All the Surprises and Newcomers From the World’s 50 Best Bars List

Not included: your local. Probably because of Jim. F*ck Jim.

October 6, 2017 9:00 am

First glance: The best bar in the world is American.

USA! USA! USA! 

Annnnd … it’s actually The American Bar in London. That’s the conclusion of The World’s 50 Best Bars 2017, the just-released list of best watering holes around the globe. Judged by a consortium of 500 industry experts from 55 countries, this year’s list featured a few surprises and some cool newcomers.

NYC’s stately The NoMad surprisingly finished at number three, with last year’s winner The Dead Rabbit at five.

Don’t cry for the Dead Rabbit folks: Founders Jack McGarry and Sean Muldoon’s other bar, BlackTail, won Best New Opening and landed at number 32.

New York continues to be the global cocktail hotspot, grabbing seven of the 13 bars from the U.S. Attaboy, in the former Milk & Honey space, lands at number eight. And Mace (pictured above), perhaps our favorite cocktail bar in the city, stays in the list at number 42.

While the U.S. topped the country list, London had the most bars for a city, with eight.

The most interesting bars? Shanghai’s Speak Low (number 10), a speakeasy within a speakeasy within another speakeasy; Paris’s Candelaria (number 19), hidden within the city’s first taqueria; and Tokyo’s Bar Benfiddich (number 36), a ninth-floor mixology den featuring homemade absinthe.

Check out the full list here

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