A Scottish bar was named as one of the 50 best in the world at a ceremony in Singapore this week.
The annual list of the World’s 50 Best Bars, sponsored by Perrier, was announced on Tuesday as it was revealed that Edinburgh's Panda & Sons had once again earned a spot at number 39.
One of only six UK venues to feature on the list, the speakeasy-style bar is owned by ‘the cocktail panda’ Iain McPherson and overseen by long-time general manager Nicky Craig.
Alongside the entry, the team was praised for their innovative new Transcend menu which is a result of five years worth of experimentation with freezing techniques.
The World's 50 Best List said: “[Panda & Sons] latest menu Transcend is a seminal piece of work, bringing as it does previously unknown cocktail-making techniques into the bartending repertoire.
“In his off-site lab, McPherson’s experiments on flavour creation to harness the effects of sub-zero temperatures.
“Take in as much of the science as you like, but either way you’ll love the Coconut Daiquiri, which has seen the water removed from rum and replaced with roasted coconut water.
“Ingenious and delicious, that’s Panda & Sons to a tee.”
The World’s 50 Best Bars is decided by an academy of 680 drinks experts including renowned bartenders and consultants, drinks writers and cocktail specialists from around the world.
Each expert from across 28 geographic regions casts seven anonymous votes based on their best bar experiences of the previous 18 months in a process which is independently adjudicated by Deloitte.
William Drew, director of content, 50 Best, says: “At 50 Best, we take great pride in highlighting the unparalleled diversity of the global bar industry and we extend our sincere congratulations to each bar that has earned a place on this illustrious ranking.
“We have once again seen the number of cocktail cities represented here increase, and hope this list continues to ignite the spark of wanderlust for cocktail lovers around the world.”
Also representing Scotland at the event, The American Bar at Gleneagles in Auchterarder was awarded the Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu Award for its Book of Berries menu.
Inspired by the 20th-century ‘observer books’, this menu features 18 cocktails, each dedicated to a single botanical berry sourced from the local hills of Perthshire.
Running for the third year in a row, the Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu Award was open to any bar in the world and judged by the 28 Academy Chairs.
Panda & Sons is located at 79 Queen Street in Edinburgh.
To view this year’s list of the World’s 50 Best Bars click here.
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