If you haven’t been to The Old Man, Hong Kong’s Ernest Hemingway-inspired bartender-driven cocktail hideaway in Soho, here’s another chance – they’ve revealed a whole new menu for summer.
The Best of the Old Man cocktail menu has been crafted by The Old Man head bartender Agung Prabowo, who, with James Tamang and Roman Ghale first started The Old Man, a bar that has rapidly built a loyal following that led it to the No. 5 spot on Asia’s 50 Best Bars list.
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The new libations are a unique take on Hemingway’s oeuvre, showcasing the tastes, smells, and colours of the cocktails he enjoyed and placed so prominently in his stories, but with a distinctly modern twist that we’re sure the writer would appreciate.
For example, the Moveable Feast #1964 uses a rotary evaporator to extract elements from clams, seaweed, salts and seawater, which are then re-distilled with vodka. This concentrated infusion is then blended with spiced cherry tomato, coconut, basil-tomato seeds and oyster leaf and further rested in a cheesewax bottle for 24 hours to form a clear yet flavourful homage.
Paying homage to a Hemingway book set in the idyllic south of France in 1927, Garden of Eden #1985 uses the rotary evaporator to infuse rye whiskey with honeydew, and bourbon with goat’s milk, both of which are then blended with caramelised sauterne, cordial and orange-phosphate bitters to represent the produce of rural France at the time of Hemingway’s tome.
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Named for a collection of short stories and vignettes chronicling the years before and after World War I that rocketed Hemingway to fame, In Our Time #1924 comprises an eclectic combination of ingredients, including clarified banana ghee and celery, salted tequila and spiced banana skin tincture. While this might not have caught the eye of the great scribe, it’s sure to turn heads among Hong Kong’s cocktail aficionados.
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