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Vancouver’s Best Bars and the Memories Nobody Ranked

I keep a mental list of the best cocktails I have ever had. Not written down anywhere, not catalogued or ranked — just held quietly, the way good things tend to be. And along with each chilled glass comes something else entirely: a fleeting impression of the room, the quality of the light, the person sitting across from me, the hour of the evening. A drink is rarely just a drink. It is a timestamp, a mood, a conversation that went longer than expected. Vancouver best bars have always known how to make those moments happen, and this year, the world’s best bar list confirmed what many of us already suspected.

North America’s 50 Best Bars is one of those annual ceremonies that moves through the continent like a well-shaken cocktail — arriving in a new city each year, drawing the industry’s gaze, and then dissolving into the next news cycle. This year, the list made its way to Vancouver. Four of our own landed on the extended ranking, sitting between positions 59 and 91 on a list that spans the entire continent.

This post is late. Not because the news escaped me, but because I wanted to sit with it differently. Rather than racing to republish a ranking, I went back through my camera reel and a few pages of scrawled notes to find what actually stayed with me about three of the four places – a visit to Laowei is still in the making. What follows is that — nothing more, nothing less.

Bagheera — #59

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The ceiling alone is always worth the visit. Lined with jewellery cases — rings, pendants, horseshoes — it glows gold in the low light, giving the room the feel of a gilded vault rather than a bar. The evening was St. Patrick’s Day, and whatever was in that glass was doing its job beautifully. By the end of the night, the specifics no longer seemed to matter. Follow Bagheera on IG HERE.

Meo — #64

Meo’s interior is all low light and velvet, a portrait of a white Persian cat presiding over the room from the wall with the sort of regal indifference only cats can manage. It is the kind of place that asked nothing of me except that I stay a little longer. On a warm summer evening, the Spicy Meo Marg delivered exactly that — one of their most popular drinks for good reason, built on Alto Tequila reposado, fresh lime, agave nectar, and a soft touch of melon milk, finished with a chili, agave, and lime-compressed melon ball served as a lollipop on the rim. Playful, precise, and entirely its own thing. Follow Meo on IG HERE.

Mount Pleasant Vintage and Provisions — #91

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The retro bar with its tufted orange stools and hanging globe pendants set the tone from the moment I walked in. But what stayed with me was not what was in my glass — it was the smoked olives. Lacquered in oil and dusted with chili flakes, they were the kind of small, perfect thing that lodges itself in memory and refuses to leave. As I prepare to return to Greece this summer, it is those olives I keep thinking about. Follow Mount Pleasant Vintage and Provisions on IG HERE.

Lists make the news. Places make the memories worth keeping. But the most honest truth is that the memories worth keeping are not reserved for the recognized, the awarded, or the well-photographed. They live just as readily in the neighbourhood bar with no social presence and a handwritten menu, in the new opening that has not yet found its footing but already has something to say, in the spot that will never make a list but will make your evening. Vancouver is full of all of these. The four places above earned their rankings, and rightly so — but for every name on a global list, there are ten more worth your time, your curiosity, and an open Tuesday night. Go looking. Order something you cannot pronounce. Stay for one more. The best additions to that quiet mental list of yours are almost always the ones you did not plan for.

[All imagery from the bars respective IG accounts].

Author Profile

Vlad Xanthopoulos: Vlad Xanthopoulos is the Vices Ambassador at Folio.YVR, host of Cocktails & Cigars, and contributor. A connoisseur of fine cigars and craft cocktails, Vlad explores the art, culture, and stories behind these indulgences. His passion for tradition and refined living elevate Vancouver Vices for Folio.YVR Luxury Lifestyle Magazine.