The fourth best bar in the world according to World’s 50 Best Bars 2020, Atlas Bar, shakes up some cocktail recommendations that we can make at home.
If you think New Year is cancelled thanks to COVID-19, think again. 2020 was the year of innovation, and we’re challenging you to innovate the way you’re ringing in the new year sans a large crowd. While partying it up at the club isn’t viable right now, you can still celebrate in an intimate way with a small group of friends at home or one of these Airbnbs.
So set up a nice dinner and go all out planning a full course meal, or keep it casual and just construct your own grazing table. Top them all off with a selection of homemade cocktails and really wow your guests with some drinks finessing. We’ve already showed you how you can set up your own home bar or use existing kitchen items to make cocktails — now let Jesse Vida, head bartender of Atlas Bar in Singapore to recommend some easy cocktails you can make at home.
Vida has been serving as head bartender at the lavish bar since 2018, and we all know Atlas Bar has won numerous accolades, most recently ranking fourth place in the World’s 50 Best Bars 2020. It’s not the first year that it has gotten into the international list too. We asked Vida how the bar constantly ensures that standards are kept up each year, to which he said:
Needless to say, moving up to number 4 in the World and cracking top 5 is something really special. We train the team to uphold the standards of service and team knowledge at Atlas. I also feel it’s not enough to maintain current standards; we are also always looking for ways to improve and push ourselves to be better than the day before.
Naturally, Vida would be the perfect person to recommend what cocktails would be perfect to ring in the New Year with. These recipes comprise easy-to-source ingredients and basic know-how. But not too basic that you can’t wow your guests with them.
And just in case you’re not familiar with bartending jargon, to ‘build’ your ingredients simply means to pour each ingredient into the serving glass.
Bicycle Thief
Ingredients:
15ml Fresh Lemon Juice
30ml Grapefruit Juice
15ml Simple Syrup
30ml Campari
30ml dry Gin
Method:
Build all ingredients into a shaker tin, add ice, shake, pour into a highball glass and top with soda. Garnish with a fresh grapefruit slice.
Bitter Rickey
Ingredients:
25ml Lime Juice
20ml Simple Syrup
50ml Widges Gin
30ml Soda
Method:
Build all ingredients into a shaker tin, add ice, shake, pour into a highball glass and top with soda, garnish with a fresh lime slice and 5 dashes of Angostura bitters.
Dry Gin Martini
Ingredients:
1 dash orange bitters
15ml Dry Vermouth
60ml Dry Gin
Method:
Build all ingredients into a stirring vessel, add ice and stir until chilled, then pour into a martini glass and garnish with a lemon twist or olive.
Martinez
Ingredients:
1 dash Orange Bitters
1 dash Angostura Bitters
5ml Luxardo Maraschino
25ml Sweet Vermouth
50ml Old Tom Gin
Method:
Build all ingredients into a stirring vessel, add ice and stir until chilled, pour into a martini glass and garnish with a lemon or orange twist.
Bees Knees
Ingredients:
25ml Lemon Juice
25ml Honey Syrup (equal parts water and honey)
50ml Dry Gin
Method:
Build all ingredients into a shaker tin, add ice, shake, pour into a coupe glass, no garnish.
Americano
Ingredients:
30ml Sweet vermouth
30ml Campari
Method:
Build all ingredients into a highball glass, and ice, top with soda and garnish with a fresh orange slice.
(Hero image credit: Atlas Bar/ EK Yap; Featured image credit: Unsplash/ Emma Vendetta)
