Inspired by time and travel, the latest cocktail menu iteration at Shangri-La Singapore’s Origin Bar takes tipplers on a flavour journey (and history lesson).
Origin Bar at Shangri-La Singapore last month unveiled an entirely new cocktail menu. It’s a total overhaul; gone are all the cocktails – even our favourite Crystal Mojito – from the previous menu.
Even the theme’s changed. Unlike Origin Bar’s earlier menus that are inspired by a look at the various parts of Singapore through time, its fourth and latest (unnamed) menu shrugs off its Singapore wraps and instead delves into travel adventures and stories of moments in history.
With a whopping 18 new cocktail creations from Bar Manager Adam Bursik and his illustrious team, no less.
Unfettered by pretty much any kind of restraint, the new drinks menu is a whimsical and eccentric one that run the gamut of styles and flavours. There’s Hunter, what is a whiskey sour inspired by the story of the teddy bear (when American President Theodore Roosevelt, a keen hunter, had refused to shoot a bear on a hunting trip he had not chased down himself). Or the rum-based clarified milk punch that is Fancy Like Sunday Morning, which tastes wholly like breakfast cereal in milk. It’s a liquid reference to when William Keith Kellogg founded his company in 1906 in order to make and sell corn flakes, which has since cemented itself as the American breakfast staple.
Then there’s Peanut Butter Therapy. A twist on the classic Old Fashioned, this sees rye whiskey fat-washed in peanut butter combined with bitters, sugar and a touch of Absinthe for an absolute winner of a drink. It is, of course, inspired by the year 1935 when peanut butter was first invented.
There’s a cocktail hat tip to Lego too, which was created in 1932. Play Well, made with whisky, genever, and toffee apple cordial, is as playful and fun as the building blocks it is inspired by.
It goes on.
This new cocktail menu from Origin Bar isn’t thematically as cohesive as its previous ones. Aside from the fact they are all inspired by moments in history, there’s no strong connection between any of those 18 cocktails.
But it doesn’t have to be. Pretty much every cocktail on the new menu is well conceived, beautifully-layered and -balanced, and absolutely tasty. The history lessons? They’re secondary.
Origin Bar (Shangri-La Hotel Singapore)
Address Lobby Level, Tower Wing, Shangri-La Hotel Singapore, 22 Orange Grove Road, Singapore 258350 (Google Maps link)
Opening Hours 5.30pm to 1am Tuesdays to Sundays; closed on Mondays
Web www.shangri-la.com/singapore/shangrila/dining/bars-lounges/origin-bar/
Facebook Originbarsg
Instagram @originbarsg
[…] between each creation and tie them into a storied whole. Recently, we were most intrigued by Origin Bar’s exploration of special moments in history, as well as pioneering Jigger & Pony’s introspective search for […]