Expertly crafted cocktails, inspired by Lower Manhattan's rough and tumble turn-of-the-century history, have proven to be the winning formula for the world's best bar.
Water Street's Dead Rabbit — named after a gang of Irish immigrants from Downtown's Five Points era (yep, like the movie "Gangs of New York") — took home first place in the World's 50 Best Bar 2016 rankings, an honor chosen by "400 experts" at trade publication Drinks International.
The two-level bar, owned by Irish immigrants, pays homage to late 1800s Irish pub culture in New York City — with more than 70 cocktails from the bygone era.
Its changing menu is more like a graphic novel of 19th-century Lower Manhattan that features old-timey libations — for example, the $16 "Guilty as Sin" is a cocktail made from Irish Whiskey, Cognac, Mezcal, French Bitters, coffee, banana and aromatic bitters
According to competition organizers, the bar's attention to historical detail was a big factor in its win: "But the Dead Rabbit is more than the sum of its liquid parts, fusing as it does colourful historical references to the city’s 19th-century Water Street rough-neck pub set and Lower Broadway’s genteel cocktail imbibers in an atmosphere of Irish-American hospitality," they said in a statement about the winning bar.
The Dead Rabbit won the top spot, but seven other New York City bars, including the Lower East Side's Attaboy, West Village's Employees Only and Williamsburg's Maison Premiere also made the top 50:
Go ahead, drink in the full list of 50 bars, ranked (the NYC locations are bolded:
1. The Dead Rabbit Grocery & Grog, New York
2. American Bar, London
3. Dandelyan, London
4. Connaught Bar, London
5. Attaboy, New York
6. The Gibson, London
7. Employees Only, New York
8. Nomad Bar, New York
9. The Clumsies, Athens
10. Happiness Forgets, London
11. Manhattan, Singapore
12. The Baxter Inn, Sydney
13. Licoreria Limantour, Mexico City
14. 28 Hongkong Street, Singapore
15. Speak Low, Shanghai
16. The Broken Shaker, Miami
17. Candelaria, Paris
18. Tales & Spirits, Amsterdam
19. Nightjar, London
20. Maison Premiere, New York
21. Operation Dagger, Singapore
22. Black Pearl, Melbourne
23. High Five, Tokyo
24. Little Red Door, Paris
25. Linje Tio, Stockholm
26. Central Station, Beirut
27. Lobster Bar, Hong Kong
28. Mace, New York
29. Smuggler's Cove, San Francisco
30. Bar Termini, London
31. La Factoria, Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
32. Oriole, London
33. The Jerry Thomas Project, Rome
34. Dante, New York
35. Trick Dog, San Francisco
36. ABV, San Francisco
37. The Walker Inn, Los Angeles
38. Nottingham Forest, Milan
39. Aviary, Chicago
40. Baba au Rum, Athens
41. Quinary, Hong Kong
42. Himkok, Oslo
43. Lost + Found, Nicosia, Cyprus
44. Ruby, Copenhagen
45. PDT, New York
46. Bulletin Place, Sydney
47. Bramble, Edinburgh
48. Callooh Callay, London
49. Floreria Atlantico, Buenos Aires
50. Buck & Breck, Berlin
