Birmingham spirits professional José Medina Camacho will represent Alabama at the 2025 James Beard Foundation Awards in Chicago later this year.

Medina Camacho – who, along with his business partners Jesús Méndez and Vinh Tran, opened their Adiõs cocktail bar in downtown Birmingham in 2022 — is one of five finalists for the James Beard Award for Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service.

The James Beard Foundation announced this year’s finalists for its annual chef, restaurant and beverage awards today. Medina Camacho is the only James Beard Award finalist from Alabama this year.

Chefs David Bancroft of Acre in Auburn and Arwen Rice of Red or White in Mobile has been among the semifinalists for Best Chef: South announced earlier this year, but they were not among today’s list of finalists.

The overall winners will be revealed at the 2025 James Beard Foundation Awards ceremony, which will be held on June 16 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Named for the celebrated chef, cookbook author and television personality whom the New York Times called “the dean of American cookery,” the James Beard Awards were first presented in 1991 and have become known as “the Oscars of the food world.”

Previous James Beard Award winners from Alabama include:

· Adam Evans, Automatic Seafood and Oysters, Birmingham, Best Chef: South, 2022.

· Highlands Bar and Grill, Birmingham, Most Outstanding Restaurant, 2018.

· Dolester Miles, Highlands Bar and Grill, Birmingham, Most Outstanding Pastry Chef, 2018.

· Chris Hastings, Hot and Hot Fish Club, Birmingham, Best Chef: South, 2012.

· The Bright Star, Bessemer, America’s Classic, 2010.

· Frank Stitt, Highlands Bar and Grill, Best Chef: Southeast, 2001; named to the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America, 2011.