Savoy's American Bar tops The World's 50 Best Bars

05 October, 2017

The American Bar from London was named World’s Best Bar amid a dominant night for hotel bars at The World’s 50 Best Bars ceremony in London tonight.

The Savoy-based bar climbed from last year’s second spot to be named the world’s best for the first time, having featured in seven of the nine World’s 50 Best Bars lists.

Run by head bartender Erik Lorincz and bar manager Declan McGurk, the American Bar toppled last year’s champion, The Dead Rabbit Grocery & Grog from New York, which was also leapfrogged by two other hotel bars.

Dandelyan at Mondrian London, which is run by Ryan Chetiyawardana and Iain Griffiths, finished second, Leo Robitschek’s Nomad Bar from the Nomad Hotel in New York was named North America’s Best Bar finishing third and Connaught Bar from the Connaught Hotel completed the quartet.

It was another year of domination from London and New York – widely considered as the bar capitals of the world - with London contributing eight and New York seven bars to the 50-strong list.

This year the World’s 50 Best Bars was voted for by an Academy of 505 worldwide experts from 55 countries.

Outside of the top five, the list featured bars from a further 17 countries, with The Clumsies from Athens in Greece, Manhattan at the Regent Hotel from Singapore (Best Bar in Asia) and Speak Low from Shanghai in China making the top ten.

Singapore was the big mover this year, contributing six of the 50 bars – a number only ever bettered by New York and London.

There were 11 dropouts from last year, including former winner PDT from New York. Of the incoming 11 bars, seven are new names – Atlas, Sweet Liberty, Indulge Experimental Bistro, Black Tail, Le Syndicat, Bar Benfiddich, Native – and four are those that have appeared in previous years.

The night also saw the advent of a host of new awards. Julio Bermejo was named the Industry Icon for 2017 and Iain Griffiths of Dandelyan, Super Lyan and Trash Tiki received the Bartenders’ Bartender award.

Best New Opening (outside of the list) was El Paradiso from Barcelona and Black Pearl picked up the award for Legend of the List. The Melbourne venue has uninterrupted presence in The World’s 50 Best Bars over the nine years it has been running.

Drinks International is the official trade media partner to The World’s 50 Best Bars, which is now owned and run by William Reed Business Media.

The list in full.

American Bar

London

UK

 2 

Dandelyan

London

UK

Nomad Bar

New York

USA

Connaught Bar

London

UK

The Dead Rabbit Grocery & Grog

New York

USA

The Clumsies

Athens

Greece

Manhattan

Singapore

Singapore

Attaboy

New York

USA

Bar Termini

London

UK

10 

Speak Low

Shanghai

China

11 

Little Red Door

Paris

France

12 

Happiness Forgets

London

UK

13 

High Five

Tokyo

Japan

14 

Licoreria Limantour

Mexico City

Mexico

15 

Atlas

Singapore

Singapore

16 

Dante

New York

USA

17 

Oriole

London

UK

18 

The Broken Shaker

Miami

USA

19 

Candelaria

Paris

France

20 

Himkok

Oslo

Norway

21 

The Gibson

London

UK

22 

Black Pearl

Melbourne

Australia

23 

Floreria Atlantico

Buenos Aires

Argentina

24 

Operation Dagger

Singapore

Singapore

25 

28 Hongkong Street

Singapore

Singapore

26 

Trick Dog

San Francisco

USA

27 

Sweet Liberty Drinks & Supply Company

Miami

USA

28 

Indulge Experimental Bistro

Taipei

Taiwan

29 

Lost & Found

Nicosia

Cyprus

30 

Baba Au Rum

Athens

Greece

31 

Tippling Club

Singapore

Singapore

32 

Black Tail

New York

USA

33 

The Jerry Thomas Project

Rome

Italy

34 

Le Syndicat

Paris

France

35 

Tales & Spirits

Amsterdam

Netherlands

36 

Bar Benfiddich

Tokyo

Japan

37 

Employees Only

New York

USA

38 

Schumann's

Munich

Germany

39 

La Factoria

Old San Juan

Puerto Rico

40 

Quinary

Hong Kong

China

41 

Aviary

Chicago

USA

42 

Mace

New York

USA

43 

Nightjar

London

UK

44 

Linje Tio

Stockholm

Sweden

45 

The Baxter Inn

Sydney

Australia

46 

Abv

San Francisco

USA

47 

Native

Singapore

Singapore

48 

Tommy's

San Francisco

USA

49 

Lobster Bar

Hong Kong

China

50 

Imperial Craft

Tel Aviv

Israel





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