At the short end of a long street in the epicentre of the Caribbean’s last great Creole downtown there is a bar.

But it is not just any bar. And it is a bar with big ambitions. It is one that seeks to lead the Caribbean.

25 Quarter opened two years ago in the old stone walls of the former Rhum St Barth space in Gustavia, a well designed, hip and funky joint with excellent service and a creative menu focused on a global street food fare, from tacos to dumplings.

It is a place to drink without pretense, with high design undergirded by quality.

But the mark of a truly great bar, the sort of bar that becomes a destination in its own right, is what’s in it.

And proprietaire Christopher Davis has filled this place with wonders.

For starters, there’s a remarkable slate of 135 bourbons, and a soon to formally debut collection of more than 330 rums, a total that will be the largest of any bar south of Key West when it comes online, housed in its own lounge-within-a-lounge replete with rum lockers.

And not just any rums — vintage, rare, world-beating rums, from limited edition bottlings from Caroni’s lost distillery in Trinidad to expressions from every single distillery in Martinique to often unattainable Cuban super-rums (think Havana Club Union, for one).

And then there are the master classes, regular celebrations of the world of spirits that draw in luminaries from tequila, rum and more to come to this intimate place and speak to aficionados on their craft.

This is a bar for bar lovers.

Sure, there are some wonderful places to drink in St Barth, beach lounges and hotels.

But there is nothing like this.

That’s what makes 25 Quarter the best bar in St Barth, and a Caribbean legend in the making.

— Alexander Britell