Justin Brody, of Mystic, Connecticut’s The Port of Call, took inspiration from Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and its source material, the 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, to develop this nontraditional, spirit-forward, possibly tiki-style cocktail.
Tom Liu | Los Angeles
A take on Japan’s chu-hai, this cocktail brings together buckwheat tea (“soba cha” in Japanese), which “has a refreshing yet nutty and earthy flavor that pairs well with this complex barley shochu,” says Tom Liu, with lemon cordial for acidity and body, and saline solution for a savory hit. The drink typically incorporates force carbonation, a technique common at Los Angeles bar Thunderbolt, where Liu is head bartender. At home, try this version, which calls on concentrated buckwheat tea and soda water instead.
Manny Hernandez | Watsonville, California
This cocktail is an ode to Watsonville, California, where Manny Hernandez, a cantinero at Stokes Adobe, lives. The Central Coast community “is an important area for agriculture where I live and throughout the U.S.,” he says. Hernandez marries ingredients that represent the diverse produce grown there—from the raspberries in the syrup to the aloe in the liqueur—with a spirit, mezcal, that has “a connection to my identity and honors the cultural roots of the many Mexicans working in California fields.” The drink’s name, too, is symbolic: “The ingredients in this cocktail represent the dreamer who works hard for family and community.”
