Trick Dog wins prize for best cocktail menu in the world

Trick Dog was recognized on Saturday, July 20, 2019 with the World’s Best Cocktail Menu award in the 13th annual Spirited Awards by the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation. The award ceremony was held in New Orleans. Trick Dog's Josh Harris and Morgan Schick are pictured in the center. less Trick Dog was recognized on Saturday, July 20, 2019 with the World’s Best Cocktail Menu award in the 13th annual Spirited Awards by the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation. The award ceremony was held in New ... more Photo: Courtesy Of Cory James Photo Photo: Courtesy Of Cory James Photo Image 1 of / 30 Caption Close Trick Dog wins prize for best cocktail menu in the world 1 / 30 Back to Gallery

If you’ve always contended that Trick Dog has one of the best cocktail menus around, you now have one major point to back that claim up.

The Tales of the Cocktail Foundation announced the winners for its 13th annual Spirited Awards on Saturday, recognizing Trick Dog for "best cocktail menu in the world" in their global category.

The popular Mission bar secured the title over three other bars, all in New York City: BlackTail, Dante and Mace.

For the title, the following were considered:

Originality and creativity of design

Content: range of spirits and specialty cocktails

Diversity of cocktail styles

ALSO: Where to get high-quality cocktails for $8 or less in San Francisco, the Bay Area

These three elements can be seen in "The Joy of Cooking" menu, which garnered them the award this year. In that menu, Trick Dog featured cocktails that highlighted SF's food scene and worked with topnotch chefs like Dominique Crenn, Ravi Kapur and Traci des Jardins. Each chef was tasked with creating libations that best showcased the sensibility of their food and restaurant.

Now, their latest menu takes inspiration from the counterculture magazine the “Whole Earth Catalog” by Stewart Brand which ran from 1968 to 1972. The Chronicle’s Justin Philips wrote that highlights include the Commune Life (gin, bitter herbs liqueur, vermouth, yellow chartreuse, burnt honey); Government Surplus (whiskey, sherry, Amaro Nonino, red wine, prickly pear, ginger, lemon, egg white); and the Great Bus Race (tequila, grappa, maraschino liqueur, caramelized orange, parsley, lime).

It’s not the first time Trick Dog has been recognized for their creative cocktail menu. In 2017, their vibrant "Mural Project" menu was also recognized and won the same category at the Spirited Awards.

"To win this global category twice is a great honor," Josh Harris, BV Hospitality founder and co-owner of Trick Dog, said. "We love making menus. Collaborating with our team and amazing talents and using those menus to support The Bon Vivants Scholarship and other nonprofit organizations locally makes the recognition that much sweeter," Harris said.

ALSO: Bartenders from SF and San Jose named among the top 10 in the U.S.

Trick Dog was the only San Francisco and California winner, though it wasn’t the only Bay Area bar to be recognized. Kevin Diedrich of Pacific Cocktail Haven was announced as one of four finalists in the American Bartender of the Year category but lost the title to Julio Cabrera of Cafe La Trova in Miami.

Like Diedrich, bartender Mary Palac of Paper Plane in San Jose was nominated for the same category but didn’t make it into the finals.

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to show that Trick Dog won the same award in 2017, not 2018. Additionally, the East Coast bars that were nominated under the same category for 2019 were NYC bars: BlackTail, Dante and Mace.

Susana Guerrero is an SFGATE producer. Email: Susana.Guerrero@sfgate.com | Twitter: @SusyGuerrero3