A sense of energy and experimentation underpins the whole of Singapore’s drinking scene. At Gibson, perhaps my favorite bar of the Jigger & Pony group, I sipped a gin-honey-lemon concoction I was told would make me feel like a hummingbird—it arrived suspended in a glass bulb with a profusion of flora and an abnormally short straw, such that I had to bury my nose into the drink. (Birdlike, indeed!) At the recklessly creative Operation Dagger, a rum and salted egg yolk cocktail is smoked in hay; at Native, there’s an unrivaled dedication to Southeast Asian spirits and ingredients, including the aforementioned ants. And these bars are just the beginning.
Even wine bars are pushing international boundaries. At RVLT, with its artfully unfinished look and exploratory wine selection, you can drink cult favorites such as the sparkling wines of the Loire’s Domaine Mosse or a light, dynamic red Poulsard from the Jura—a list that would be a sommelier favorite anywhere in New York or Los Angeles.
Competitive Advantages
Crackerjack is the newest venue from Proof & Co., a group that runs several Singapore bars and consults on other ambitious ventures in town. More significant, it acts as an importer for a remarkable array of boozy products and also trains bartenders on how to use them.
Case in point: One Saturday night, Kantono, the pioneer barman, led me to the group’s latest project. In a space they call Junior—an unmarked, 10-seat bar tucked behind Crackerjack—they’ve opened a six-month pop-up dubbed Norma. (Each pop-up at Junior has a different name.) Norma is an ode to agave, with drinks that focus on tequila, mezcal, and even lesser-known bottlings of raicilla, an herbaceous and earthy cousin to mezcal that rarely makes it out of Oaxaca.
“No one in Singapore was asking for an agave bar,” says Kantono, sipping a mezcal cocktail from a skull mug, surrounded by a crowd of restaurant industry drinkers. “No one here goes to Mexico, no one knows what mezcal is. But there’s a sense of screw it, let’s try it. This is supply-led. It’s not demand-led.”
Where to Drink in Singapore