Long Island Tea, Bourbon Coke: What Singapore bartenders used to drink

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Long Island Tea, Bourbon Coke: What Singapore bartenders used to drink

Well earlier classy cocktails made their fashion into the local bar scene, we all drank cheap, enjoyable booze – and even bartenders were not exempt.

25 Jun 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 08 Jul 2022 08:15PM)

Remember when big lapels, shoulder pads, and baggy pants ruled fashion? They aren't seen around these days, unless you are at a Miami Vice-themed political party.

Like fashion, the drinks scene in Singapore went through such curious phases, in tandem with the drinking habits of the populace.

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Before the local bar scene went into hyperdrive a decade ago, few would walk into a bar and enquire for a Negroni. Carved water ice assurance? You'd merely detect them in wedding ice sculptures. And you'd never hear a bartender using the word "artisanal".

Dorsum and so, popular cocktails, especially in the late 1990s, were mixes of spirits and sodas – bars promoted them because they moved volume; young drinkers loved them because they were cheap.

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Those of usa sometime enough to remember knocking dorsum those drinks (like yours truly) may blench a piffling now, but there's honestly no shame in that. Nosotros all have to start somewhere in our cocktail journey.

Bartenders, too, accept their own elementary, nostalgic drinks they used to enjoy before the hip and shiny earth of modern cocktails caught upwardly in their careers.

The next time yous pop into your favourite bar, ask your bartender what he or she drank in the by. Old drinks capture a zeitgeist; they tell y'all a piddling story.

Meanwhile, we talked to four bartenders to find out what tipples they enjoyed in their younger days.

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ADRIAN BESA, BAR Director, MO BAR, MANDARIN ORIENTAL, SINGAPORE

I come from Pampanga, a province north of Manila. I started my career in the F&B industry in the early 2000s, as a flair bartender at one of the top alfresco bar and grill restaurants in the Philippines. Cocktail orders were usually high-proof classics like Long Isle Tea, Mai Tai, and Sex activity on the Beach.

(Photo: Standard mandarin Oriental, Singapore)

At that fourth dimension, mass-produced, affordable flavoured spirits were attractive to younger drinkers in their 20s and 30s. For instance, we drank Lambanog, a distilled palm liquor made from kokosnoot sap that is available in different flavours similar bubble gum and strawberry.

These spirits were generally drunk on their own. In the Philippines, we have this drinking tradition called Tagayan, in which a single shot drinking glass is passed around drinkers past a Tanggero, the person in-charge of the rotation and the filling upward of the shot glass.

We too drank local gins and vodkas, which were best enjoyed with powdered juice drinks like orangish and pomelo.

ANDREW YAP, MANAGING PARTNER, THE OLD MAN SINGAPORE

In the belatedly 1990s, I had F&B tenures in hotels in Singapore. I hung out mainly with my colleagues and we would usually guild bottled spirits like Jack Daniel's, Jim Beam, and Wild Turkey to be shared among us.

Sometimes we would order cocktails like Kamikaze (vodka, triple sec, and lime juice), Tequila Pop (tequila and soda), and Bourbon Coke.

I believe that these drinks volition brand a comeback. Customers request for them sometimes – then do I occasionally when I'm at a bar, depending on the establishment. Today'due south drinkers have a lot of information readily bachelor to them and are more well-versed in what they prefer, whether or not the drinks are currently in tendency.

I would never say no to a guest if he were to place such an order at The Former Man Singapore, although it depends on whether I have the ingredients to make what they want.

MICHELLE KI, SENIOR BARTENDER, REPUBLIC BAR, THE RITZ-CARLTON, MILLENIA SINGAPORE

I grew up in Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do in S Korea.

(Photo: The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore)

Drinking a Korean alcoholic beverage reminds of the practiced times I shared with friends. I love Korean drinks such as somaek, which is a mix of soju – a distilled spirit traditionally made from rice just more usually from sweetness potatoes and molasses today – and beer.

Both soju and somaek are popular among drinkers of all ages in South korea. The latter, also known as Soju Flop, first appeared in 2000, and became indispensable in Korean drinking culture.

The all-time fashion to enjoy somaek is to ensure that the ratio of soju to beer is 1:2, in a highball glass without ice.

Do pair somaek with Tteokbokki (spicy rice cake) or whatever other spicy food. Information technology's also enjoyable with Korean pork abdomen – the beer cocktail helps cleanse the oily palate and makes the meat taste incredibly good.

For Koreans, our drinking civilisation is more than about conversation and building relationships with people. That is the most important takeaway for me in my bartending journey – building rapport with my guests across the bar.

DARIO KNOX, FOUNDER, THE OTHER ROOM, SINGAPORE MARRIOTT TANG PLAZA HOTEL

I come from Cascina, a minor Tuscan town in the province of Pisa.

In the late 1990s and early on 2000s, whenever I hung out with friends at one of the local confined, the older patrons would be drinking Bicicletta (Italian for bicycle), a cocktail of Campari bitters and white vino, while the younger customers like us would be drinking Sbagliato (Italian for error), a Negroni that uses sparkling wine instead of gin (and thus the "fault" that inspired the beverage's proper name).

As yous can tell, we Italians are very big on bitters.

Bitters are an caused gustation. Since our early days on this planet, nosotros are hardwired to pass up anything that tastes bitter and, in some instances, sour. That's considering our ancestral memory reminds us that those flavours, when found in nature, are associated with poison or spoiled products not fit for consumption.

Only Italians develop an appreciation for bitter flavours in drinks from an early age, and that shapes our palate forever. Fifty-fifty our favourite soft drinks, such equally Chinotto and Crodino, are very bitter when compared with those from the residual of the world.

So requite me anything bitter – as bitter as you can – and we'll be friends.

Long Island Tea, Bourbon Coke: What Singapore bartenders used to drink

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