While a trip to Singapore is still out of the picture, these recipes offer a taste of the local bar scene to lift your spirits until it is safe to travel again.

As travel bans and full or partial lockdowns persist in many countries around the world due to COVID-19, tourism boards are facing the greatest marketing challenge of our time yet.

For Singapore’s Tourism Board, the unveiling of Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2020 was set to be one of the highlights of this month, drawing industry professionals and aficionados from across the region. Despite the coronavirus disrupting original plans, the event has been scheduled to go on virtually across its social media platforms.

In anticipation of the virtual streaming event, the board has curated a list of Singaporean cocktail recipes crafted by local restaurants and bars that you can try at home. While a trip to Singapore is still out of the picture, these recipes offer a taste of the local bar scene to lift your spirits until it is safe to travel again.

Scroll on to watch how to make a Kaya Toast Cocktail, Singapore Sling and Gimlet and don’t forget to read until the end for details on the livestream!

Kaya Toast Cocktail

Crafted for the adventurous, the Kaya Toast Cocktail is inspired by a concoction from Bitters and Love, a cocktail bar located in Telok Ayer. All you’ll need is dark rum, kaya, gula melaka syrup, coconut cream and pandan leaf. This recipe uses the Dark Rum from Compendium, a homegrown distillery that produces the first and only rum made in Singapore – but you can make do with any dark rum you have at home.

Singapore Sling

Conceived in the early 1900s at the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel, the Singapore Sling is a tiki-style cocktail that’s sweet, refreshing and perfect for a mid-day pick-me-up. This version of the Singapore Sling uses fresh pineapple juice, Singapore Dry Gin from Brass Lion Distillery and aromatics such as torch ginger flower (bunga kantan) and lemongrass.

Gimlet cocktail by Manhattan Singapore

 

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Introducing #ManhattanAtHome – where our team show you a few skills to put to use at home! First up, our bar manager @dnguyenluu shares his #ManhattanSG secrets on how to mix his favourite cocktail. Simple to make and fresh with a lime zing! What other recipes would you like to see from our team during the #circuitbreaker?

A post shared by Manhattan (@manhattan_sg) on Apr 15, 2020 at 3:26am PDT

David Nguyen-Luu, bar manager of Manhattan Singapore – the first runner-up in last year’s list of Asia’s 50 Best Bars – demonstrates how to make a lime cordial, which you can then use to whip up his favourite cocktail: Gimlet. Nothing like a two-in-one recipe to booze your mood, we’d say!

Related: 3 Malaysian bars made it to Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2019 – here’s the full list

The Asia’s 50 Best Bars event will stream live on 14^th May, 7pm via their YouTube channel and Facebook page.

Photos: Singapore Tourism Board