The top 50 bars in Victoria, according to bartenders
Get the full list and all the award winners here.
On Monday night, the third annual Boothby Best Bars Victoria awards took place in Melbourne, with over 120 bartenders from 50 bars across the state in attendance.
And what a night it was, with complimentary drinks whipped up by the Pearl Diver Cocktails & Oysters team, with ingredients supplied by our sponsors Estrella Damm, Perrier, Never Never, Angels Envy, Ilegal Mezcal, Club Suntory, and Jack Daniel’s Bonded. The drinks, needless to say, were delicious.
Before we get to the results below, and in light of the weekend’s events, I’d also like to share a quick note of what I said at the awards.
We live in interesting times. The bar industry we’re in today is a better industry than it was 10 years ago, 20 years ago. And it has more to do to improve. But hospitality by its very nature is open, welcoming, and empathetic — whether it’s breaking bread with someone else or sharing a pint together, that empathy for one another, often for complete strangers, is needed now more than ever. So I want to acknowledge the vital importance and work of immigrants to our industry – people who are co-workers, friends, bartenders and cooks — people who go to work each day to share their skills, their hospitality, their warmth and their openness with us all. This state and this country is a better place to live because of that.
It seems common sense to me, and the bar industry at the awards seemed to agree.
The awards last night was the third and final stop of the 2025 Boothby Best Bars program, which saw an open nomination process take place in July, followed by a preferential vote conducted by a 100-plus strong panel of voters comprised of the state’s best bartenders, owners, operators, and influential industry figures — the people who know the bars in Victoria best.