Esquire’s annual “Martini of the Year” pick highlights one standout martini (and the bar that makes it) as the defining drink of the year within its broader best-martinis coverage. It’s intended as a single top honor among Esquire’s national martini recommendations.
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New York City, United States
Clemente Bar occupies the ground floor of 11 Madison Ave, operating in the upper tier of Manhattan's cocktail scene with back-to-back recognition from World's 50 Best North America's Best Bars (#11, 2025) and a #1 Esquire Martini of the Year award in 2024. The program skews toward precision and restraint, placing it in a peer set defined by technical depth rather than volume or theatrical presentation. A 4.7 Google rating across 134 reviews holds steady above the Madison Square Park corridor average.
San Francisco, United States
Quince holds three Michelin stars and a Green Star in San Francisco's Jackson Square, where chef Michael Tusk's California-Italian tasting menu draws from an exclusive farm partnership in Bolinas. The wine list runs to 1,700 selections across 14,000 bottles, with particular depth in Burgundy, Champagne, and Tuscany. Friday lunch service is among the few fine-dining midday seatings available in the city.
Overview
Esquire's 2024 Martini of the Year features 2 U.S. venues across New York City and San Francisco. Clemente Bar in New York City takes the top position, followed by Quince in San Francisco. This edition represents a complete reset from 2023, with both venues marking new entries to the list.
The 2024 edition marks a dramatic shift in Esquire's martini rankings. Clemente Bar leads this year's shortened list, replacing Ilis from the previous edition. Both venues—Clemente Bar and Quince—are new additions, while all 49 venues from the prior edition dropped off, including former top performer Ilis, along with Chilte and Lom Wong. The list contracts significantly from previous years, focusing exclusively on two U.S. cities rather than a broader international selection. This concentrated approach suggests a shift in Esquire's editorial criteria or methodology for 2024.
Esquire's 2024 Martini of the Year list looks nothing like last year's edition. The publication has narrowed its focus to just two bars—Clemente Bar in New York City and Quince in San Francisco—both new to the ranking. This represents a complete departure from 2023, when Ilis topped a list of 51 venues. Every previous winner dropped off, including Chilte and Lom Wong. Whether this signals a stricter selection process or a different editorial approach, the 2024 edition offers a minimal, U.S.-focused snapshot of martini excellence.
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The 2024 Esquire Martini of the Year represents the most significant year-over-year change in the list's methodology. With just 2 venues compared to 51 in the previous edition, Esquire has condensed its martini recognition to a single country across two coastal cities. Clemente Bar claims the top position in this compressed field, while Quince rounds out the list in San Francisco.
The retention rate tells the story: zero venues carried over from 2023. Former leader Ilis disappeared from the rankings entirely, along with 48 other previous selections including Chilte and Lom Wong. Both 2024 winners qualify as new entrants, suggesting either a complete refresh of evaluation criteria or a fundamentally different scope for this year's edition.
Geographically, the list abandons international representation in favor of two major U.S. markets. This domestic focus contrasts sharply with previous editions that typically spanned multiple countries. Whether this shift reflects pandemic-related travel constraints, a deliberate editorial pivot, or simply a smaller-scale recognition program remains unclear from the list data alone.
