Results
Mexico City, Mexico
<strong>Handshake Speakeasy</strong> sits at the technical end of <strong>Mexico City</strong>’s cocktail culture, where hotel-bar polish, agave fluency, and laboratory-level preparation now share the same glass. Its 2024 No.1 ranking in The World’s 50 <strong>Best Bars</strong>, repeated <strong>North America</strong> recognition, and compact 32-guest main room make it a defining reference point for the <strong>Juárez bar</strong> circuit.
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
<strong>Bar Leone</strong> brings <strong>Roman neighbourhood</strong>-bar culture into Central with a low-intervention cocktail programme, <strong>classic bartending</strong> discipline, and an unusually relaxed social register for a highly awarded Hong Kong address. Its 2024 and 2025 Asia’s <strong>Best Bars</strong> No. 1 rankings, plus World’s <strong>50 Best</strong> Bars No. 2 in 2024, put it in a rare peer set, but the appeal is less trophy-room polish than aperitivo energy, humour, and sharply edited drinks.
Toronto, Canada
<strong>Bar Pompette</strong> places Toronto’s cocktail conversation in a French-accented neighbourhood setting on <strong>College Street</strong>. Its recognition from World’s 50 <strong>Best Bars</strong> and <strong>North America</strong>’s <strong>50 Best</strong> Bars reflects a drinks programme built around clarity, seasonality, Ontario ingredients, and service that feels polished without becoming formal.
Tokyo, Japan
<strong>Bar Benfiddich</strong> belongs to <strong>Tokyo’s serious cocktail</strong> tier: a <strong>17-seat Nishishinjuku</strong> room where farm botanicals, old bottles and historical technique shape the programme. Its repeated Asia’s <strong>Best Bars</strong> and <strong>World’s 50</strong> Best Bars placements make it a reference point for drinkers comparing Tokyo’s precision-led bars with more improvisational, ingredient-driven counters.
New York City, United States
<strong>Double Chicken Please</strong> sits at the center of New <strong>York City</strong>’s culinary-cocktail turn, where drinks borrow the structure of dishes rather than merely garnish themselves with kitchen ingredients. Its <strong>Lower East</strong> Side address, two-room format, and awards record, including No.1 in North America’s 50 <strong>Best Bars</strong> 2023 and No.14 in The World’s <strong>50 Best</strong> Bars 2024, place it in the city’s serious cocktail conversation.
Singapore, Singapore
<strong>Jigger & Pony</strong> sits <strong>in Singapore</strong>’s serious <strong>cocktail</strong> tier: a <strong>Tanjong Pagar bar</strong> with long-running Asia’s 50 <strong>Best Bars</strong> momentum, a 4.7 Google rating from 1,578 reviews, and an editorial-style drinks programme built around annual “menuzines.” The draw is not speakeasy concealment; it is polished hotel-lobby confidence, classic cocktail grammar, and a team comfortable turning technique into readable, social drinking.
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Ranked #17 in Asia's 50 Best Bars 2025 and a three-time holder of the #1 Asia title, Coa occupies a lower-ground space on Shin Hing Street in Central with a forty-page agave spirits list and a cocktail programme that rotates a new drink every week. The food menu, developed with award-winning Mexican restaurant Chicano, grounds the experience in the culinary culture that produced the spirits on the shelf.
New York City, United States
<strong>Employees Only NYC</strong> remains a defining West <strong>Village cocktail</strong> room because it treats classic drinking as theatre without letting the room swallow the drinks. Its long run on the World's <strong>50 Best Bars</strong> list, including #95 globally and #18 in <strong>North America</strong> for 2025, places it in a rare category: a 2004-era <strong>New York</strong> bar that continues to compete with younger technical programs.
Chicago, United States
Kumiko <strong>places Chicago’s cocktail culture in</strong> a quieter register: <strong>Japanese-influenced</strong> technique, American bar grammar, and hospitality measured in details rather than spectacle. Its West <strong>Lake Street</strong> address, 2025 <strong>James Beard Outstanding Bar</strong> recognition, and repeated <strong>North America</strong>’s 50 Best Bars placements put it in a national peer set, while the mood remains disciplined, low-lit, and deliberately composed.
New York City, United States
<strong>Attaboy NYC</strong> is a <strong>Lower East</strong> <strong>Side cocktail</strong> address with deep craft-bar lineage, set behind an unmarked metal door at 134 <strong>Eldridge Street</strong>. The former Milk & Honey space now carries a long awards record, including repeated World’s 50 <strong>Best Bars</strong> rankings, and keeps the no-menu, bartender-led format that shaped modern New York drinking.
New York City, United States
Superbueno on First Avenue in the East Village holds North America's #2 bar ranking from World's 50 Best (2025) and a 2025 James Beard Award for Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service. The bar runs a technically driven Mexican-American drinks program alongside a food menu built around refined cantina classics, all delivered through a hospitality approach that has made it one of New York's most-visited bars.
Bangkok, Thailand
Ranked #12 globally and #7 in Asia by World's 50 Best Bars in 2024, BKK Social Club operates from inside the Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok on the Chao Phraya River. Soaring arches, a mirrored back bar, and an al fresco terrace set the physical tone, while a Mexico-inspired menu built around mezcal, tepache, and horchata riffs delivers the substance behind the spectacle. Named to Tatler Best Bars Asia-Pacific 2025 and Top 500 Bars at #67, this is Bangkok's most consistently decorated destination bar.
Mexico City, Mexico
<strong>Licorería Limantour</strong> helped define <strong>Mexico City</strong>’s modern cocktail culture from its <strong>Roma Norte</strong> address, with recognition across World’s 50 <strong>Best Bars</strong>, North America’s <strong>50 Best</strong> Bars, Top 500 Bars, and Pearl Recommended Bar in 2025. Expect a high-volume room with serious technical control, Mexican-rooted drinks, and a playful approach to back-bar nostalgia.
New York City, United States
On the 64th floor of a 1930s Art Deco tower in the Financial District, Overstory has placed in the World's 50 Best Bars list every year since 2022, reaching #15 globally in 2024. The wrap-around open-air terrace delivers panoramic Manhattan views, while the drinks program — spirit-led, locally sourced, technically considered — ensures the bar earns its ranking on merit rather than altitude alone.
Montréal, Canada
Concealed behind a made-to-measure menswear shop on Montreal's Golden Mile, Cloakroom is a 25-seat no-menu bar ranked #31 on World's 50 Best North America's Best Bars (2025). Bartenders, trained individually by co-owner and mixologist Andrew Whibley, read each guest's palate and build bespoke cocktails using house-made amari, rotary-evaporation extracts, and a vintage spirits collection nearly a decade in the making.
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Located on the ground floor of the Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong in Central, Argo has placed on the World's 50 Best Bars list every year since 2022, reaching as high as #34 globally and #3 in Asia. Named to Tatler's Best Bars Asia-Pacific 2025 list, it operates at the upper tier of Hong Kong's hotel bar circuit, where programme depth and regional recognition matter as much as the address.
New Orleans, United States
Housed in an 1835 Creole cottage on St Louis Street in the French Quarter, Jewel of the South has become New Orleans' most decorated cocktail bar since opening in 2019. A 2024 James Beard Award for Outstanding Bar and a #4 ranking in North America's 50 Best Bars 2025 position it firmly at the top of the city's drinking hierarchy. The bar's identity is built around the historical cocktail record of New Orleans, refined rather than replicated.
Seoul, South Korea
Ranked #2 in Asia and #9 globally by World's 50 Best Bars in 2024, Zest operates from a minimalist ground-floor space in Gangnam's Dosan-daero corridor, where a zero-waste cocktail programme draws on contract-farmed Korean ingredients, in-house urban beehives, and micro-distillery spirits. Co-founder Dohyung 'Demie' Kim won the Altos Bartenders' Bartender Award 2024. Weekday hours run from 18:30, with weekend service beginning at 15:00.
Guangzhou, China
Ranked #7 in Asia's Best Bars 2025 and making its World's 50 Best Bars debut that same year, Hope & Sesame has operated from Guangzhou's Dongshankou district since 2016. Entry is through a concealed refrigerator door; the programme inside runs on ultrasonic infusion, rotary distillation, and seasonal menus built around regional flavour and cultural narrative.
New York City, United States
Ranked #15 in North America and #75 globally by the World's 50 Best Bars in 2025, Martiny's on East 17th Street has established itself as one of New York City's most consistently decorated bar programs. Its trajectory — from #68 globally in 2023 to #24 in 2024 — signals a bar operating with real upward momentum in a competitive Manhattan field. Google reviewers rate it 4.2 across 374 responses.
San Francisco, United States
Pacific Cocktail Haven on Sutter Street has tracked a consistent upward arc through the World's 50 Best North America rankings, climbing from #38 in 2024 to #16 in 2025, with parallel recognition from Top 500 Bars and Pearl. The program sits at a technically serious register within San Francisco's cocktail scene, drawing a crowd that treats the bar as a destination rather than a stop. Rated 4.6 across 929 Google reviews.
Toronto, Canada
A neon pineapple is the only sign you need. Civil Liberties on Bloor West operates without a menu, letting bartenders move through the conversation instead — through house-made fortified wines, seasonal liqueurs, and draft cocktails that have earned the bar a spot in the World's 50 Best North America rankings four consecutive years running. The room is deliberately unpretentious; the drinks are anything but.
Washington DC, United States
On U Street NW, Service Bar has held a consistent position among North America's most recognised cocktail programs, appearing in the World's 50 Best North America's Best Bars list every year from 2022 to 2025. The format is deliberately unpretentious: serious drinks inside a neighbourhood joint atmosphere, where the bar's technical ambition doesn't announce itself with ceremony. Google reviewers rate it 4.6 across more than 800 responses.
New York City, United States
Katana Kitten on Hudson Street has held a place in the World's 50 Best Bars global rankings every year since 2019, reaching #10 in 2021 and maintaining a North America top-15 position through 2024. The West Village bar occupies a specific niche in New York's cocktail scene: Japanese-American technique applied with enough precision to attract a loyal repeat clientele alongside the global bar crowd. Reservations are advised, particularly on weekends.
Los Angeles, United States
Ranked #12 on North America's Best Bars 2025 and #93 globally, Mírate on Vermont Avenue in Los Feliz positions producer-first Mexican spirits and technically precise cocktails within an open-air neighbourhood setting. The bar earned its place at the top tier of Los Angeles craft cocktail culture through a focused commitment to Mexican heritage ingredients rather than trend-chasing formats. Open daily from late afternoon through midnight on weekends.
New York City, United States
A MacDougal Street fixture since 1915, Dante NYC has ranked among the world's most recognised bars for nearly a decade, holding the number-one spot on the World's 50 Best Bars list in 2019. The bar's Italian aperitivo tradition, sustained critical recognition, and Greenwich Village address place it in a peer set well above the typical neighbourhood anchor. Google reviewers rate it 4.5 across more than 2,500 votes.
Bangkok, Thailand
Bar Us occupies a discreet first-floor space on Sukhumvit Soi 26, operating as a 'drinking room' where the menu follows a tasting structure — starters, mains, and afters, all built around liquid versions of Thai cuisine. Named in Tatler's Best Bars Asia-Pacific 2025 with the Best Innovation award, and ranked No. 4 on Asia's 50 Best Bars 2025, it is one of Bangkok's most recognised bars by international trade standards.
Los Angeles, United States
A technique-driven cocktail bar on West Temple Street, Thunderbolt has held a place in the World's 50 Best Bars global list four consecutive years running, most recently ranking #64 globally in 2024. The format is deliberately low-key: a neighbourhood-bar atmosphere that sits in sharp contrast to the precision of what arrives in the glass. R&D is the engine here, with original ingredients driving a program that consistently earns global recognition.
Singapore, Singapore
Housed inside Parkview Square's art deco tower on North Bridge Road, Atlas has ranked continuously in the World's 50 Best Bars since 2017 — peaking at number four globally in 2020. The bar's gin collection and art deco setting have made it a reference point for Singapore's cocktail scene, recognised by Tatler Asia for Best Design in 2024 and listed among the Top 500 Bars globally in 2025.
San Francisco, United States
True Laurel occupies a precise position in San Francisco's cocktail hierarchy: ranked #64 globally and #17 in North America by World's 50 Best Bars (2025), it applies European and Japanese technique to Bay Area produce, with results that place it in a different register from most Mission District bars. The 4.5-star Google rating across nearly 800 reviews suggests consistent execution, not just critical acclaim.
Surfside, United States
Located within The Surf Club on Surfside's Collins Avenue, Lido Restaurant and Champagne Bar has earned back-to-back Star Wine List recognition (2025 and 2026) alongside a place at #61 on World's 50 Best North America's Best Bars for 2025. The combination of a serious Champagne program and a hotel setting that carries significant mid-century history makes this one of the more considered drinking destinations on Miami's northern shore.
Miami, United States
On Calle Ocho in Miami's Little Havana, Café La Trova has held a place in the World's 50 Best Bars global ranking every year since 2021, reaching as high as #24 globally and #6 in North America. The bar channels classic Cuban cocktail culture through a program that has shifted and matured across four consecutive years of international recognition. Bookings are recommended; the address is 971 SW 8th St.
Guadalajara, Mexico
El Gallo Altanero has ranked on the World's 50 Best Bars list every year since 2022, reaching #48 globally in 2024 and placing eighth in North America in 2025. Located in Guadalajara's Colonia Americana, it represents the leading edge of Mexico's agave-driven cocktail movement and draws serious bar travellers well beyond the city's own circuit.
Seoul, South Korea
Bar Cham has climbed from #50 in Asia's Best Bars in 2020 to #6 in 2025, placing it among the most consistently recognised cocktail bars on the continent. Situated in the Jongno District neighbourhood of Bukchon, the bar frames Korean aesthetics through classically grounded technique. It opens Wednesday through Monday from 18:00 to 01:00.
Barcelona, Spain
Paradiso entered Barcelona's cocktail scene through a refrigerator door in a pastrami shop and never stopped surprising. Named the World's Best Bar in 2022 and ranked in the World's 50 Best Bars every year since 2018, it operates in a carved-wood interior designed to disorient, then delight. The drinks programme, currently themed around 'The Mysteries of the Universe', treats each cocktail as a scientific proposition.
Tulum, Mexico
Arca has held a position inside the World's 50 Best Bars global list every year since 2022, reaching #55 in 2024 and #77 in 2025, making it the most consistently decorated bar in the Yucatán Peninsula. Set on the Tulum beach road at Km 7.6, it operates where the jungle presses against the Caribbean coast and where fermented, foraged, and fire-driven drinks have become the dominant local idiom.
Tokyo, Japan
Ranked #65 in the World's 50 Best Bars 2025 and a fixture on the Asia's Best Bars list since 2019, The SG Club in Shibuya operates across two distinct floors with a program rooted in Japanese ingredient logic and international technique. Located in Jinnan, a quieter pocket above the Shibuya crossing noise, it draws a consistent crowd of serious drinkers and has held a place in the global top 25 as recently as 2021.
San Juan, Puerto Rico
La Factoría has held a position in the World's 50 Best Bars global rankings every year since 2015, reaching #12 in North America in 2022. Located on Calle San José in Old San Juan, it operates Tuesday through Saturday on daytime and early-afternoon hours, making visit timing a genuine planning consideration. Rated 4.6 across more than 4,200 Google reviews, it occupies the upper tier of Puerto Rico's bar scene.
Singapore, Singapore
Nutmeg & Clove has spent eleven years building one of Asia-Pacific's most recognised bar programs from an eight-table saloon on Purvis Street. Named in Asia's Best Bars Top 10 multiple times and ranked #24 in the 2025 edition, it turns Singapore's neighbourhood memory — kopitiam counters, mama shop shelves, itinerant ice cream carts — into formally structured cocktails that read as cultural argument as much as drink.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Named in Tatler's Best 20 Bars Asia-Pacific and ranked among Asia's 50 Best Bars every year since 2019, Bar Trigona operates from the Four Seasons Kuala Lumpur with a drink programme built around indigenous Malaysian ingredients. Its food menu is designed to work alongside the cocktails, not merely accompany them. For anyone tracking the evolution of Southeast Asian bar culture, this is a reference point.