Just nine months after swinging the doors open, Sydney cocktail bar Maybe Sammy took home the trophy for Best Bar in Australasia at the World’s 50 Best Bar Awards on Thursday.
The swanky vintage Vegas-inspired boozer was the only Australian bar to crack the top 50, coming in at number 43. It’s been a big year on the international circuit for co-owners Stefano Catino, Vince Lombardo and Andrea Gualdi, who captured the coveted gong for Best International New Cocktail Bar at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards in New Orleans back in July.
“We are blown away that Maybe Sammy has been so well received by our national and international peers,” Catino says. “To be named as one of the World’s 50 Bars is such an honour, especially within our first year.”
The World’s 50 Best Bars is owned and operated by William Reed Business Media, the same group behind the annual World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, and is decided by more than 500 industry experts from around the world, including bartenders, journalists, consultants and cocktail specialists. Dante in New York’s Greenwich Village landed the number one spot, while two bars that have opened Sydney outposts in the last year, New York’s Employees Only and Scout in London, clocked in at 26 and 28, respectively.
In addition to the top 50, the organisation also publishes an extended 51-100 list, which included three Sydney bars: Bulletin Place (#66), the Baxter Inn (#79) and PS40, which made its debut at number 95. For the first time in the ranking’s eleven-year history, Melbourne’s Black Pearl landed outside the top 50 (#80). Consider it a seriously big humble brag win for the Harbour City.
To see the full list of the World's 50 Best Bars, click here.
Want to see who makes our top 50 in this town? Check out Time Out's list of the 50 best bars in Sydney.