If you travel internationally because of your job, chances are you’ve got your favorite watering holes and bars in a multitude of cities.

The annual list of The World’s 50 Best Bars was unveiled this week as part of a live awards ceremony in Singapore.

Held in Asia for the first time in its history, the ceremony once again celebrated the excellence of the international drinks sector, paying tribute to the visionary bartenders, enterprising bar owners and trailblazing brands that lead the charge in shaping cocktail culture around the world.

BARCELONA’S SIPS CROWNED TOP OF BEST BARS

The World’s 50 Best Bars 2023 features establishments from 28 cities, with Barcelona’s Sips crowned The Best Bar in Europe and The World’s Best Bar. This is the second time a bar from Barcelona has taken the top spot in as many years, following Paradiso’s triumph in 2022.

Located in the heart of Barcelona’s L’Antiga Esquerra de l’Eixample district, Sips combines elegant design with cutting-edge technique to create an unfussy and playful ‘drinkery house’ from two titans of the industry, Simone Caporale and Marc Álvarez. Drawing on the lessons of their already illustrious careers – Caporale was one half of the creative duo that led London’s Artesian to The World’s Best Bar title a record four times, whilst Álvarez spent almost a decade at Ferran and Albert Adrià’s revolutionary elBarri restaurant group – the duo’s disruptive approach to creative mixology shines through in innovative haute couture serves at pret-a-porter prices.

The bar’s interior encompasses muted pastel and gold-accented seating orbiting a futuristic workstation in place of the traditional bar. This design removes any barrier between guest and bartender, with the aim of centring the human aspect of service to create a multi-sensory, immersive drinking experience.

‘DESTINED FOR GREATNESS’

William Drew, Director of Content, 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 program, accompanied by the warmest hospitality, making it a worthy winner of The World’s Best Bar 2023 title.”

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 list is compiled by votes from The World’s 50 Best Bars Academy, which comprises 680 drinks experts with 50/50 gender parity, including renowned bartenders and consultants, drinks writers and cocktail specialists from around the world. The Academy of voters is spread across 28 global geographic regions, each headed by an Academy Chair who selects their region’s voters, with the distribution of voters designed to reflect the relative development and sophistication of the drinks sector, and the concentration of quality bars, in each region.

Each voter casts seven votes based on their best bar experiences of the previous 18 months, although if they’ve been unable to travel, they’re welcome to provide five votes from their home country or region. Voters are required to remain anonymous and voting is confidential, secure and independently adjudicated by Deloitte.

Check out the full list below.

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