Asian Cocktail Culture’s Influence at The World’s Best Bar Awards in Milan
More than a dozen bars from Asian cities made 2026’s top 50 list and The House of Suntory launches a platform to explore the artistry of Japanese drinking culture
At The World’s 50 Best Bars 2026, revealed in Milan earlier this month, the momentum behind Asian cocktail culture was unmistakable. More than a dozen bars from Asian cities appeared in the global Top 50, while Hong Kong’s Bar Leone was named The World’s Best Bar for the second consecutive year. Milan’s own Moebius Milano followed at No. 2, taking the title of Best Bar in Europe.
The general outcome of the awards reflected a shift in what drinkers and the industry increasingly value. In Japanese and Asian bar culture, the drink is rarely considered in isolation. Ice, glassware, temperature, texture, pacing, setting and service form part of the experience; technique is not used as a performance of expertise, but as a means of making a guest feel considered. Japanese cocktail culture has long made an art of these details. Its values of craftsmanship and thoughtful hospitality are becoming an increasingly influential vocabulary within the global bar world. The appeal lies not only in its recognizable Japanese aesthetic, but also in an approach that marries discipline with ease, ritual with sociability, and innovation with an attentiveness to tradition.
During The World’s 50 Best Bars Week in October, Milan became a temporary meeting point for bartenders, bar owners and hospitality professionals. Across the city, guest shifts, masterclasses, dinners and tastings created an unusually energetic circuit of exchange: part industry summit, part social occasion and part international showcase for a profession that has become more collaborative and globally connected than ever.
At Ceresio 7, the rooftop restaurant and bar in Milan, The House of Suntory presented Suntory Time, a platform to explore the artistry, seasonality and hospitality shaping modern Japanese drinking culture. The program brought Roku Gin, Toki Japanese Whisky and Haku Vodka into a series of conversations and tastings designed around a contemporary expression of Japanese culture. The approach is rooted in the attention to detail that characterizes Japanese bartending, from the sourcing of ingredients to the construction of a drink, its presentation and the quality of interaction between bartender and guest.
One of the week’s most closely watched appearances came from Shingo Gokan, the Japanese bartender and entrepreneur behind New York’s Sip & Guzzle and Hong Kong’s Gokan. In April, Sip & Guzzle was named No. 1 in North America’s 50 Best Bars 2026 and received the title of The Best Bar in North America. At Ceresio 7, Gokan brought his own balance of technical rigor and accessibility to a guest shift centered on Japanese ingredients and playful flavor. His astounding Omatsuri Banana combined Toki Japanese Whisky, miso, chocolate and caramelized banana—a dessert-adjacent cocktail that brought savory and sweet notes into balance.
Later, at the awards ceremony at Palazzo del Ghiaccio, Gokan received the Roku Industry Icon Award 2026. Sponsored by Roku Gin, the award recognizes an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the bar industry. In Gokan’s case, it acknowledged an influence that extends beyond a single bar: he has built an international career as a bartender, founder, mentor and operator, helping to establish a model of Japanese-inspired hospitality that travels easily across cities and cultures.
Earlier that day, Julia Momosé—chef, bartender and the creative force behind Chicago’s Kumiko—led a masterclass at Ceresio 7 for Suntory Time. Her session explored the ritual of the Toki Highball, using a familiar format to illustrate the precision, restraint and sensitivity to ingredients that define Japanese cocktail-making. Kumiko was included in the 2026 global extended list of The World’s 50 Best Bars at No. 70. The Chicago bar also won World’s Best Bar and Best U.S. Restaurant Bar at the 2025 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards.
For Momosé, however, the work begins with a more personal memory. “My journey began in a speakeasy bar in Kyoto, where I had my first cocktail and witnessed the magic of hospitality,” she told COOL HUNTING. “That experience inspired me to create experiences for other people, and eventually led me toward my dream of having my own bar, when I moved to the USA.”
She found that possibility in Chicago. “I found a city where I truly felt at home,” Momosé said. “I love its atmosphere, its people and its food-and-drink culture. At Kumiko, my bar in the West Loop, I try to bring together Japanese heritage, seasonal ingredients and a genuine sense of hospitality.” Momosé describes her role as an ambassador for Japanese culture with a mixture of pride and responsibility. “I want to challenge stereotypes and share a culture that celebrates people, individual talent, specialty products and tradition,” she said.
That ambition is most clearly expressed through omotenashi, a Japanese approach to hospitality that Momosé describes as careful listening and respect for what each guest needs. Sometimes, she notes, that means space and silence; at other times, it means conversation. “With every guest who walks into my bar, my approach is to offer omotenashi,” Momosé said. “Sometimes a guest wants space and silence; sometimes they want conversation. When we do connect, I want to do more than serve a drink: I want to share the values, stories and poetry of our culture.”
This is perhaps the most consequential aspect of Japanese bar culture’s growing relevance. Its influence is not a matter of an imported visual language—minimal interiors, Japanese whiskies or ceremonial ice carving—though those details can be compelling. Rather, it’s a model of care. The goal is to make the guest feel recognized without transforming service into a performance of attentiveness.
The Suntory portfolio gave that idea several distinct expressions during the week. Roku Gin takes its cues from shun, the Japanese concept of enjoying ingredients at their seasonal peak, using botanicals to give gin a specifically Japanese perspective. Toki Japanese Whisky represents the energy of contemporary Tokyo and brings Japanese whisky into modern, social drinking occasions. Haku Vodka, made from 100% Japanese white rice, has a smooth profile with soft, subtle sweetness intended to support individual expression in cocktails. The relationship between seasonality and design is also visible in Roku Sakura Bloom Edition, a limited-edition gin introduced in 2024. Inspired by sakura season and the Japanese custom of hanami, or flower viewing, it has a soft floral profile with a subtle saline note from blossom leaves. It is an example of how a seasonal reference can become both a flavor idea and a cultural proposition.
A perfect example of how Japanese drinking culture is rooting in Europe is offered by Milan’s Ronin, an exciting multi-level destination for nightlife experiences. The venue brings together several formats associated with Japanese social life: an izakaya and listening bar that serves drinks alongside small dishes, an intimate cocktail bar—with private karaoke rooms—focused on Far Eastern mixology, a restaurant and quieter cocktail lounge setting. The atmosphere is vibrant and lively, drawing crowds of different generations and making drinking part of a broader ritual of food, music and late-night conviviality. The entrepreneurs behind Ronin are Italian, and their Japanese-style adventure is increasingly attracting the attention of other nightlife operators.
The week in Milan suggested that the rise of Japanese and Asian bar culture reaches beyond rankings. It’s a growing influence on how the international drinks world defines quality: precision without rigidity, seasonality without nostalgia and hospitality that is sensitive to the individual rather than performative for its own sake. At a moment when the world’s best bars are becoming more international in their reference points, Japanese cocktail culture continues to offer a particularly resonant proposition: that the most memorable drink is not merely made with skill, but served with attention, warmth and care.
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