GN Chan wins Altos Bartenders’ Bartender Award 2023

The World’s 50 Best Bars Awards has announced the co-founder of New York’s Double Chicken Please, GN Chan, has won the peer-voted Altos Bartenders' Bartender Award for 2023. It’s the second of two awards announced ahead of the live awards ceremony on Tuesday, 17 October 2023, in Singapore.

The award is peer-voted by bartenders from the 2023 list of The World’s 50 Best Bars and recognises individuals who show outstanding creativity, innovation and excellence in bartending.

William Drew, Director of Content for The World’s 50 Best Bars, says: “It gives us great pleasure to announce GN Chan as the recipient of this year's Altos Bartenders’ Bartender Award. With his refreshing approach to crafting cocktails, unwavering dedication to his vision and infectious personal warmth, he has established Double Chicken Please as one of the most exciting bar concepts in the world. It is no surprise that his peers have selected him as the winner of this award, as his spirit and dedication exemplify the fundamentals of what defines the Altos Bartenders' Bartender.”

An industrial designer by training and a former street magician, GN Chan embarked on his bartending journey by complete accident with no prior experience or knowledge. Soon after falling in love with mixology, he left his native Taiwan for New York on a mission to master his craft, honing his skills and winning numerous accolades.

In 2017, GN and his business partner Faye Chen set off in a modified bright yellow 1977 Volkswagen minibus, hosting unique cocktail and dining experiences across the country. The pair quickly garnered a reputation for their innovative overlap of cuisine and mixology, complete with tongue-in-cheek cocktail names, before setting up a permanent bar, Double Chicken Please, on New York’s Lower East Side, in 2020.

Despite numerous pandemic-related closures, the dual-concepts bar quickly grew national and international recognition for its unique “hacking design” concept and its daily pre-opening queues, in large part due to GN Chan’s unwavering hospitality as well as the intriguing design.

The bustling, no-reservations front room is casual and fast-paced, offering Taiwanese-influenced fried chicken sandwiches and a list of seasonal creative ‘Taptails’ set against concrete and exposed brick walls. By contrast, the wood-panelled and moody interior of ‘The Coop’ serves a lively, complex menu that playfully reimagines cocktails and dishes, an unconventional interpretation of a typical cocktail experience. Dramatic spotlights draw the eye to the central bar accentuated by whimsical artworks underpinning the unerring sense of fun that permeates the Double Chicken Please concept. 

In just a few short years, Double Chicken Please has achieved international acclaim thanks to Chan, Chen and the team’s achievements. In 2022, it landed on The World’s 50 Best Bars list at No.6, winning the Disaronno Highest New Entry Award, before being named The Best Bar in North America at this year’s edition of North America’s 50 Best Bars.

On winning the award, Chan says: “I am extremely humbled and grateful to be named Altos Bartenders’ Bartender. I would like to dedicate this recognition to Team DCP, whom I work and hustle with day to day. It is only together that we have achieved many things we never thought we would be able to, daring to dream big and bigger every day. This recognition serves as motivation, driving our determination to continue progressing and fuelling our enthusiasm to share and expand within our beloved community. I have nothing but gratitude for receiving this honour from my peers. Thank you for being the giants, and for letting us stand on your shoulders.”

Carlos Andres Ramirez, Head of Global Advocacy and PR for Altos Tequila, says: “Supporting the community of bartenders has been a pillar for Altos Tequila since its creation in 2010. Twelve years on, we continue to invest in this support via the Tahona Society Competition initiative, the first sustainable project competition. From the Altos Tequila and Tahona Society family, we want to congratulate GN Chan from Double Chicken Please in New York, the new recipient of the Bartenders’ Bartender Award as part of The World’s 50 Best Bars 2023.”

The World’s 50 Best Bars 2023, sponsored by Perrier, marks the first time the event has been held outside Europe since it began in 2009. The countdown of the list of The World’s 50 Best Bars 2023 will be broadcast live to a global audience. Bars and cocktail lovers are invited to join through The World’s 50 Best Bars Facebook page and 50 Best Bars TV channel on YouTube.