Jigger & Pony, Singapore (#9 World’s 50 Best Bars) launches their fourth menuzine, A Decent Menu – a celebration of cocktail craft, community, and convivial hospitality.
At The Dram Attic, we’ve come across more than our fair share of cocktail menus – all showcasing the highest level of creativity and skill the bar teams have to offer. It’s near impossible to feature all of them so we have the gargantuan and near impossible task of picking the ones we cannot skip talking about.
The new Jigger & Pony menu is one such menu. Year after year, this team comes together to create what they call a menuzine – a menu that is structured like a magazine, with a new theme each time. Needless to say, this makes all their menus thoroughly engaging, and something you could read back to back if you were at the bar alone for a few drinks. A great way to spend time immersing yourself in the experience the bar has to offer. The latest menuzine the team has added to their arsenal showcases a thoughtfully curated drinks list for people renewing connections in a pandemic. The award winning bar leaves no stone unturned in celebrating over 20 cocktails ranging from redefined classics and signature tipples to punch bowls for sharing —all curated for the experience of reconnecting with others. The drinks range from the light and refreshing Whisky Highball to a punchy Black Pepper Sazerac and everything in between.
The repertoire of classics include their iconic version of the Old Fashioned – an elegant balance of Maker’s Mark Bourbon, demerara sugar and angostura bitters, this cocktail is served over block ice with a citrus wheel and maraschino cherry garnish. This finishing touch gets a twist depending on the season, with orange, lemon and lime swapping with hallabong (a Korean hybrid of mandarin from Jeju), kumquat, blood orange or even makrut lime.
Going beyond the classics, A Decent Menu is an exceptionally sophisticated showcase of the bar team’s uniquely diverse perspectives and backgrounds. The Jigger & Pony team hails from different parts of the world – Italy, South Korea, Singapore and more. “Today’s global nomads accumulate memories of every place they live and visit. All it takes is a taste, or a song, or a view, to remind them of that spring in Japan, or apartment in London,” observes Principal Bartender Giovanni Graziadei.
This diversity and mindset is celebrated in A Decent Menu in cocktails such as the Spumoni. Created in Tokyo in the late 1980s and a cult favourite among bartenders, the Spumoni has been described as an Italian aperitivo filtered through a Japanese lens. Italy meets Japan in Singapore in Jigger & Pony’s interpretation with citrusy Nikka Coffey Gin and bittersweet Campari. A touch of France comes in the form of the refreshing Perrier Grapefruit for a zesty lift, while universal tonic water finishes this cocktail that offers a fresh take on the aperitif.
Humble pantry ingredients take on a lead role in A Decent Menu. Think buttered popcorn, but better – in the Corn Colada, a creamy, heady concoction of Bacardi Reserva Ocho 8 Year Old Rum, corn, butter, lime and egg white that is a riff on the Piña Colada – The Corn Colada. Fresh corn is boiled, juiced and turned into a syrup, with a delicate addition of butter to draw out its corn aroma and flavour. The choice of 8-year-old rum brings sophisticated caramel notes to enhance the corn’s sweetness, topped with a wheel of dried corn cob.
Other signatures on the menu include the Black Pepper Sazerac (Maker’s Mark 46 Bourbon, Km12 Gin, black pepper, bitters) – a befitting homage to one of the most widely used spices in the world, that pays special attention to extraction from the skin of low density organic pepper, just like in a perfumery, resulting in an intoxicating whiff of menthol, cinnamon and incense notes. Going deeper you get woodiness, which is matched with a rich Bourbon whiskey.
Further showcasing humble ingredients in elevated drinks is the Sweet Potato Opera (Hendrick’s Orbium Gin, sweet potato, cacao liqueur) – the purple sweet potato generates a fragrance, natural sweetness, and subtle earthiness through sous vide, finding a perfect companion in Hendrick’s Orbium gin and cacao liqueur.
What we appreciate about the Jigger & Pony menuzine is the simplicity of layout, design, and aesthetic that beautifully complement the finesse of the drinks. Nothing is over the top or excessive and there is a sense of effortless sophistication that flows through the pages just as easily as the drinks go down.
Key Features:
Quick Menu: a grid layout of all 24 cocktails, arranged in order of strength, making for easy selection for those in a rush.
Low ABV cocktails: Two low ABV drinks based on classic cocktails (Spritz and the Margarita), low on alcohol, heavy on flavours.
Hall of Fame: Celebrated classics from erstwhile Jigger & Pony menus
Decent Beings and Where to Find Them: A guest column by The Dram Attic founder Priyanka Blah that highlights some of the most decent human beings in our trade. Featuring: El Copitas, Tagliatella Caffe (Russia), Hansel Vaz (India), Susanne Baro Fernandez (Germany), Eaton (Hong Kong), and EcoSPIRITS (Singapore).
The Detail: Drinks like the Whisky Highball and Old Fashioned are intricately laid out with information explaining the use of various methods or techniques employed.
Team: The menu includes an editorial note from Principal Bartender Giovanni Graziadei and a special mention of each member of the Jigger & Pony family.
Flip through the entire menu here.
About Jigger & Pony
Since its opening in May 2012, Jigger & Pony championed the movement of bringing back
classic cocktails in Singapore. Named after the double-coned measuring device used by
bartenders to accurately pour out spirits, Jigger & Pony pays tribute to the 19th century,
when cocktail recipes were listed in “jiggers” and “ponies”. Not doing things by halves, the
Singapore-based establishment has set its sights on defining modern cocktail culture, centred
on its commitment to convivial hospitality, craftsmanship and inventive concepts. In 2020,
Jigger & Pony clinched the top spot on the annual Asia’s 50 Best Bars list, an award
sponsored by Perrier. In 2021, Jigger & Pony is recognised as Singapore’s top bar when it
was awarded #2 on the Asia’s 50 Best Bars list.
Follow Jigger & Pony on Instagram.
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