This Barcelona Bar Has Been Voted Best In The World

By Ellie Smith

1 year ago

The votes are in: these are the 50 coolest places to drink across the globe


Fancy a cocktail at the best bar in the world? You’ll have to hop on a plane to Barcelona, where a bar called Sips has struck gold in The World’s 50 Best Bars 2023 awards. It’s the second year in a row Barcelona has come out tops, following the 2022 winner, Paradiso – which dropped down to fourth place this year.

World’s 50 Best Bars 2023: Who Made The List?

Found in Barcelona’s L’Antiga Esquerra de l’Eixample district, Sips is helmed by two big names in the drinks world, Simone Caporale and Marc Álvarez. The venue features pastel pink and green interiors, alongside a ‘futuristic workstation’ where bartenders whizz up imaginative, unique tipples: the Primordial, for instance, is a concoction of 12-year-old Scotch, Ruby Port and pera nashi, served in a metal cast of two hands. The Daquiri Heliodora, meanwhile, comes in a ‘hand-turned machine which delivers grapefruit shaved ice before an oversized pipette drops sherry into a glass of rum and lime’.

A green cocktail

Sips

William Drew, Director of Content at 50 Best, says: ‘As the brainchild of cocktail-world icons Marc Álvarez and Simone Caporale, Sips was destined for greatness even before it rocketed into the list at No.37 just a few short months after opening in 2021. The bar seamlessly translates contemporary innovation and technical precision into a playful cocktail programme, accompanied by the warmest hospitality, making it a worthy winner of The World’s Best Bar 2023 title.’

Connaught Bar

Connaught Bar

Elsewhere on the list, London retained its title of one of the world’s cocktail capitals, with five bars making the cut. Two of these were in the top 10: The Connaught Bar rose three spots to number five, while East London hotspot Tayēr + Elementary came in eighth place. Other London winners included Bethnal Green cocktail bar Satan’s Whiskers, Scarfes Bar at Rosewood London, and A Bar with Shapes for a Name – renowned for being signified by shapes rather than by words.

A cocktail bar in New York called Double Chicken Please

Double Chicken Please

New York also put on a strong showing, with Lower East Side bar Double Chicken Please coming in second place, co-founded by CN Chan and Faye Chen and serving Asian-inspired cocktails. This was followed by Handshake Speakeasy in Mexico’s vibrant Colonia Juarez neighbourhood, where bar director Eric van Beek uses ‘molecular mixology’ to create unexpected twists on classics.

The prestigious awards ceremony took place in Singapore this year. Winners are decided by 680 bar industry experts from across the globe, including bartenders, drinks writers and cocktail specialists.

You can find the full list below.

  1. Sips, Barcelona
  2. Double Chicken Please, New York
  3. Handshake Speakeasy, Mexico City
  4. Paradiso, Barcelona
  5. Connaught Bar, London
  6. Little Red Door, Paris
  7. Licoreia Limantour, Mexico City
  8. Tayēr + Elementary, London
  9. Alquímico, Cartagena
  10. Himkok, Oslo 
  11. Tres Monos, Buenos Aires
  12. Line, Athens
  13. BKK Social Club, Bangkok
  14. Jigger & Pony, Singapore
  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. Drink Kong, Rome
  22. Hanky Panky, Mexico City
  23. Caretaker’s Cottage, Melbourne
  24. Café La Trova, Miami
  25. Baba Au Rum, Athens
  26. Cochinchina, Buenos Aires
  27. Katana Kitten, New York
  28. Satan’s Whiskers, London
  29. Wax On, Berlin
  30. Floreria Atlántico, Buenos Aires
  31. Röda Huset, Stockholm 
  32. Sago House, Singapore
  33. Freni E Frizioni, Rome
  34. Argo, Hong Kong
  35. A Bar with Shapes for Name, London
  36. The SG Club, Tokyo
  37. Bar Benfiddich, Tokyo
  38. The Cambridge Public House, Paris
  39. Panda & Sons, Edinburgh
  40. Mimi Kakushi, Dubai
  41. Scarfes Bar, London
  42. 1930, Milan
  43. Carnaval, Lima
  44. L’Antiquario, Naples
  45. Baltra Bar, Mexico City
  46. Locale Firenze, Florence
  47. The Clumsies, Athens
  48. Atlas, Singapore
  49. Jewel of the South, New Orleans
  50. Galaxy Bar, Dubai

Featured image: Sips