With the chaos from the Virus still playing havoc with events and bars around the world, I wasn’t too hopeful that there would be much opportunity to go out and have some fun. Fortunately, in the case of the Singapore Cocktail Festival, the show goes on.
The festival has been postponed a number of times thanks to the unpredictable events of the last few months, but it will be held from 1st November to 31st December this year, in a modified form.
We’re a little late to the party, but there’s still time left to enjoy many of the events coming up. With no huge festival grounds this year given the circumstances, the SGCF will be held in three smaller sets of events instead.
SGCF City Takeover
1 November to 30 November 2020
Similar to the takeovers of yesteryear, participating bars around the city will be sharing a signature cocktail. This year, each of the 21 participating bars will be sharing a signature cocktail inspired by their neighbourhoods.
This years bars include (but are not limited to):
- 28 HongKong Street
- Ah Sam Cold Drink Stall
- Anti:dote
- Barbary Coast
- Bar Stories
- Employees Only
- Fat Prince
- Gibson
- Hopscotch
- Jekyll & Hyde
- Live Twice
- Native
- No Sleep Club
- Nutmeg & Clove
- Manhattan
- MO Bar
- Origin Bar & Grill
- The Old Man Singapore
To enjoy these craft cocktails from participating bars at $18++ each, Festival goers need to register for their free Festival wristbands at www.singaporecocktailfestival.com. Patrons without a Festival wristband can savour the cocktails at $25++ each.
SGCF On Wheels
1 November to 31 December 2020
The bottled cocktails that have becomes so popular over the last few months will also be translated to the cocktail festival. Except for No Sleep Club and The Old Man Singapore, the same cocktails offered by participating bars of SGCF City Takeover will be available via the SGCF online store from 1 November 2020.
SGCF will also be offering three Celebration Bottled Cocktails in partnership with Hendrick’s Gin. Created by Charmaine Thio, Hendrick’s SEA Regional Brand Ambassador, these bottles can be personalised, a handy feature during the festive season.
The regular Bottled cocktails will be available at www.singaporecocktailfestival.com for $18 a cocktail, and comes with a complimentary can of Perrier. Delivery fees apply, with free delivery from $100. Each 300ml Celebration Bottled Cocktail costs $50 (inclusive of delivery; a minimum order of 30 bottles is required).
SGCF On Tour
1 November to 31 December 2020
With Singapore being such a travel-hungry nation, there’s a whole lot of bottled-up wanderlust. We’re still stuck here for the time being, but we can at least live vicariously through online masterclasses. While they can’t be here personally, these bartenders will be speaking through the internet.
- 29th November: Andrea Gualdi, Creative Director of Maybe Sammy, and Eros Pedone, Lead Bartender of Maybe Sammy in Australia (No. 43 on The World’s 50 Best Bars 2019)
- 3rd December: Sebastian De La Cruz and Philip Stefanescu, Co-Founders, and Arron Grendon, Bartender of Tropic City in Bangkok (No. 24 on Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2020).
- 10th December: Andrew Ho and Bastien Ciocca, CoOwners of Hope & Sesame in Guangzhou (No. 36 on Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2020)
- 17th December: Grace Tsai, Head Bartender of Indulge Experimental Bistro in Taipei (No. 4 on Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2020)
Naturally, we can taste their cocktails in bottled form from the SGCF online store. Each 300ml bottled cocktail from SGCF on Tour costs $45 ($10 delivery fee applies; free delivery with a minimum purchase of $100).
SGCF X Pisco Nights
1 December to 31 December 2020
For those who have the extreme travel bug, there’s a whole month worth of vicarious travel worked into this year’s SGCF. Pisco Nights, a celebration of Peruvian Pisco, will be going on at select bars as well:
- Ah Sam Cold Drink Stall
- Anti:dote
- Barbary Coast
- Bar Stories
- Fat Prince
- Gibson
- Hopscotch
- Live Twice
- Manhattan
- MO Bar
Each of these bars will be making their own Pisco cocktail. Manhattan’s Sophia Kang will be presenting G.O.A.T., a cocktail of Moscatel Pisco, Amaretto, pandan lime juice, egg whites and Shio-Koji syrup. Live Twice will be showing their stuff with the Nikkei Sour, a libation made with Quebranta Pisco, habanero spirit, lemon
juice, sugar syrup and ponzu.
For a bit of extra fun, as part of SGCF On Tour, Indulge Experimental Bistro will be hosting a virtual masterclass on how to make the Pisco-inspired cocktail Kué Tsí. The audience will be invited to make the cocktail along with head bartender Grace Tsai, using tools and ingredients that come with the masterclass, including a three-piece SGCF Cocktail Shaker Set; spirit, mixers, and ingredients
and a limited edition SGCF bottled ‘Kué Tsí’ (300ml).
