Athens, Bogotá, Bangkok, Thessaloniki, Dubai, Madrid, Lake Como and Barcelona. Eight bar teams, one evening, and an ambition that goes beyond cocktails themselves. On 6 October, Agite Club will host an international gathering at Milan’s Salmon Guru, aiming to bring together people, ideas and diverse approaches to contemporary bar culture. The programme will also feature the Niño Gordo gastronomic pop-up.
Agite Club × Salmon Guru Milan
When: 6 October 2026
Where: Salmon Guru Milano, Milan, Italy
Event: The World’s 50 Best Bars Week
Participants: Naked, Jardín Tragos y Pasteles, The St. Regis, Gorilla, Salmon Guru Dubai, LOVO, Gaia Bar, and Agite Club
Cuisine: Niño Gordo pop-up
Admission: Invitation only
During the week of The World’s 50 Best Bars announcement, Milan becomes a meeting place for the global bar community. Alongside the main event, the Agite Club project will take place, taking over Salmon Guru Milano on 6 October 2026 and bringing together eight bars from Europe, Asia and South America for a single evening. This is not merely a series of guest shifts behind the bar. The organisers’ aim is to create a space for exchanging experiences, networking and connecting the people who are shaping the international hospitality scene today.
Behind the project is Raiza Carrera and the Agite Club platform, which focuses on collaboration between bars, bartenders and other industry professionals. Through joint events, guest appearances and residencies, it connects venues from different cities and cultural backgrounds. The Milan gathering brings this philosophy together in a single evening where, alongside cocktails, gastronomy, music and personal connections will also take centre stage. For Carrera and her team, it is important that the participating venues do not merely come together for a shared programme, but are given the opportunity to forge relationships that can continue even after the event has ended.
Eight bars, eight different perspectives
Teams from eight venues and cities will be heading to Milan, all of whom share a common thread: their involvement in the international bar community. Naked will be travelling from Athens, Jardín Tragos y Pasteles from Bogotá in Colombia, and The St. Regis team from Bangkok. The Greek bar scene will also be represented by Gorilla from Thessaloniki, while the Middle East will be represented by Salmon Guru from Dubai. The European line-up is further comprised of LOVO from Madrid, Gaia Bar from the Lake Como area, and Agite Club itself, bringing its Barcelona base to the gathering. Each team is set to showcase its own approach and contribute to an evening whose character will be shaped precisely by the diversity of the participants.
For attendees—including bartenders, venue owners, gastronomy professionals, media representatives and those from the creative industries—this will be an opportunity to meet colleagues from different parts of the world in one place. The event will be by invitation only, and the organisers are planning a carefully curated guest list rather than an open industry party. Alongside the cocktail programme, the Niño Gordo pop-up will add a gastronomic dimension, bringing a Latin American perspective to the evening. It is precisely this fusion of bar and gastronomic culture that is intended to emphasise that contemporary hospitality is not just about what ends up in the glass, but also about the people, the atmosphere and the stories that unfold around the venue.
Raiza Carrera and the Agite Club concept
The central figure behind the project is Raiza Carrera, who is driving the development of Agite Club and its mission to connect bar communities across cities and countries. Her project is built on collaboration and cultural exchange: rather than individual bars operating as isolated brands, she creates opportunities for them to share experiences, showcase their approaches and forge new professional relationships. Formats such as bar takeovers, residencies and joint events enable the transfer of know-how between scenes that may differ in terms of ingredients, flavours, customs and how they view the role of the bar within the local gastronomic culture.
The Milan evening brings this idea to life at a time when people from the international bar industry flock to the city for The World’s 50 Best Bars. It is precisely this kind of gathering that gives Agite Club the opportunity to bring together eight teams who might otherwise never meet in the same space, and to create the conditions for discussion and future collaboration. According to the press materials, the aim is not to present individual venues in a competitive format or to organise yet another public party, but to offer a focused gathering of professionals where, alongside the drinks themselves, the sharing of experiences and the building of relationships are also key.
Agite Club × Salmon Guru Milano will thus complement the programme during 50 Best Bars week with an event centred on international networking. Eight bar teams, the Niño Gordo gastronomic pop-up and guests from various parts of the world will come together to create an evening whose main theme will be bringing together the people behind today’s bar culture.
