Mexico City’s Handshake Speakeasy has been crowned the World’s Best Bar 2024, becoming the first Mexican bar to top the ranking.
Barcelona’s Sips and Paradiso claimed two Top 10 spots at No. 3 and 10.
Asian bars feature prominently on the list. In terms of number of Asian entries, Singapore led the way with four bars: Jigger & Pony at No.5, Atlas at No.43, Nutmeg & Clove at No.28, and Analogue Initiative at No.47. Art deco-themed Atlas is world famous as a location for the filming of TV series Westworld (Season 3) and features the world’s tallest gin tower.
Hong Kong’s Bar Leone topped Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024 list at No. 2 globally while another Hong Kong bar also made it on the list – Coa at No.18. Bangkok and Tokyo also claimed two bars each, with Bangkok’s BKK Social Club at No.12 alongside Bar Us at No.41; while Tokyo’s Bar Benfiddich (No.25) is joined by Virtú (No.42). Seoul’s Zest broke into the Top 10 at No.9, and also won the Sustainable Bar Award.
Top 10 Best Bars 2024
1. Handshake Speakeasy, Mexico City
A hip two-storey hidden bar, this Mexico City establishment is tucked away in the Colonia Juárez neighbourhood. Inspired by the Prohibition era, the ground floor features an intimate space for 32, sports a black and gold aesthetic and Gatsby vibes. The basement bar opened in 2023, where pure Mexican spirit and energy awaits.
At first glance, the drinks list is minimalist, each drink is more complex than meets the eye, often taking 48 hours to craft from start to finish and usually boasting unexpected textures. There’s also an on-site laboratory with a lab manager. The bar also produces its own bitter, Di Battista, named after one of its co-owners.
2. Bar Leone, Hong Kong
Bar Leone is an Italian-style neighbourhood cocktail bar halfway up the Peak in Hong Kong. It exudes true Roman-inspired Italian romance. With the ethos of ‘cocktail popolari’ at its heart, Bar Leone offers a carefully curated selection of classic cocktails, with some featuring a simple yet intriguing twist.
The cocktails, infused with Italian style, are complemented by a thoughtfully-crafted food menu that features the bar’s now legendary mortadella sandwich.
3. Sips, Barcelona
Opened in 2021, Sips soared to glory in two short years, being named The World’s Best Bar in 2023. Sips’ island bar design is eye-catching and drinks such as the Krypta (gin, brandy, kiwi and lime, served in a bespoke ‘olfactive chamber’) or the Primordial (whisky, port and pear served in two metal hands made to be cradled and sipped from) draw the crowds.
2024 brought the launch of the stunning Esencia, a connected yet separate space within Sips. With space to seat just 14 patrons, Esencia is the stage for a tasting menu of intricately curated sips.
4. Tayēr + Elementary, London
The venue is divided two distinct spaces. Elementary is the front room, arranged around a long communal table and expertly delivers drinking simplicity. Here, you can try the bar’s own wine and beer lines, its now-famous tiny tipple – the One Sip Martini – or some of the other ingredient-led classic twists, which include the Cedarwood Old Fashioned, Yuzu Gimlet and Vetiver Negroni.
Tayēr is the boutique cocktail bar. Dominated by a huge, hexagonally-divided bar station, the innovative space has a test-kitchen feel, with a daily seasonal menu.
5. Jigger & Pony, Singapore
Jigger & Pony doesn’t feel like a hotel bar. When it made the switch to the Amara Hotel, the space became grander, the décor plusher and the team bigger, but the original DNA remained. At the heart of that is its menu, or menu-zine.
Opt for the Espresso Martini which is vodka mingling with the bar’s own coffee blend, coffee flower honey and cacao tuile. For an update on the iconic Singapore Sling, try the carbonated Singa Sling, with gin, Cointreau, cherry and pineapple.
6. Line, Athens
All whitewashed walls and neck-craning ceilings, Line is housed in a former art gallery.
Here, they also make many of their offerings on site – the latest of them being a strawberry wine, a ferment of yellow and white peach and a winter melon vermouth.
What’s left from this process finds its way into delicious fruit-cheeses that act as an invitation to try Line’s house-made bread. The fruit ferments find their way into the cocktails too, delivering delicious seasonal twists on favourite classics. If stocks and seasons allow, try the Alexander with strawberry wine and the Peach Mojito.
7. Tres Monos, Buenos Aires
Neon lights illuminate the dark bar here while graffiti come to life against a rock soundtrack with a vibe that smacks of a punk-spiked party but it also promotes a sustainable mission bursting with Argentinian identity.
Besides innovating with their own spirits including sake and bourbon-style whiskey made with local grains, the monos themselves also produce wines, including sauvignon blanc and pét-nat sparklers, and the team only sources strictly Argentinian ingredients. In the past year, the team expanded the compact corner bar to include El Garage, a more spacious but equally dark den next door.
8. Alquímico, Cartagena
At face value, Alquímico is party central, with each of its three floors packed out every night. Operating out of a cherished 100-year-old 19th Century mansion in Cartagena’s Old Town, the international crowd flocks here for the all-night fiesta where the bartenders often spontaneously break into dance routines.
Each floor serves its own drinks, the ground floor driving change by working with local agricultural communities. Order Ajonjonlí, a whisky, sesame paste, orange and carrot cordial cocktail. The first-floor balcony bar offers classic cocktails with Colombian twists, such as the house Caipirinha made with a blend of viche aguardientes, while the urban-tropical rooftop serves the From The Farm To The Bar list.
9. Zest, Seoul
Zest stands out for its striking facade and big, welcoming, street-level window. Inside, a golden glow lights a minimalist room of stone, clay and wood, where the only bottles on view are the homemade gins distilled from local, seasonal produce.
The bar’s name is a combination of ‘zero’ and ‘waste’ and the team pursues sustainability in all their cocktail recipes. The juice, peel and pulp of a fruit will be used in three different drinks. Zest’s focus on the local means plenty of Korean beverages, such as Soju and makgeolli. It’s no wonder then that the bar took home the Ketel One Sustainable Bar Award as part of The World’s 50 Best Bars 2024.
10. Paradiso, Barcelona
Paradiso’s entrance is hidden behind the fridge door of a pastrami shop, which leads you into a bar that looks like the inside of a whale with its majestic curving wooden ‘ribs’.
Before you really have time to take it all in, the staff will hand you an eye-catching menu. And the drinks are awe inspiring too: multi-ingredient affairs served in spectacular, often rather elaborate vessels. Most of what is served here comes from the Paradiso Lab, where the team’s boundless creativity and curiosity are channelled into the libations that led to Paradiso being named The World’s Best Bar in 2022.
The Top 50 list can be found here: The World’s 50 Best Bars | The List and Awards
