Barcelona's Sips tops The World's 50 Best Bars list, Bangkok bar is Asia's best

Sips' win means that this is the second year running that a bar from Barcelona, Spain has taken the number one spot in The World’s 50 Best Bars list.

For the second year running, a bar from Barcelona, Spain has taken the number one spot at The World’s 50 Best Bars list.

Sips was named The World's Best Bar at the unveiling of the 2023 list of The World’s 50 Best Bars during a live awards ceremony in Singapore on Tuesday (Oct 17), the first time the ceremony was held in Asia.

Founded by two titans of the bar industry, Simone Caporale and Marc Alvarez, Sips combines elegant design with cutting-edge technique to create an unfussy and playful ‘drinkery house’, a concept that propelled it to the top of the list, dethroning fellow Barcelona bar Paradiso, which ranked No. 4 this year.

Sips' win makes this the second year running that a bar from Barcelona, Spain has taken the number one spot in The World’s 50 Best Bars list.

William Drew, Director of Content, 50 Best, said: “As the brainchild of cocktail-world icons Marc Alvarez 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," he added.

New York City’s Double Chicken Please took second place, with its founder GN Chan winning the Altos Bartenders’ Bartender Award.

At No. 5, Connaught Bar is the highest placed of five London bars on the list.

The World’s 50 Best Bars list for 2023 features establishments from 28 cities. London retained its place as one of the world’s cocktail capitals with five bars on the list, more than any other city, including two in the top 10: Connaught Bar, and Tayer + Elementary at No. 8.

Asian bars also did well on this year’s list, with Bangkok’s BKK Social Club the highest placed Asian bar at No. 13, and others like Singapore’s Jigger & Pony, Hong Kong’s COA, Seoul’s Zest Seoul, and Mahaniyom Cocktail Bar Bangkok also placing in the Top 20.

Singapore has three bars on the list, while Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Tokyo each have two each.

Bangkok's BKK Social Club is the highest placed Asian bar on the list.

Here is the full list of The World’s 50 Best Bars

1. Sips (Barcelona)
2. Double Chicken Please (New York City)
3. Handshake Speakeasy (Mexico City)
4. Paradiso (Barcelona)
5. Connaught Bar (London)
6. Little Red Dor (Paris)
7. Licorería Limantour (Mexico City)
8. Tayer + Elementary (London)
9. Alquimico (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. Cafe 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 Atlantico (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 a 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)