Thursday, 14th May saw cocktail-lovers from all over the world come together for Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2020, sponsored by Perrier, sharing messages of solidarity from bartenders, personalities and brands. 50 Best designed the virtual ceremony to focus on recognising bars’ hard work and to provide an impetus for optimism, just as the continent looks to open up and welcome guests back into its drinking establishments once again
The show kicked off with a series of messages from bartenders and brand representatives who wanted to express their support for the bar community in Asia:
No Sleep Club, Singapore
Campari One To Watch Award
Starting life as Singapore’s smallest cocktail joint, it didn’t take long for No Sleep Club to evolve into one of the most promising bars in Asia. After a few months in the bar’s first home – a tiny space on Club Street with only four seats – Juan Yi Jun joined forces with her partner and hospitality expert, Jessica Hutchinson, to bring No Sleep Club to a glorious two-storey shophouse on Keong Saik Road.
The Campari One To Watch Award is given to a rising-star bar with the potential to break into Asia’s 50 Best Bars list in the future. After launching to rave reviews with a unique style of hospitality and a great drinks list that runs perfectly from day to night, No Sleep Club fits the bill with aplomb and we’re sure you’ll be seeing plenty more of it in years to come.
Juan Yi Jun and Jessica Hutchinson of No Sleep Club, Singapore
The Old Man, Singapore
London Essence Best New Opening Award
Since opening in May 2019, the Singapore outpost of The Old Man quickly began to establish a similar reputation of that of its older sibling in Hong Kong, which was named The Best Bar in Asia 2019. Slightly larger and more robust, it is focussed around the same ‘I’-shaped bar, which gives the perfect platform for guests to interact with one another and with the bartenders. Centred on the talents of Andrew Yap, whose drinks list riffs on titles of Ernest Hemingway novels, the bar landed at No.22 on the list, justly earning it the London Essence Best New Opening Award 2020.
The Old Man Singapore bar team, lead by Andrew Yap (right)
Bee’s Knees, Kyoto
Disaronno Highest New Entry Award
Since opening in 2018, this New York-inspired speakeasy has been serving modern twists on Prohibition-era cocktails to a growing number of international barflies. To appreciate the bar is first to find it, concealed behind the entrance to a bookstore with a subtle bee emblem outside. Managed by world champion flair bartender Toru Ariyoshi, his signatures of a Smoked Mojito, Condex D and the bar’s namesake Bee’s Knees are all essential serves to appreciate the team’s talents. Arriving in the list for the first time at No.21 after just under two years’ operation, it’s a worthy winner of the Disaronno Highest New Entry Award 2020.
The 'secret' entrance to Bee's Knees and its take on an Old Fashioned
Bar Mood, Taipei
Highest Climber Award, sponsored by Seedlip
Taipei’s cocktail scene is growing in prominence year on year and flying the flag is Bar Mood, which rose 30 places up the ranking to take the No.13 spot, landing the Highest Climber Award sponsored by Seedlip in the process. Japanese bartending techniques meet the efficiency of American drink-making here, creating a bustling bar that’s extension of Taiwanese bar supremo Nick Wu’s far-reaching ideas. Congratulations to Wu, head bartender Hank Tseng and the crew.
The Bar Mood team before the pandemic
Jay Khan
Altos Bartenders' Bartender Award
As the only peer-voted award in the Asia’s 50 Best Bars line-up, the Altos Bartenders’ Bartender title is certainly among the most prestigious. This year, the honour is bestowed on Jay Khan, who opened agave spirits-specialist Coa in 2017. The drinks he serves are 100% agave-spirit influenced, as he looks to introduce his guests to a new style of drinking with his own laid-back personality taking centre stage. Thanks to him, Hong Kong is quickly developing a new generation of agave acolytes. To cap off his night, Khan’s bar also took the No.3 spot on this year’s list.
Meet Khan inside his Hong Kong bar
Indulge Experimental Bistro, Taipei
Heering Legend of The List
Confirming the growing status of Taipei as a drinking destination worthy of global acclaim, Aki Wang’s Indulge Experimental Bistro took the Legend of The List crown. This award is given to a bar that has consistently performed at the top end of the ranking and is attributed points for each year that it has held an elevated place. Indulge certainly has a cosmopolitan feel, but the details are an ode to Taiwan’s produce, drinking culture and heritage, viewed through the lens of modern mixology.
Agung Prabowo
Industry Icon Award
It’s been a journey worthy of its destination for Prabowo. From humble beginnings as an 18-year-old busboy in his native Jakarta, he now finds himself at the very zenith of Asian cocktail culture some 20 years later. With two bars on the Asia’s 50 Best list, including last year’s No.1, he is quite rightly lauded as a man who has helped modernise the continent’s drinking scene, but never forgetting its roots in traditional Asian flavour. The inaugural Industry Icon Award couldn’t have gone to a better bartender or, indeed, a nicer guy.
Agung Prabowo, Industry Icon 2020
Manhattan, Singapore
Michter's Art of Hospitality Award
Barely a year goes by when Manhattan doesn’t collect a top award, and deservedly so: the team have perfected a service strategy that puts the guest experience first. Hued with warm tones, the grand lounge melds Old World glamour with luxe contemporary comfort via velvet armchairs, rich drapery and mahogany tables. A fitting backdrop to drink down over 150 rare American whiskies, or a solera-aged Negroni produced through the bar’s onsite rickhouse, which is the first for any hotel around the world. With a hospitality philosophy that matches its beautifully curated drinks, Manhattan is a deserving winner of the first-ever Michter’s Art of Hospitality Award.
Please allow bar manager David Nguyen-Luu and assistant bar manger Gabriel Carlos show you around
Bar Trigona, Kuala Lumpur
Ketel One Sustainable Bar Award
As a bar which takes its name from a member of its local ecosystem – the indigenous Malaysian Trigona honeybee – it sets its stall out as being aware of its environment before you even get through the door. This year, Ashish Sharma’s sustainable creation picks up the Ketel One Sustainable Bar Award for a second consecutive year, significantly increasing its sustainability score from independent auditors Food Made Good Global. Guests are reminded of the provenance of ingredients used on the cocktail list, as well as being introduced to ways in which they too can help with maintaining the local environment, such as an ‘adopt a beehive’ scheme, which people from all over the world have taken advantage of.
The Bar Trigona crew
Jigger & Pony, Singapore
The Best Bar in Asia, sponsored by Perrier
The biggest award of the event sits with Indra Kantono and Gan Guoyi, the couple behind Singapore’s Jigger & Pony, which was anointed as the No.1 bar in the continent. Voted onto the list in its first incarnation back in 2016, it made a huge leap of 33 places last year, picking up the Highest Climber Award in the process. It sits perfectly in the sweet spot between ‘lounge bar’ and ‘nightclub’, with a fun-time ethos for those who want to party and equally relaxing spot for those who want to sit and chat. We’re sure that the team here has plenty more in the tank and will continue to push the bar forward to become even more of an institution. Congratulations to the Jigger crew.
Now have a look inside The Best Bar in Asia, sponsored by Perrier
And if you want to watch the whole ceremony again, please enjoy it at your leisure:
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