Last night, Drinks International’s The World’s 50 Best Bars 2016 awards confirmed a fact that we all pretty much knew - that London is the best city in the world for cocktails. With a grand total of nine bars in the list, our little city ain’t doing too badly.
The bars are whittled down from a list of 652 from around the world, and include a diverse bunch, from hotel bars to Shoreditch watering holes. The Mondrians’ Dandelyan bar came in at number three and was awarded Nikka Whisky’s Highest Climber Award, moving up an impressive 47 spaces. The hotel bar was created by Ryan Chetiyawardana and its menu is inspired by botany and early hunter gathers. It wasn’t all swanky city bars though, with some of our favourite East London haunts making the list.
Oriole and sister venue Nightjar both earnt a spot with their beautiful round-the-world cocktail lists and colonial-style interiors. Quirky and cool Hoxton bar Happiness Forgets was at number 10 and Callooh Callay, the Lewis Carroll-inspired spot in Shoreditch, re-entered the list at number 48. Time to clear some space in your diaries folks, there’s a whole lot of cocktail-drinking to be done.