The World’s 50 Best Bars 2022 were revealed last night (October 17) at a ceremony in Singapore, the first time the awards ceremony has travelled to Asia in its 15-year history. Coming in the wake of the announcement of the shortlist, of bars ranked 51-100, the list saw bars from all around the world included. Bars on the list came from 28 different cities, as wide-ranging as Oslo, Tokyo, Cartagena, and Dubai. London reigned supreme with the most number of bars on the list, with five inclusions, while Mexico City followed closely with four. But none of those cities took home the crown.
So where is The World’s Best Bar?
Barcelona nabbed the top spot, with Sips bar who came in third on last year’s list and had a double whammy of a win last night as they also took home the top spot as The Best Bar in Europe 2023.
Rounding out the top five was New York’s Double Chicken Please which came in second, Mexico City’s Handshake Speakeasy as third, Barcelona’s Paradiso who won the coveted spot in 2022, London’s very own Connaught Bar came in fifth on the list of the World’s Best.
The Mayfair bar was praised as the exemplar for fine drinking and elegant hospitality, having put in eight hours of preparation into each service. The World’s 50 Best Bars 2023 applauded the Connaught’s Dry Martini “which sees the bar’s own licor stirred down in a bespoke mixing glass and made to measure with a choice of homemade bitters” along with the bar’s Masterpieces collection that lists the bar’s most popular cocktails over 15 years of its lifespan.
Also ranking in The World’s 50 Best Bars from London were Tayēr + Elementary coming in eighth after having ranked second on the 2022 list, with the Old Street bar described by 50 Best as being “progressive in everything it does”. Bethnal Green’s iconic Satan’s Whiskers (28) remains in the top 50 after its debut on the list in the previous year, along with East London’s uber-popular A Bar With Shapes For A Name (35), known by some simply as Shapes, with queues forming late into the night thanks to its 4am closing time on the weekends. Holborn’s spectacular Scarfes Bar (41) is the last London entry in the top 50 and was dubbed “one of the great entrance scenes in the bar world”.
By continent, the best bars in the world:
- The World’s Best Bar & The Best Bar in Europe 2023, sponsored by Perrier: Sips, Barcelona
- The Best Bar in North America 2023, sponsored by Tia Maria: Double Chicken Please, New York
- The Best Bar in South America 2023, sponsored by Scrappy Bitters: Alquímico, Cartagena
- The Best Bar in Asia 2023, sponsored by Torres Brandy: BKK, Bangkok
- The Best Bar in Australasia 2023, sponsored by Naked Malt: Maybe Sammy, Sydney
- The Best Bar in the Middle East and Africa 2023, sponsored by Amaro Lucano: Mimi Kakushi, Dubai
To see the full list of The World’s 50 Best Bars 2023, head to the website.