The 2024 Boothby Best Bars Victoria awards are open for nominations

Alright folks! Awards season rolls on, as do the Boothby Best Bars Awards, and our next stop is Victoria — you can now nominate your favourite bars in Victoria right now; the form is below.

The Boothby Best Bars awards program is all about what makes the drinking great in each state. I’ve written before that I think great bars speak to a time and place, and the big idea with the Boothby Best Bars program is to get a better view of how we drink right now. And the lists have given us the chance to look deeply into what's on offer in the best bars (you can look at the research from NSW and the conclusions from Victoria).

And with a state by state focus, the Boothby Best Bars awards have shown that there are great bars outside of the big capital cities, with a number of bars from our regions making the lists in Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria.

I love putting the Boothby Best Bars Awards program together. This is year two of the awards, and after some big celebrations this year so far in Queensland, and just last week in New South Wales, I'm stoked to say that the 2024 Boothby Best Bars Victoria awards will be an invite-only affair held at Pearl Diver Cocktails & Oysters on Monday 26 August, and will see us count down, from 50 to number one, the best bars in Victoria. Along the way, we'll award six major award trophies on the night:

• the Best Cocktail Bar in Victoria presented by Grada
• the All Time Great Victoria presented by Jim Beam
• the Best Hospitality Team Victoria presented by Perrier
• the Best New Bar in Victoria presented by Patrón Tequila
• Person of the Year Victoria presented by Jack Daniel's Bonded
• the Best Bar in Victoria presented by Never Never Distilling Co.

How does it work?

1. Nominations open on Monday 22 July (today!). We’re putting the call out for nominations for bars across Victoria, with an emphasis on getting nominations from regional cities and towns. We also want you to tell us who should be named Person of the Year.
2. After nominations close at 11:59pm AEST on Wednesday 31 July, the Victorian Boothby advisory panel — consisting of bartenders, bar owners and other industry figures — will cast their votes based on the nominations, which will need to include at least two venues from outside their own city. Interested in being on the panel? Email me.
3. On Thursday 8 August, invites to attend the Boothby Best Bars Victoria event will be sent out.
4. On Monday 26 August, we’ll gather at Pearl Diver Cocktails & Oysters to celebrate the best bars in Victoria.

It only takes one nomination to be considered in the next round of voting, and personal nominations are encouraged — so get onto it now in the form below.