If you’ve ever wondered what Singapore’s most iconic local landmarks would look like as artisanal cocktails, wonder no further – eight of these longstanding icons have just been reimagined in cocktail form as part of the Singapore launch of Bombay Sapphire’s global Saw This Made This campaign.
The gin distiller hopes to highlight the “beauty and creativity” in everyday moments and especially our built environment, which so often goes unnoticed in the bustle of daily life.
As part of the campaign, both national icons like the Merlion and Esplanade, as well as heartfelt pieces of our national history – including the famed dragon playground – were first captured on camera by local street photographer Yik Keat, before being turned into custom cocktails by eight participating bartenders from Singapore’s greatest watering holes.
The bars that took up the challenge, along with their respective Bombay Sapphire gin-based cocktails, are as follows:
1. Analogue Initiative reinvents Gardens by the Bay as Supertree (no prizes for guessing what the cocktail is inspired by).
2. Atlas, housed in the neo art deco icon that is Parkview Square, decided to turn their office building home into Flights of Nostalgia.
3. Employees Only’s Bryan Bonifacio creates The SG Explorer in its interpretation of the mythical Merlion
4. Elephant Room offers an elevated on the ArtsScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands known as Flowing Still
5. Nutmeg & Clove’s cocktail is based on arts and culture hub Esplanade, suitably called Expressions & Impressions.
6. Sago House presents The 1979, so-named for the year the dragon playground first reared its terrazzo-tiled head.
7. Stay Gold Flamingo’s head bartender, Amos Kew, nods to the Singapore Flyer with Starry Skyline.
8. Writers Bar at Raffles Hotel Singapore stirs a cocktail that takes after its own heart in the Grande Dame, referring to none other than Raffles Hotel Singapore itself.
While these bespoke pours were captured once again by Singapore-based photographer Wei Ping, and juxtaposed against their real-life counterparts as part of Bombay Sapphire’s campaign, you can also snag and drink these beverages for yourself at each of the participating bars.
All cocktails will be available until the end of August (except for Atlas where the cocktail is available till end-July).
