LONDON, Oct 10 — For the third year in a row, The Artesian in London has kept its stronghold as the best bar in the world for elevating cocktails to a multi-sensory, artistic and even cerebral experience.
You could call it the Noma of the cocktail world. A bar that has become the standard-bearer and “ideas factory” for mixology.
Noma, chef René Redzepi’s restaurant in Copenhagen, has topped the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list four times for likewise blazing a trail on the international dining landscape with its emphasis on foraging and New Nordic cuisine.
This summer, The Artesian at The Langham hotel snagged the same title of world’s best bar at another major industry event, Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans.
Like fashion houses which release seasonal collections, mixologists Alex Kratena and Simone Caporale create a new cocktail menu each year. Last year it was based on perfumes and smells. This year, the duo developed a menu called ‘Unfolding and Exploring’ with drinks that invite guests to discover new flavours and ingredients in a sensory and languid experience.
Cocktails are interactive and made with everything from gemstones, larch, leather, mushrooms and parsnips.
The ‘Will of the Woods,’ for instance, is described as a liquid forest, made with Glenlivet, Vermouth, larch, mushrooms, citrus and honey, served in a wooden drinking bowl.
The ‘Selfie Compatible’ is a vaporised cocktail that contains Ron Zacapa 23 Floc De Gascogne, Verjus, Beer and Bitters.
Drinks International, which organises the awards, also reports that the duo has already come up with next year’s theme which will debut in July: ‘Surrealism’ will examine the functioning of cocktails in the absence of reason.”
But as editors point out, “Don’t try to understand, just visit.”
“Artesian is not just a bar, it’s an ideas factory that keeps moving things on and on and on.”
The top 10 list is dominated by London and New York which tie with three addresses each. The balance of the top 10 ranking is represented by watering holes in Seattle, Sydney, Tokyo and Singapore.
The Artesian is followed by Dead Rabbit Grocery and Grog in New York; Nightjar in London; Attaboy in New York; Employees Only, also in New York.
Europe dominated the overall list with 21 bars, followed by North America (16), Australia (6), Asia (4) and Latin America (3).
The results were announced out of London October 9
Winners of the World’s 50 Best Bars were voted for anonymously by 334 industry professionals from 46 countries.
For the full list, visit http://bit.ly/1qsgFWT. — AFP-Relaxnews
