Vol. 7, No. 1 | I Visited Four of the World's Best Bars And It Made Me Realize How Underrated Atlanta Is

Hey Ya’ll!

I just got in from Mexico City and after two weeks of traveling, I’m excited to be back in Atlanta.

I was really looking forward to this trip to CDMX because four of their bars are on the World’s Best 50 Bars list. I travel a lot and I visit a lot of bars, but it’s been a while since I’ve been in a city with such a high concentration of the world’s best (I attempted to get the percentage on this but my brain was entirely too tired.) Anyway, that’s a lot when you consider how many cities and bars there are in the world…IN THE WORLD. It seemed like a great place to pick up some inspiration to start the year.

After my last stop at the fourth bar on the list (and many others in between), my before-the-plane excitement turned to frustration. I found myself unable to sleep at 4am in the morning and it wasn’t because the mezcal stirred me. As I lay in bed, I just couldn’t understand how CDMX had four of the “world’s best bars” when Atlanta had zero. This isn’t a knock against CDMX and the bars I visited, it’s just that Atlanta is pretty effin great. And after seeing what we’re competing against, I can say confidently that at least three of Atlanta’s bars belong on that list and there are two more that I could make a strong argument for. When craft meets Southern hospitality, something truly magical happens.

I have some ongoing theories as to why Atlanta's cocktail scene constantly gets overlooked. Maybe it’s because people don’t know how to understand Atlanta bars because our liquor license laws make it almost impossible for cocktail bars not to sell food (but I’d say this is also part of our charm because the food is amazing). Maybe it’s because the droves of people that flood 8Arm from Ponce City Market order vodka sodas. (This isn’t a judgment against their order, I am a staunch believer that people should drink what they like. It’s just really hard for people to realize how absolutely incredible 8Arm is when they don’t go in for cocktails). Maybe it’s because our “poleful” entertainment establishments get all the shine. (I don’t have an aside for this, it just is what it is. On second thought, maybe we need a strip club with great cocktails. Hmm…this is actually a pretty good idea.)

Regardless of the answer, I walked away from this trip inspired in a completely different way than I expected. I’m ready for this year.

Hope you’re all doing well!

Shannon

P. S. - I thought about titling this “Atlanta Influences Everything But Cocktails”. Not sure why I didn’t because it’s a very good title.

P.P.S - I also thought about titling it “The South Has Something to Drink”. Another very good title.

P.P.P.S. - Ahh, I was going to write something and then forgot.

P.P.P.S. - Ok I remember now. Next week I’ll share my recap on CDMX. It is hands down one of my favorite cities in the world.