This Barcelona Bar Has Been Voted Best In The World

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’.

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

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.

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