If you walk down New York’s white-washed, semi-deserted Financial District at night, and you find yourself on a nondescript corner near a Subway sandwich shop, take heart.
You’re right next to the world’s best bar.
The Dead Rabbit, a perennial entry in pretty much every publication’s “Best Bars” compendiums, just scored the top honors at Thursday’s ceremony for The World’s 50 Best Bars, a list compiled by Drinks International and voted on by 470+ “bar experts.”
The tri-level NYC watering hole, headed up by Belfast expats Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry — in addition to evoking a serious Gangs of New York vibe — has been the runner-up on the Best Bars list for two years. Interestingly enough, the winner from the last four years, London’s Artesian, didn’t even make the list.
“The two head bartenders that were very influential at [Artesian] [who] created the concept, the menu, the ethos, the philosophy…they quit that night after winning for the fourth time, and they were followed out the bar by another nine bartenders, so the world’s best bar didn’t have a bar team,” said World’s 50 editor Hamish Smith.
Overall, the list reps 27 cities in 20 countries, with London and New York making up 9 of the top 10 speakeasies —you’ll have to go to Athens for the other top ten recipient, a unique new spot called The Clumsies (see above). That bar’s drink of choice? Draque, a “clarified Mojito” served with a mint and green apple pulp, which you brush onto your teeth before sipping (toothbrush is included).
Europe topped the list with 22 establishments, with the U.S. having the most of any individual country at 14. While centered on a few major cities, bars from Nicosia, Old San Juan and Beirut also made the cut.
The full list can be found here.
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