Click here to read the Spanish version.
A few months ago Sips Drinkery House was named the best bar in the world, according to The World’s 50 Best Bars, a recognition that is no coincidence. The project led by Marc Álvarez and Simone Caporale has managed to perfectly capture the essence that the world of cocktails currently demands. And it has done so through a concept that combines tradition and innovation, to give rise to a liquid menu with a marked personality to taste sip by sip unique cocktails.
Sips was born almost three years ago, in 2021, as a result of joining the more than three decades that Marc Álvarez and Simone Caporale have spent in the world of cocktails: the former in the bars of the group El Barri Adrià or as Mixing Master of Schweppes; and the latter, in Artesian Bar in London, among others. Together they knew how to capture in this project their conception of the cocktail and the essence they want to transmit through each elaboration. It should not be forgotten that Sips means ‘sips’, which would come to symbolize the unit of measurement in which a cocktail can be divided.
After establishing itself as a must in the cocktail scene of Barcelona, the Sips team has taken a step further. They have just launched a new and innovative concept in the back of the restaurant. With that speakeasy soul, Esencia was born: through tasting menus of mini-drinks, they intend to revolutionize world mixology.
This is Esencia by Sips
The new area of the restaurant, which just opened this past weekend, is a totally unique and previously unknown speakeasy concept. Esencia becomes a unique experience only for 14 diners who can enjoy a tasting menu distributed in sequences. Or what is the same, mini drinks where what matters is the cocktail and its purest essence.
If it is usual to see long lines at the entrance of Sips, to access Esencia you can make a reservation in advance, which can be enjoyed from Thursday to Saturday. Crossing the striking curtains that lead you to the Esencia speakeasy is to enter another cocktail universe of Alvarez and Caporale where, in addition to highlighting the innovative proposal of drinks, the peculiar space is also striking, consisting of two bars and with an avant-garde decor that evokes a liquid atmosphere, where every detail is taken care of to the millimeter.
These tasting menus are composed of sequences (series of drinks) ranging from 8 to 12 sips, in mini format -around 50 ml- and which are not available on the bar’s regular menu. Against the backdrop of cocktail classics, here they will serve reinterpretations and new elaborations that will surprise the diner: from Bloody Mary sequences to drinks with a clear Japanese inspiration. A 100% liquid proposal where the real protagonist is the cocktail -there is no food- that you can enjoy for a price starting at 65 €.
Sips classics
The Esencia space will coexist with the main cocktail lounge, where diners will continue to enjoy the cocktails that have made Sips the best bar in the world. Among the favorite highlights of the menu are cocktails such as the Millfulls, a kind of Catalan cream to enjoy in sips, served on an authentic work of art formed by eight sheets of ice, also accompanied by lemon and banana leaves, along with vodka, vanilla and Schweppes Soda. This dessert-turned-cocktail is one of his best-selling drinks.
But if there is one good thing about the Sips menu – and which has propelled it to world leadership – it is the number of varied and surprising creations it can offer its diners, such as the Root Mule – its version of the Moscow Mule – which is part of the ClasSips saga, timeless drinks that can always be used, as well as the B-Paloma, an original reinterpretation of the mythical Mexican cocktail, but without grapefruit and with caper salt.
To enjoy Sips in all its forms, both in its ‘classic’ hotel business and in its new and purest Essence, take note:
Where? 108 Muntaner Street, 08036, Barcelona, Spain