Introducing the 2015 Imbibe 75

If your travel plans are anything like mine, your itinerary is punctuated with places you’ve got to check out, drinks you’d like to try, and people you’re hoping to stop and say hello to as you make your way around town. But whether you’re hitting the road or just heading out for an evening close to home, keeping track of the people and places that should be top on your list to discover can take some dedicated attention.

Allow us to offer a few suggestions—75 of them, to be precise. Every year, Imbibe’s editorial team combs through the sprawling lists we’ve assembled over the previous year, selecting the most compelling people, places, flavors and destinations worth discovering in the months to come. The Imbibe 75 features both newcomers to the drinks scene and longtime veterans who’ve hit their stride or are shifting gears, and includes people who mix masterful cocktails each night and those who venture far into remote regions in pursuit of excellent coffee, as well as bars that prove the best places for enjoying wine or beer and the flavors that are sure to wind up in a glass in front of you at some point in the months to come.

This year, we’ve earned some serious frequent-flier miles while assembling the Imbibe 75. Get a glimpse of the unrivalled drinks scenes in world capitals like Tokyo and Berlin, and discover up- and-coming drinks destinations, such as Pittsburgh and Palm Springs. Our Bartender of the Year, Derek Brown, is setting the standard for cocktails (and now, coffee) in Washington, D.C.; New York City is where we discovered our Wine Bar of the Year over glasses of rosé at Racines in Tribeca; and Polly Watts—our Beer Person of the Year—is pouring great stuff in the glasses of beer drinkers in New Orleans. California is home to both our Cocktail Bar of the Year and our Coffee Bar of the Year—ABV in San Francisco and G&B in Los Angeles, respectively—as well as Jasmine Hirsch, our Wine Person of the Year; and in Colorado, we chose Darrin Daniels as our Coffee Person of the Year. Along the way, we sip wines from Oregon to Corsica, meet brewers in Maine and tea farmers in British Columbia, and venture no farther than our local coffee shops and bars to sample flavors like fizzy carbonated coffee, and the tart and tangy beer called Berliner weisse.

The world of drinks grows bigger and more exciting every year, and the list of bars, coffee shops, wineries and breweries to discover can be a daunting one, but we’re here to help. Pull up a glass and break out your to-do list; we’ve got 75 people, places and flavors that need to be on there.

—Paul Clarke
Executive Editor, Imbibe