Drinks were raised in Barcelona on Tuesday night as the city played host to the prestigious World’s 50 Best Bars awards. The Spanish city staged the awards ceremony and also reigned supreme with three bars in the top 10, including the title of World’s Best Bar going to Paradiso. Hidden behind a pastrami shop and accessed via a fridge door, the Surrealist-styled bar is known for its creative cocktails that combine theatricality with technical wizardry.
Barcelona’s other two hotpots are Sips (ranked third), which wows patrons with its technical ingenuity, and five-star dive bar Two Schmucks (placed seventh). The duo behind Sips, Simone Caporale and Marc Alvarez, are extending their bar with an innovative 14-seater space called Esencia, which is themed around distilling cocktails into “essences”, later this month.
It was the first time that the World’s 50 Best Bars ceremony was held outside of London, the ranking’s parent company, digital, high-value data and events business William Reed, being headquartered in the UK. It was also the first time a bar outside of London or New York has taken top spot. The annual list, which has been running since 2009, is compiled from votes cast by 650 anonymous drinks “experts” from across the globe.
The highest ranked Asia-based bar this year is Singapore’s own Jigger & Pony, at number 12. Manhattan at the Regent Singapore is ranked 33.
Singapore also did well in the extended 51-100 list, with eight bars featured, the highest number of any city. Sago House is ranked 51, and 28 HongKong Street is at 55. MO bar dropped from 36 to 57, while Analogue is a new entry at 65. Atlas is ranked 67, No Sleep Club is 69, and Nutmeg & Clove is 74. A second new entry for Singapore is Republic at 90.
Indra Kantono, who founded Jigger & Pony with his wife, Guoyi Gan, says that while the reasons for Singapore’s vibrant bar scene are varied, its greatest strength is the city’s metropolitan nature.
“Singapore is a global city. We have a diverse team in our company, with 10 different nationalities, and our customers are also from everywhere,” he says.
“Singapore has also always focused on quality. It’s quite an expensive city, and this helps drive the quality. We have bartenders who are passionate and able to pursue and showcase their craft, and customers who really seek that out. I think that combination is quite amazing.”
The diversity of people and approaches has resulted in a varied array of bars, a feature that makes Singapore the “number one bar destination in the world”, according to Colin Chia, industry veteran and founder of Nutmeg & Clove.
“There are so many bars, from Japanese bars to your classic cocktail bar. Then there are experimental bars, dive bars, and neighbourhood bars,” he says.
The bars are also easily accessible, making Singapore an even more attractive destination for bar-lovers.
“Something that Singapore has, that no other world city can boast about, is the proximity of each bar from each other. When you travel to Singapore, you can hit five bars in two hours, all in walking distance,” says Lidiyanah K, head bartender at Art Deco-inspired Atlas.
She sees a pared-back minimalism as a growing trend in cocktails, with less use of garnishes and “crazy ice” — “out with anything that distracts from the drink itself.” Quality ingredients will remain the key focus, with bartenders and drinkers looking for “clean and classy” cocktails that balance creativity with quality.
Sustainability is having a powerful impact on the international bar world, with increased focus on reducing waste and making environmentally friendly decisions.
While Singapore had a good showing in the top 100 this year, other parts of Asia were less successful. Overall, the number of Asia-based bars in the top 50 dropped from 16 to eight. Travel restrictions over the past year because of the Covid-19 pandemic may have influenced this year’s outcome, with voters unable to visit their favourite bars. No bars in mainland China made the list, while in Japan, which usually fares well, only Bar Benfiddich in Tokyo made it into the top 50, in the 48th position.
Thailand’s Bangkok Social Club ranked 14, Hong Kong’s agave specialist Coa came in at 17, and Sidecar in New Delhi, India took 26th spot.
While bars report a surge in business because of the World’s 50 Best Bars — Kantono says they saw a 30 per cent rise when they first made it on to the list — bartenders also support the bartending community.
“I’d like those of us on the list to use our influence to shed light on bars not on the list. Perhaps the dive bar down the road does great cocktails, too, so why not introduce that to our guests as well, to build the community. We all rely on, and need to support, each other,” says K.
