PUBS, PATIOS & BARS: Barcelona bar is world’s best
The World’s 50 Best Bars 2023 List is out and Barcelona bar Sips has taken top honours. It’s the second time an establishment from Spanish city has taken the top spot in as many years, following Paradiso’s triumph in 2022.
Sponsored by Perrier, the annual list of The World’s 50 Best Bars, celebrates 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.
“We take great pride in highlighting the unparalleled diversity of the global bar industry and we extend our sincere congratulations to each bar that has earned a place on this illustrious ranking,” commented 50 Best Director of Content William Drew. “We have once again seen the number of cocktail cities represented here increase, and hope this list continues to ignite the spark of wanderlust for cocktail lovers around the world.”
This what 50 Best had to say about its 2023 winner:
“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 atmospheric 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.”
Drew added, “As the brainchild of cocktail-world icons (Álvarez and 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.”
Methodology
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 voter casts seven votes based on their best bar experiences of the previous 18 months; voters are required to remain anonymous and voting is confidential, secure and independently adjudicated by Deloitte.
With glass purposefully in hand, we at Travel Industry Today continue our series on some of the planet’s best bars, patios and rooftop venues. For more articles in the series, click here:
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First published at Travel Industry Today
