‘Classy’ Scottish speakeasy bar wins best cocktail menu in global awards
A multi-award-winning hidden Scottish bar has once again been awarded best cocktail menu at a global awards event.
The team behind Edinburgh cocktail bar Panda & Sons is celebrating another major international achievement after winning the prestigious Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu Award at The 50 Best Bars 2026 (formerly The World’s 50 Best Bars) held in Milan.
The award recognises the bar's groundbreaking Transcend cocktail programme, the culmination of years of research, experimentation and innovation led by founder Iain McPherson and his Edinburgh-based team.
It marks the second time this year that Panda & Sons has received the prestigious menu award, having also won at the inaugural Europe's 50 Best Bars ceremony in Amsterdam in June, where the bar ranked No.20.
Founded in 2013 and hidden behind the façade of a traditional barbershop on Edinburgh's Queen Street, Panda & Sons has grown from a neighbourhood cocktail bar into one of the most internationally recognised names in the drinks industry.
The team has become a leading ambassador for Scotland's cocktail scene, consistently championing Edinburgh as a destination for world-class hospitality and demonstrating that groundbreaking innovation can come from Scotland as readily as from the world's largest cities.
At the heart of its latest success is Transcend, an ambitious cocktail programme built around the science of freezing and its extraordinary potential to transform flavour, aroma and texture.
Developed over several years, the menu brings together pioneering techniques created by Mr McPherson, including Switching and Sous Pression, alongside freeze concentration and freeze drying. These processes allow the team to manipulate the water content of ingredients, concentrate flavours and create entirely new drinking experiences.
The original Transcend menu laid the foundations for this exploration, with the subsequent Transcend 2.0 taking the team's research further, refining its techniques and bringing years of experimentation together in a collection of cocktails that challenge conventional approaches to drink-making.
Mr McPherson's fascination with freezing began with a simple question: what happens when you use cold, rather than heat, to manipulate the flavour of ingredients?
His exploration has since taken him far beyond traditional bartending, drawing inspiration from food science, ice cream production (he attended the gelato university in Italy) and other disciplines to develop techniques that are now shared with bartenders around the world.
Unlike many traditional cocktail-making methods, which rely on heat to extract or concentrate flavours, Mr McPherson's sub-zero approach allows the team to explore how freezing, pressure and dehydration can change the characteristics of ingredients, often preserving delicate flavours and aromas.
The results have helped establish Panda & Sons as an international centre for cocktail innovation, with Mr McPherson regularly travelling around the world to share his findings through seminars, workshops and industry collaborations.
Iain McPherson, founder of Panda & Sons, said: “To receive this award on the world stage is incredibly special, especially after all the time and experimentation that has gone into Transcend. We’ve spent years exploring what freezing can do to flavour, and there have been plenty of experiments along the way that haven’t worked! But that’s all part of the process.
“We’re incredibly proud to be a Scottish bar. We’ve always wanted to show that you don’t need to be in London, New York or any of the world’s traditional cocktail capitals to create something exciting and innovative. There’s so much talent and creativity in Scotland, and we love showcasing that to the rest of the world.
“This award belongs to our entire team, past and present. Transcend has been a real labour of love, and we couldn’t have achieved any of this without the people who helped bring it to life.”
The latest award adds to an extraordinary period of international recognition for Panda & Sons.
In 2025, the bar was named No.1 in the global Top 500 Bars ranking and secured an unprecedented three awards at the prestigious Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards, including World's Best Cocktail Menu, Best International Bar Team and Best International Bar Mentor.
Mr McPherson himself has also received significant international recognition, including the Altos Bartenders' Bartender Award at The World's 50 Best Bars 2024, an accolade voted for by fellow bartenders in recognition of his influence, innovation and contribution to the global drinks industry.
Despite its international profile, Panda & Sons remains firmly rooted in Edinburgh, with Scottish hospitality, collaboration and a commitment to sharing knowledge central to the bar's identity.
The team's latest success is another proud moment for Scotland's hospitality industry and a reminder of the creativity and talent emerging from the country's independent bars.
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