We Asked: “What Does Sustainability Mean to You?”

The Best New Bartenders of 2025 are bound by a shared belief that sustainability goes beyond making cocktails. 

And while hyperlocal, hyperseasonal and low-waste efforts drive their drink-making, the class of 2025 takes a broader view of the term, understanding that sustainability—of land, ingredients, their peers, businesses—is all interconnected.

This year, Punch is partnering with Astral Tequila, who brings shared values of sustainability, resourceful upcycling and social responsibility to the forefront of the Best New Bartenders initiative. For the 10 bartenders featured below, sustainability is not just a buzzword, but the only path forward to ensure a bright future for themselves and their chosen industry. 

We asked the people shaping the future of the industry what sustainability looks like, at the bar and beyond. Here’s what they had to say.

“It is so cool to be working at Daisies, which has a Michelin Green Star, and is the only restaurant in Chicago to have that. Our bar program uses a lot of kitchen scraps. The citrus we have behind the bar is citrates, like superjuice. We make a point to not have any ingredients that are not local or seasonal. We don’t have cranberry, pineapple or coconut. What that means is doing a lot of fermentation, a lot of acid-adjusting, and using alternative acids like vinegars to make up that acidity for a balanced cocktail.”
—Becca Petersen, bartender, Daisies, Chicago

“True Laurel is known for its vibrant, technically complex drinks, and [I take pride in] being able to lead a bar program that prioritizes environmental responsibility without compromising on creativity. This approach not only reflects my commitment to a no-waste philosophy but also supports local agriculture and reduces overall food waste, with regular foraging integrating the natural flora of the San Francisco Bay Area into the menu.”
—Tone Arasa, bartender and prep lead, True Laurel, San Francisco

“I’ve always tried to avoid using spirits made by international conglomerates that don’t have any care for the land and cultures that they use. Since working at Firstborn, seasonality and locality have been [at the] forefront of my focus and studies.”
—Kenzo Han, bar director, Firstborn, Los Angeles

“We partner with a compost company in New Jersey that works with a couple of farms. After spending over 10 years working in restaurants, I know there’s so much stuff thrown away constantly. Anything that helps an ingredient take on a second life is something I’m proud to take part in.”
—Ricardo Rodriguez, bar manager at Lita and La Otra, Aberdeen Township, New Jersey

“I volunteer for an organization of bartenders against hunger, which helps provide meals for the unhoused and hungry, and No Kid Hungry, another program that helps kids on the street. This is our community, and the bar is a hub for community connections; we have the power to make differences.”
—Lou Bernard, beverage director, Mita, Washington, D.C.

“I am sharing this on June 11, 2025, from Los Angeles, so taking care of all my coworkers and neighbors and making sure they have the resources to defend themselves legally, and can all get to and from work safely and not have to worry about being kidnapped from the restaurant has been the No. 1 priority of my team and my community.”
—Han

“We host Queer Night every Thursday at the bar. It was started by my friend and coworker Al Culliton, and they’ve since passed the torch on to me. It’s become my favorite night of the week to work. We make sure to include drinks on there that are at a more affordable price point than our average menu prices, and always have a few nonalcoholic options as well for those who don’t want to partake in that way. It’s all about being in community, so we want as many people to show up as possible.”
—Molly Gajdosik, assistant manager, Gigantic, Easthampton, Massachusetts

“I have ancestral ties to the California coast, being from the Coastal Miwok tribe of Graton Rancheria. Being Indigenous, I have a strong social and environmental duty to the land I inhabit. I am currently and actively donating to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, an urban land trust led by Indigenous women. This land trust inspired me to continue my volunteer work on local farms to develop an understanding of native plants in our area. I am also working with other Indigenous industry professionals to create our own industry nonprofit that brings Indigenous and Latinx industry workers together to share experiences, stories, culture and work opportunities. Being a bartender helps me stay connected to my own Indigenous community and understand the importance of maintaining community within our industry.”
—Arasa

“I take great responsibility in looking out for the staff I oversee. I can’t name a greater social responsibility than taking care of people.”
—Daniel Bareswilt, bar lead, Alter Ego, Tampa, Florida

“I’d love to see a focus on sustainability that goes beyond ingredients. This industry runs on people, so how we treat them is important to the overall sustainability of the industry. Sourcing responsibly and reducing waste is so important, but so is fair pay and work-life balance—we need to pay attention to both environmental and human sustainability.”
—Gajdosik

“I want people to put their toes down and say, This is what our company believes in, and not be so afraid of the capitalistic consequences.”
—Kelly

“I think the gradual switch to a service-charge model has been really cool. Though some versions of that work better than others, the emphasis on providing benefits to service-industry employees is something I want to see continue.”
—Petersen

“I want to see real structural investment in the health and the well-being of the hospitality workers, starting with access to healthcare. For me, it’s unacceptable that in this industry, so many people still work without basic benefits like insurance, paid sick leave or mental health support. We talk a lot about hospitality, but we rarely extend it to the people doing the work. That also means setting standards around reasonable hours, protections against harassment, and creating safer, more inclusive workplaces across the board. On the sustainability side, I’d love to see a shift away from kind of performative greenwashing into more accountability around sourcing, waste and labor.”
—Capucine Prager, bartender, Bar Goto, New York

“I wish we could push for less food waste and recycle what we have. So much ends up in landfills. Some restaurants are doing some composting … but we can always do more. Take a third look at your herbs and fruits; juice it and freeze it. It takes so much energy and water and space to grow everything we’re growing.”
—Mel Tate, lead bartender, Dovetail, New Orleans

“A company I admire is ecoSPIRITS, [which is working] to get rid of single-use glass in the spirits industry. It’s one of the biggest wastes—you order a case from the distributor, it comes in a cardboard box … and we recycle it and hope it gets recycled properly. The carbon footprint of trying to recycle is very taxing, which exacerbates the issue. This company is the world’s first low-carbon, low-waste wine and spirits distribution system. It started in Hong Kong and is in Asia and Australia … but the laws are tough around liquor and refilling bottles in the United States. But a lot of those laws are outdated and silly, and this initiative is a no-brainer. I’d like to see it more commonly used in the future.”
—Rodriguez