Crawl your way through the World’s 50 Best Bars
Cheers! Salud! Yamas! Better brush up on your toasts because bar-hopping just went global.
Each year, the British-based cocktail obsessives at an aptly named organization — known as the World’s 50 Best Bars — hunt down the most ambitious and creative bar programs on the planet, creating a handy checklist for booze-loving travelers in the process.
In October, they crowned 26 international cities as the world’s “top cocktail destinations,” including Cartagena, Rome, Singapore, Bangkok, Sydney … and, of course, good ol’ NYC.
But with numerous bars making up each of these scenes in each of these cities, it’s hard to know where to start on this slightly sloshed journey around the world.
Never fear: We did some of our own research and picked out our favorite must-try bars set in some of the world’s most beautiful cities from their list.
Start at home
![New York's own Double Chicken Please makes the list, serving up tap mixes.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/double-chicken-please-bar-nyc-1.jpg?w=1024)
Perched high above winding downtown streets is one of NYC’s best-kept cocktail secrets: Overstory (ranked No. 34 overall by 50 Best). This 64th-floor Art Deco gem gives dramatic 360-degree views from its terrace, but the real action is inside where bar director Harrison Ginsberg’s cocktail menu and hospitality program outshine the view. Our favorites — like In The Clouds ($24; whiskey, tea, Champagne, clarified milk) and the Golden Bird ($24; rum, coffee, turmeric, pineapple) — reimagine classic cocktails with innovative execution.
Afterward, head to the Lower East Side to step into the surreal Double Chicken Please (ranked No. 6, globally). Co-founders GN Chan and Faye Chen serve up sandwiches and on-tap cocktails in front, while the back lounge is reserved for Wonka-esque takes on food flavors. The Mango Sticky Rice ($18; rum, mango, sticky rice, pu’er tea) and Red Eye Gravy ($18; whiskey, coffee butter, wild mushroom) are standouts.
A bueno buzz
![The World's 50 Best Bars is like the "Hitchhiker's Guide" for booze hounds. It will lead you to stunning drinking destinations like CoChinChina in Buenos Aires.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/cochinchina-bar-3.jpg?w=1024)
There’s energy in the streets of Buenos Aires. The resplendent colonial facades provide a backdrop, while the clinking of fernet glasses and sizzling meats on parrillas are the soundtrack. For a classic asado experience before cocktails, head to Don Julio (No. 14 World’s 50 Best Restaurants — yeah, they do that, too) or Germán Sitz and Pedro Peña’s Japanese-inspired parrilla, Niño Gordo.
For cocktails, head to Inés de los Santos’s CoChinChina (No. 42), where the programs harmonize with the gorgeously designed environs. Taste the Blend de Los Buenos ($7; blended Argentine vermouths) or the Chulita, ($8; dissolved cherry and eucalyptus candy gin blended with juices).
For more 50 Best action, head to the punk rock Tres Monos (ranked No. 27).
Playing the hits
![Licorería Limantour in Mexico City was ranked fourth-best bar in the world.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/licoeria-limantour-mexico-city-3.jpg?w=1024)
In Mexico City, culinary delights are around every corner. Go high brow at Enrique Olvera’s Pujol (No. 3 World’s 50 Best Restaurants), or stuff your face with delicious tacos. When it comes to cocktails, you can’t miss Licorería Limantour (No. 4 Best Bar), which boasts two consecutive “Best Bar in North America” awards and a place on the 50 Best list since 2014. Try the Margarita al Pastor ($11, featuring taco mix and pineapple).
What’s old is new
![Coastal Athens is a drinker's paradise. Stop by Clumsies for artsy poisons.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/the-clumsies-2.jpg?w=1024)
The bricolage architecture, old and new, jammed on top of one another gives Athens a dreamlike quality and the feeling that there is a mystery around every corner. If you’re lucky, you’ll stumble onto the Clumsies (ranked No. 19) and Baba au Rum (No. 20), just 300 feet apart. Try the feeling and any of the emotion-inspired cocktails at the Clumsies ($11) or the eponymous Baba au Rum ($11), a delightful umami-laden daiquiri variant.
Siply the best
Head to Barcelona to experience the “World’s Best Bar” winner Paradiso, which serves interactive drinks designed to catch the eye before the tongue. Lasers (On Fire, $32), super-cooled components (Supercool Martini, $14) and edible “vellum” (Legacy, $16) are a wonder, but across town, Simone Caporale’s Sips (ranked No. 3) provides a very different experience.
![Creative cocktails realize perfection at Sips in sunny Barcelona.The Frida Kahlo is their signature.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/sips-barcelona-1.jpg?w=1024)
Sips inspires contemplation. It’s show versus tell. Its soft lighting, mind-bending techniques, incredible cocktails and pitch-perfect hospitality leave you breathless. The cocktails all strive for perfection. The Mil Fulls ($16) is layered with discs of ice that sandwich lemon leaves to provide the ideal oil distribution.
The Daiquiri Heliodora ($16) starts with shaved grapefruit ice topped with Cuban rum, lime and sherry, transforming the cocktail into a Hemingway daiquiri as the ice melts. There’s a negroni ($16) that never dilutes, a Mosaic ($16) based on the works of Antoni Gaudí and a cocktail representation of the fruit in Frida Kahlo’s ($16) garden. All utterly delightful and delicious.