How Covid-19 Birthed India's Best Bar

South Goa’s Tesouro by Firefly was the surprise winner of the Best Bar honours in the 30BestBarsIndia 2021 rankings, beating established stars like Delhi’s Sidecar and Mumbai’s The Bombay Canteen for the coveted title

- Priyanko Sarkar

In an alternate universe, Tesouro by Firefly would most probably be called Serendipity. After all, the South Goa-based bar's journey to the top of the list amongst Indian bars is littered with happy coincidences and like-minded people finding purpose with each other over some of the most delicious cocktails that the country has to offer.

In the months before the pandemic, Arijit Bose and Pankaj Balachandran, two of India's most reputed bar consultants and mixologists, hosted a few events in South Goa with the teams from The Botanist Gin, Monkey Shoulder, Blenders Pride etc. Bose, who was tired of the big city life in Delhi, wanted to move to Goa, and an opportunity presented itself when he launched The Lover's Rum, co-founded by him and David 'Mr Daiquiri' Cordoba, in the sunshine state.

A bunch of craft spirits had launched in Goa, and Pankaj and I noticed that this is where the action was, back in 2019. Over a drunk chat, both of us thought it'd be nice to have a bar in Goa. It was easier for me to move to Goa to start promoting The Lover's Rum, and I moved in February 2020. A month later, the entire world changed, Bose recalls.