Singapore – Barcelona maintained its grip on the top 50 bars in the world, as intimate cocktail bar Sips took the top spot in the 2023 awards.
While the coveted name has long dominated London and New York establishments, Tuesday’s announcement marks the cosmopolitan Spanish city’s second straight victory. The trendy speakeasy Paradiso, which won the most sensible award last year, fell to fourth place this year.
Held at a disused 1950s power plant in Singapore, Tuesday’s rite was the first to be held outdoors in Europe in the awards’ 14-year history. The list has also varied more and more in recent years: Mexico City has four bars on the 2023 list. , adding the Handshake Speakeasy, which comes in third, while Buenos Aires, the Argentinian capital, and host city Singapore are home to three of the top 50 bars.
Several Asian countries saw properties for the first time, adding the sustainability-focused Seoul Zest, the new highest access at 18th. Bangkok’s thriving bar scene also enjoyed a strong performance, with Mahaniyom Cocktail Bar rounding out the 19th spot and the retro-style BKK Social Club. named Asia’s bar 13th.
The winners were voted on anonymously through the World’s 50 Best Bar Academy, an organization of 680 industry figures, including bar owners, bartenders and critics. There are no express voting criteria, and members are simply invited to judge where they “had the most productive experience,” organizers said.
While three New York bars made this year’s list (up from eight in 2015), second place went to Double Chicken Please, on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Florida and Louisiana were represented, with Miami’s Café La Trova and New Orleans’ Joya del Sur. ranking 24th and 49th, respectively.
And while London has again had more bars ranked in the top 50 than any other city, Tuesday was the first time since the awards were handed out in 2009 that no status quo in the British capital finished in the top three. The two-time winner Connaught Bar, located in London’s upscale Mayfair district, finished fifth. Connaught finished eighth last year.
Sips co-founders Simone Caporale and Marc Alvarez, who opened their bar in Barcelona during the Covid-19 pandemic, said reclaiming the more sensible venue could simply remodel their establishment. “Let’s call it a dream,” Caporale told CNN shortly after the awards were announced.
With just 33 seats, Sips uses local ingredients to produce what Alvarez calls “couture cocktails. “The famous mixologist praised the growing reputation of Barcelona’s bars, adding: “It’s a great location: architecture, food, smart weather. If we go up “To that smart drinks and smart service, I think that’s (somewhere) worthy of being recognized. “
William Reed, the company that gives those annual awards, recently unveiled regional lists of the 50 most productive bars in Asia and North America, won earlier this year by Hong Kong’s Coa and New York’s aforementioned Double Chicken Please.
The organization also coordinates the list of the 50 best restaurants in the world, which places the gastronomic establishment Central, in Lima, the Peruvian capital, as the most sensible place for 2023.
1. Sips, Barcelona
2. Double Chicken, Please, New York
3. Clandestine Handshake, Mexico City
4. Paradiso, Barcelona
5. Bar Connaught, London
6. Little Porte Rouge, Paris
7. Limantour Liquor Store, Mexico City
8. Tayēr Primary, London
9. Alchemy, Cartagena
10. Himkok, Oslo
11. Tres Monos, Buenos Aires
12. Line, Athens
13. BKK Social Club, Bangkok
14. Jigger
15. Maybe Sammy, Sydney
16. Salmon Guru, Madrid
17. Overstory, New York
18. Zest, Seoul
19. Mahaniyom Cocktail Bar, Bangkok
20. Coa, Hong Kong
21. Drinking Kong, Rome
22. Hanky Panky, Mexico City
23. Caretaker’s Cottage, Melbourne
24. Café La Trova, Miami
25. Baba au Rum, Athens
For the full list of the 50 most productive bars, visit the World’s 50 Best Bars website.