News

Dead Rabbit named World’s Best Bar by TOTC

20 July 2015 By Amy Hopkins

New York’s The Dead Rabbit has been named World’s Best Bar at the ninth annual Spirited Awards, the grand finale of the 2015 Tales of the Cocktail festival.

Jack McGarry, head bartender at The Dead Rabbit, accepts the bar’s prestigious award

Following the largest pool of nominations in the history of the event, the Spirited Awards announced its winners on Saturday 18 July at the Sheraton Hotel in New Orleans.

The winners were voted for by a panel of more than 100 industry experts, including: Simon Ford, chairman; Jackson Cannon, US Judging Committee chairman; Jacob Briars, International Judging Committee chairman; and David Wondrich, Writing Committee chairman.

The votes were verified by the Super Committee and tallied to determine the top 10, fop four and ultimately this year’s winners.

The Dead Rabbit walked away with the coveted World’s Best Bar award, given to London’s Artesian in 2014, while Ryan Chetiyawardana was named International Bartender of the Year.

Sean Muldoon, co-founder of The Dead Rabbit, said when collecting the award: “For five years all I’ve been thinking about is winning this award. So finally after five years I can go to sleep now. Thank you.”

In 2013, The Dead Rabbit was named World’s Best New Cocktail Bar, while its head bartender Jack McGarry (pictured) was named International Bartender of the Year.

During this most recent awards ceremony Artesian was named Best International Cocktail Bar and Chetiyawardana’s Dandelyan was bestowed with the title Best New International Cocktail Bar.

“It’s wonderful to see traditional strongholds like London and Melbourne sharing nominations with the resurgent bar scene in Paris, and to see the rise of great bars in places like Singapore and Dubai being recognised too,” said Jacob Briars.

“I’m grateful to our 50 International Committee judges for their hard work and dedication in distilling thousands of nominees down to our finalists and award winners, who represent the very best in the global industry.”

Scroll down to view the other Spirited Awards 2015 winners.

American categories:

Best American Bar Team

 Employees Only (New York)

American Bartender of the Year

Ivy Mix (New York)

Best American Brand Ambassador

Brooke Arthur (House Spirits)

Best American Cocktail Bar

Williams & Graham (Denver)

Best American High Volume Cocktail Bar

Employees Only (New York)