According to the newly launched Pinnacle Guide, the world’s best cocktail bar is in London. It was just awarded three pins, the highest rating, and as it stands is the only venue worldwide with the accolade. You might have heard of it? Lyaness, launched by cocktail maestro Ryan Chetiyawardana in 2019, where some cocktails are barely over a tenner and others are billed at £30 a go.
Lyaness isn’t short of prestige — it does not have regulars but disciples. It is at Lyaness where “double diamond” vodka, made with rye sourced from a single field in Poland, is blended with Champagne and Canadian maple syrup to make a new-age martini, known as the Score and only available on the special editions menu (£30). Or try the Atom, where butternut squash, its “friendly bacteria” in tow, is fermented to become a distillate of vegetal notes, citrus and nectarine flavours before being wed to the humming punch of small batch tequila. They’re asking for £27, steep regardless of skill.
Too high-end? Too avant-garde? Afternoons need not be bank smashing. For all the beeswax, ripe fruits and smoke, there are gentler measures for less adventurous minds. Two cocktails of simpler concoctions together with a pair of bar snacks (get the devilled eggs) will set you back £30, all in. A Negroni is tweaked only by the wizarding addition of wild gooseberries; a bellini — granted, one with tequila and hints of rhubarb — makes for ideal sipping while looking out towards the Thames. Both are £12. Much better.
Three pins, then? Let’s take stock. I was cynical until I spoke to one of its three founders, Hannah Sharman-Cox. She told me the guide is self-funded and that bars must apply, fill out a form containing 100 questions (good lord), before being anonymously reviewed more than once by drinks experts who have been vetted, interviewed and trained. To date, there are 57 bars listed, most with one pin and a handful with two.
Is Pinnacle the Michelin Guide for cocktail bars? Too big a question for a column of this size (though few rivals exist). And is Lyaness really that good? Given I’d hop on a plane to visit Athens-based Clumsies, and this is better than that, I should think it probably is.
Bar snacks
Vining Street Wine Club
1 Vining Street, SW9, viningstreetwineclub.com
This new wine bar promises to break down “the pretentiousness of the wine industry”. Not an easy task. The slogan, “wine without the bullshit”, sounds agreeable in any case. It’s from the guys behind the excellent Crystal Palace Wine Club, so head over for a changing roster of affordable bottles and £7 glasses.
The Ox
50 Clapham High Street, SW4, theoxclapham.com
New in SW4 is a new pub from the family-owned group Polygon Public House. The Ox has taken over from the former Saxon, retaining the main bar, mezzanine and private events spaces upstairs. It’s not a boozer by any stretch, but the ox cheek toasties sound promising and the drinks list is decent and affordable.
