Panda & Sons hits top 50 list of world’s best bars

Edinburgh cocktail bar, Panda & Sons has been announced as the 39th best bar in the world during a prestigious award ceremony held in Singapore.

The 2023 global list compiled by ‘The World’s 50 Best Bars’ includes the most popular and boundary-pushing bars across the globe from ‘secretive speakeasies’ and ‘quirky salons’ to ‘classic drinking dens’. Panda & Sons is the only Scottish bar to place within the top 50 and one of only 6 in the UK to feature.

Panda & Sons’ Owner, Iain McPherson, who earlier this year was named as Bar Innovator of the Year by Class Bar Awards, was joined by his team on stage (Venue Manager, Nicky Craig and Bar Manager, Sean Moggach) to accept the esteemed award.

Iain McPherson said: “We’re approaching 10 years of Panda & Sons and what a way to celebrate, being awarded a place in the World’s 50 Best Bars! We’ve worked hard to push the boundaries and expectations of cocktail-making by inventing new ways of creating them, and that’s exciting. It’s an honour to be representing Scotland alongside incredible bars from across the globe that inspire us. I’m so proud and thankful to my amazing team for helping Panda & Sons achieve this.”

The drinks industry’s most anticipated night of the year, the international celebration was held in Pasir Panjang, in Singapore with the industry’s most renowned bartenders, consultants, writers, critics, and forward thinkers in attendance to celebrate the reveal of the top 50 best bars.

The World’s 50 Best Bars Academy of over 650 drinks experts from across the globe recognised Panda & Sons for their innovative sub-zero freezing techniques which were invented and evolved in-house in a basement laboratory coined ‘The Brain Melting Society. Panda & Sons launched their latest cocktail menu ‘Transcend’ this year, to critical acclaim.

Shortlisted by Tales of the Cocktail for Bar Menu of the Year, Transcend features sixteen cocktails arranged in four chapters exploring and highlighting a different ultra-low freezing technique.

SWITCHING. SOUS PRESSION. FREEZE DRYING. CRYO CONCENTRATION. – Read about the TRANSCEND MENU here.

Combining creativity with science, each of these techniques has either been invented or developed by McPherson and his team over 5 years of research and fine-tuning. Offering never-before-seen flavours, textures, and innovations that advance cocktail-making into a new era of drinks creativity, the Panda & Sons team share their knowledge with bars all over the world in a bid to keep the industry progressive.

Transcend is available in Panda & Sons now.