The Whimsical Barcelona Cocktail Bar Just Named Best In The World For 2022
Every year since 2009, a panel of drinks experts comprising skilled bartenders, cocktail writers, and consultants convene to determine which establishments make the 50 Best Bars list. The World's 50 Best Bars Academy is made up of 650 members and is divided into 28 global geographic regions. The Academy celebrates innovation, creativity, and everything delightful about cocktail culture.
The 2022 list of 50 Best Bars is quite diverse, with bars in 26 cities all over the world. One trend has been consistent since the list's inception, and that's the domination of London and New York for the top ranking. This year marks the very first time top honors have gone to a bar not in London or New York. Instead, celebrations for the award were held at a live ceremony in Barcelona, Spain on October 4, 2022. The World's 50 Best Bars 2022 was sponsored by Perrier, with additional sponsors for honors in a range of categories like the Nikka Highest Climber Award, which also went to a Barcelona bar whose ranking moved up the most compared to 2021, and Disaronno Highest New Entry, going to a New York bar that made the list for the first time with the highest ranking. What should we know about the bar at the top of the list?
Paradiso is a stunning, almost-hidden gem
According to Feastio, there's a pastrami shop in the hip Barcelona neighborhood of El Born. If you enter Pastrami Bar, you find exactly what you'd expect: A sandwich shop. But if you open the refrigerator inside the deli, you enter another universe. In fact, it is Paradiso. The bar is the creation of rockstar cocktail master Giacomo Giannotti, and it was named the 2022 World's Best Bar.
Inside Paradiso, you'll find cocktail nirvana. Amiable bartenders delight patrons with the likes of the Mediterranean Treasure, which Feastio explains transforms ordinary Ketel One vodka with ingredients like sherry macerated with oyster leaves, lemon, agave honey, cilantro, and egg white. The cocktail served in a real seashell, is presented inside a wooden box containing smoked Mediterranean herbs, releasing a fragrant puff of smoke when the treasure chest is opened. Bartender wizardry at Paradiso employs magic like supercooled gin that creates an individual iceberg as it's poured into the glass and components like a "coffee cloud." Interestingly, Condé Nast Traveler states the experience is inviting, rather than intimidating, with a door policy limiting capacity to a comfortable number and bartenders that are engaging, not pretentious. Also unpretentious is the price tag for a Paradiso experience. The bar made Tasting Table's 2017 list of best cheap eats in Barcelona.