Finally, some good news to lift our spirits. Clink your glasses to these winners!
This year’s Asia’s 50 Best Bars awards had a slightly different setting from last year’s amazing ceremony at The Capitol Theatre. Aficionados around the world tuned in to the live virtual countdown on 14 May 2020. Spirits were high nonetheless and it gave everyone a glimmer of hope during these unfathomable times for our local F&B businesses. Let’s get straight to it, shall we?
Local cocktail bar Jigger & Pony clinched the top position, rising from ninth place last year. The bar beat last year’s winner, The Old Man, Hong Kong (#2), as well as Coa, Hong Kong at #3 and Taiwan’s Indulge Experimental Bistro at #4. We have home-grown bars, Atlas and Native, trailing closely behind at #5 and #6, respectively.
The full list of Singaporean bars that made it on this year’s list are…
#1 Jigger & Pony (also the winner of The Best Bar in Singapore Award)
#5 Atlas
#6 Native
#8 Manhattan (also the winner of the Michter’s Art of Hospitality Award)
#17 Tippling Club
#22 The Old Man (a newbie and also the winner of the London Essence Best New Opening Award)
#23 D.Bespoke
#25 Gibson
#30 28 HongKong Street
#32 Nutmeg & Clove
#46 MO Bar (a newbie on the list)
And a special mention to No Sleep Club Singapore, which took home the Campari One To Watch Award.
Double celebrations for Jigger & Pony
It’s a double bonanza as the bar is also celebrating its eighth anniversary in the business. To commemorate both wins, Jigger & Pony has launched two limited-edition cocktails in collectible celebration bottles.
The Mizunara oak-inspired ‘The Tree Does Not Grow Straight’ cocktail is created with Mizunara-aged Monkey 47 Gin, Cocchi Americano and Peychaud’s Bitters. ‘Worker Bees Build the Hive’ pays tribute to all the busy bees in their team so expect a sweet concoction of Havana Club seven-year-old rum, jasmine liqueur, Okinawan sugar and beeswax.
‘It’s an incredible feeling during an unusual time’, co-founder Indra Kantono shared in an emotional Instagram video. ‘Thank you to our amazing community here in Singapore. I couldn’t be luckier. We would never have an amazing bar without an amazing community. We’re going to try to make the best out of this situation.’
‘My goal is to make sure we recover. And not just Jigger & Pony but hopefully, as a community in Singapore and Asia. We want to recover together for without you; it wouldn’t be half as fun. We know it’s going to be tough but we’re going to try our best’.
‘We’re looking forward to connecting with people. I go back to Jigger & Pony’s founding purpose. We’re here to help people find comfort, in this case, feel safe, forge friendships and share happiness.’
Located at Amara Hotel, Jigger & Pony is known for Asian-inspired concoctions with elite tipples such as Madame President, Journey of the West, Sakura Martini, Little Red Dot and Yuzu Whiskey Sour. If you can’t wait till the circuit breaker is over, the bar offers takeaway cocktails with islandwide delivery.
Check out the full list of Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2020 here. We’ll see you at the bars real soon!
