The Bar Awards will also be putting on a four-day weekend of events by regional winners in the city.
Following the biggest-ever Public Nomination phase and the first round of whittling down by The Panel in Singapore, The Bar Awards has announced the city’s Top 10s for 2017, the fourth edition of the annual awards.
Singapore set a new record for Public Nominations, with the 1,005 respondents in the recently ended ballot, shattering last year’s high of 525 set in Hong Kong’s first awards. The bars and individuals put forth for the awards were then handed over to a local Panel, made up of a diverse group of 55 local f&b stakeholders, to pick their five top choices in each of the ten categories.
A second round of voting by The Panel is now underway. They’ll be further narrowing down the list to the winners and Top 4s – a new development for 2017 – which will be announced a week before the winners are crowned on the evening of The Bar Awards’ Party on June 18.
Here now, in alphabetical order, are this year’s Top 10s:
The Rising Star, presented by Perrier
Ashwin Raj (28 Hongkong Street)
Bai Jia Wei (Employees Only Singapore)
Benedict Poh (Employees Only Singapore)
Brendon Khoo (Crackerjack)
Jayden Ong (Sugarhall)
Lee Pan Ying (Nutmeg & Clove)
Reena Rivera Mahendran (Crackerjack)
Rhyse Borland (Sugarhall)
Ronan Keilthy (Crackerjack)
Symphony Loo (Neon Pigeon)
Best Restaurant Bar, presented by Restaurant Pub & Bar Asia
Bread Street Kitchen
Burnt Ends
Crackerjack
Foc
Humpback
Neon Pigeon
Sugarhall
Tess Bar & Kitchen
Tippling Club
Vasco
Best Beer Experience, presented by Pilsner Urquell
Alchemist Beer Lab
Burger Joint
Druggists
Freehouse
Ice Cold Beer
Mikkeller Singapore
Smith Street Taps
Tap
The Good Beer Company
The World is Flat (Changi Airport)
Best Bar Food, presented by Monkey 47
28 Hongkong Street
Ah Sam Cold Drink Stall
Antidote
Atlas
Crackerjack
Employees Only Singapore
Manhattan
Orihara Shoten
Sugarhall
Tess Bar & Kitchen
Best Wine Experience, presented by Huber’s Butchery
Atlas
Burnt Ends
Cheek by Jowl
La Terre
Les Amis Restaurant
Praelum Wine Bistro
Restaurant Andre
Wine Connection
Wine on Tap
Wine Rvlt
Most Creative Cocktail Bar, presented by Cointreau
Atlas
Crackerjack
Gibson
Manhattan
Native
Nutmeg & Clove
Operation Dagger
Smoke & Mirrors
The Other Room
Tippling Club
Best New Cocktail Bar, presented by Campari
Atlas
Crackerjack
Employees Only Singapore
Fat Prince
Highball
Native
Skinny’s Lounge
The Other Room
The Wall
The World is Flat (Changi Airport)
Best Hospitality Team, presented by Johnnie Walker
28 Hongkong Street
Atlas
Crackerjack
Employees Only Singapore
Jigger & Pony
Manhattan
Native
Neon Pigeon
Skinny’s Lounge
Sugarhall
Bartender of the Year, presented by Bacardi
Anthony Zhong (Shin Gi Tai)
Bannie Kang (Antidote)
Boo Jing Heng (Tess Bar & Kitchen)
Davide Boncimino (The Other Room)
Joe Schofield (Tippling Club)
Peter Chua (Crackerjack)
Steve Schneider (Employees Only Singapore)
Vijay Mudaliar (Native)
Yugnes Susela (Smoke & Mirrors)
Zdenek Kastanek (28 Hongkong Street)
Best Cocktail Bar, presented by Stolichnaya Vodka
28 Hongkong Street
Atlas
Crackerjack
Employees Only Singapore
Gibson
Jigger & Pony
Manhattan
Native
Operation Dagger
Tippling Club
The Bar Awards has also announced a long weekend of events from June 15 till The Bar Awards Party on Sunday June 18. The events are:
THURSDAY, JUNE 15
Bar Talks, presented by Restaurant Pub & Bar Asia
Noon-5.30pm, The Working Capitol
At this Singapore edition of Bar Talks, hosted by Restaurant Pub & Bar Asia, a group of six bar community leaders will lead a conversation centred around the topic of Sustainable Singapore – discussing how to sustain bar careers, businesses, customer interests and more.
The Bar Awards Shake Off (Official Opening Party)
6pm-late, Employees Only Singapore, Bitters & Love, Jigger & Pony
Team Singapore (Tom Hogan, 28 Hongkong Street), Team Bangkok (Ann Pinsuda Pongprom and Jamie Rhind from The Bamboo Bar, and Chacha Singsuwan from The Rabbit Hole) and Team Hong Kong (Arkadiusz Rybak from Zuma HK, and Sandeep Hathiramani from Stockton) will battle to sell the most cocktails for The Bar Awards’ opening festivities. Everyone’s encouraged to hop between the three bars and show your support for these Bar Awards winners.
FRIDAY, JUNE 16
Coley guest shift at The Secret Mermaid
Time to be announced
The Bamboo Bar guest shift at Gibson
Time to be announced
Rabbit Hole featuring Chacha Singsuwan guest shift at Tess Kitchen & Bar
Time to be announced
Zuma HK at Nutmeg & Clove
Time to be announced
SATURDAY, JUNE 17
The Bar Awards BBQ Bash at Camp Kilo
2-8pm, Camp Kilo Charcoal Club
Six of Asia’s best bars will be serving cocktails with barbecue at Camp Kilo. There’ll also be a Get-Drunk-and-Dunk section of the party, where punters will get a chance to dunk their favourite bartenders.
Teens of Thailand guest shift at Flagship
Time to be announced
Nightcap at Skinny’s Lounge
1am-late
SUNDAY, JUNE 18
The Bar Awards Party
From 6pm, venue TBC
DRiNK Magazine is the official publication partner for The Bar Awards 2017.