Around the world in 80 drinks

As a traveller, there are many lists to make — sites to explore, shops to raid, museums to see, restaurants to try and, if you’re like me, bars to tipple at. In the spirit of the season, I’m reminiscing the heady memories I have gathered and the places that made them. From whisky wells and wine havens to cocktail caverns and sake grottos, there’s something for every kind of drinker, just so that you don’t run out of excuses.

When I hear ‘down the rabbit hole’, I conjure up images of Decibel. Imagine walking down a tiny nondescript staircase which opens into a tinier space mostly occupied by a receptionist’s table with few stools across it. This is when you begin to wonder if you’re at the right place. A ‘roaring sake bar’, they said. After an uncomfortable wait for a few minutes, the curtain parts to reveal a cavernous area — dingy with a low-slung ceiling, bathed in the gentle light of red lanterns and people crowding around the little tables that occupy every nook and cranny. This could almost be an opium room that time forgot. The sake collection, over 80, is beyond impressive — from the Junmai Daiginjo to Honjozo and even the unfiltered cloudy stuff. Sake to drink cold, warm, at room temperature, in a champagne flute — they have it all. The ambience is humming but quaint, the vibe is charged yet diffused, yin and yang if there ever was.

Opened in mid-2017, I visited Scout when it was just a few weeks old and it was clear that the international cocktail scene would be buzzing about it soon enough. Matt Whiley is quite the legend in the bar universe and his latest offering is all about sustainable cocktailing and zero waste. Because the drink menu here uses ingredients foraged and sourced only from the British Isles, it changes according to the season. A lot of the ingredients — parsnip, rhubarb, fennel, tarragon — would seem more at home in a kitchen, than a bar. There’s less stirring and shaking here and more fermenting, dehydrating, infusing and experimenting. Lucky for us, Whiley’s innovations work beautifully not only against the backdrop of sustainability but also as an introduction to the modern cocktail. If you’re willing to try something new and unusual, do Scout around.

The city of Melbourne has always been renowned for its creative side and the area of Fitzroy, which lies just outside the city limits, was the birthplace of many a popular designer brand from Down Under. In its gentrified avatar, the area has many top bars and The Elysian, a Japanese-style whisky bar, is among the best whisky bars south of the Equator. Some (300, and counting!) of the rarest and most interesting whiskies from around the world are all served in a cosy wood-panelled space to the tunes of old jazz classics. The music is soft, the lighting gentle, and the drink list, headier than the stuff it appears. If you can think of a famous region or distillery, even the ones that have now shut down, chances are they will have a last bottle from there stacked away somewhere.

I discovered this beer spot a few years ago on what was my fourth trip to Bangkok. Mikkeller is a Danish ‘gypsy’ producer that brews in collaboration with other craft breweries. The Bangkok outlet is their first outpost in Asia and is located in an old Thai bungalow from the ’50s with a charming lawn speckled with beanbags. The simple interiors with elements of quirk surround a bar with 30 changing brews on tap. Start with these and make your way to the bottle shop that has close to 400 different labels. Choosing a bottle here can teach you a thing or two in decision-making and restraint in the most trying manner. Good luck.

It’s strange to see a restaurant on a list of best places to drink but this one is a worthy exception. The only three-star Michelin Italian restaurant outside of Italy happens to be in Hong Kong’s busy business district but I’ll admit I’m usually there for the bar. Devender Sehgal, a mixologist with many accolades to his name, keeps the Indian banner high with his mixing prowess. The bar has been voted among the best places to cocktail in HK and the list never grows staid. The space is dimly lit with the bar at the centre and standard cocktail bar furniture all around. The best seat in the house is at the bar, where one gets an uncluttered view of the mixologist in action. Try Sehgal’s signature drink, The Optimist, made with Bacardi Superior, basil, honey, ginger and Yellow Chartresue, or tell him your style of potion and leave the rest to him.

The white and stark modern interiors of the Max Wine Bar are quite a contrast to almost every other wine bar in a city which boasts of being the most treasured wine address in the world. Columns of wine bottles stand tall with small machines placed at eye level, all of which can dispense a wide range of some of the most impressive and coveted wines, from a tasting portion to a more generous pour. The bar is definitely Bordeaux-focused but it does accommodate some top wines from other international wine appellations as well. With its limited seating and wines-by-the-tasting-portion options this is more apt for academic curiosity, a space to try different wines (especially the kind of which a bottle is too expensive but a wee sip will do just as well) instead of a standard wine bar.

The premises in the centre of Paris at Place Vendôme which has played home to some of the top celebrities in history, also has impressive bar action. While the Bar Hemingway is the tick-on-a-list bar of choice for most, the newer, The Ritz Bar is quite the contrast. Of course the classic Hemingway has its appeal — the mythic and the nostalgic value of the space stands — but the drinks being concocted right across the hallway are quite worthy of a separate mention altogether. The Ritz Bar is best described as art-deco modern, recreating the fun and the follies of the belle époque. Open late, serving up some innovative cocktails, from the spirit-forward to things fruity and gentle, this is a decidedly Parisian place for liquid magic.

More than 10 years since it opened Employees Only remains intrinsic to the New York nightlife. Fashioned as a speakeasy style bar, the West Village bar opened doors (behind a fortune teller’s façade) in 2004 and the awards and recognition have rained in ever since. The chef-coat clad bartenders are truly masters of their trade, concocting each Golden-era cocktail as if it were a main course masterpiece. If Prohibition-era cocktails are your poison, then this is the place to be. The elegant drinks contrast the raucous tipplers as the night fades away but a session at Employees Only is always one for the books. And if you’re there past last call, you’ll get a complimentary bowl of steaming chicken soup to set you up for your journey home.

Karina Aggarwal is an internationally certified beverage professional

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