Peer‑voted bartender winner

Freddy Andreasson has won the Altos Bartenders’ Bartender Award 2026, a peer-voted honor in North America’s 50 Best Bars. (thewhiskeywash.com) North America’s 50 Best Bars announced the award on April 13, 2026, nine days before its main ceremony on April 22 at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, Canada. (thewhiskeywash.com; barandbeverage.com) The award sits inside a ranking built from votes cast by the North America’s 50 Best Bars Academy, which says it has more than 300 gender-balanced members from Canada, the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean. (theworlds50best.com; theworlds50best.com) Andreasson is the co-founder of El Gallo Altanero in Guadalajara, and the bar ranked No. 8 on North America’s 50 Best Bars in 2025 and No. 8 again on the 2026 list published by 50 Best Discovery. (thewhiskeywash.com; theworlds50best.com; theworlds50best.com) El Gallo Altanero is known for an agave-focused back bar and cocktail program rooted in Jalisco, the Mexican state most closely associated with tequila. 50 Best says the bar spotlights agave spirits from independent producers and changes its menu every other month. (theworlds50best.com; theworlds50best.com; theworlds50best.com) That focus helps explain why Andreasson stands out in bar circles that often reward technique, menu design and global brands as much as product sourcing. The Whiskey Wash said the award recognized his influence in championing independent tequila producers and agave spirits. (thewhiskeywash.com) Andreasson is Swedish by birth, but 50 Best says he moved to Mexico after first visiting for a bartending competition and later opened El Gallo Altanero in 2018 with Alejandra De Aguinaga. (theworlds50best.com) In the 50 Best ecosystem, the Bartenders’ Bartender prize is distinct from the ranked list because it is framed as an industry-insider judgment about influence and respect. This year’s result puts a Guadalajara bar owner tied closely to agave education and independent bottlings at the center of that vote. (thewhiskeywash.com; theworlds50best.com) The broader 2026 list will bring the rest of the region’s bar hierarchy into focus on April 22, but Andreasson’s win is already official. (thewhiskeywash.com; barandbeverage.com)