The Bangkok's bar scene is already familiar with classic cocktails— concoctions that have successfully stood the test of time—including more famous tipples like Negroni and Old Fashioned, and usually forgotten ones like Sazerac and Aviation. All these cocktails were invented almost a century ago, and we’ve asked ourselves (usually over one too many glasses) the reasons behind their universal popularity. What if someone invented a new drink that’s destined for greatness, would it qualify as a “new classic”?
Vesper Cocktail Bar & Restaurant tries to give us some answers with their newly launched “Modern Classic” menu, curated by Supawit “Palm” Muttarattana, a talented mixologist who was just appointed Vesper’s new Group Bar Manager.
Supawit is one of the names behind the successful growth of Bangkok’s cocktail scene. The winner of the Diageo World Class Thailand cocktail competition in 2012, Supawit joined Diageo as a brand ambassador for Diageo Moet Hennessy Thailand, and later co-founded Backstage Cocktail Bar in Thonglor. The barman shares everything we need to know about the “new classics” in the mixing scene.
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What makes a cocktail classic?
The key to creating a classic cocktail lies in the recipe—it should be possible for everyone around the world to follow. It can’t be something that has to be mixed with a special homemade syrup infused with 48 ingredients or has to be mixed with a specific kind of lime that can only be found in a specific country. It should be easy to replicate. At Vesper, we have our signature Art Book menu [art-inspired cocktails]. The recipes here are not very easy to follow, so we wouldn’t call them modern classics. One of the most famous new classics among serious drinkers is Penicillin. It simply combines scotch, honey, lemon, ginger and Islay whiskey. Even if you don’t exactly follow the original recipe, it would still be called a Penicillin.
How would you define a modern classic?
It’s quite difficult to say when a cocktail can be considered a modern classic. There’s no rigid rule. For me, mixed drinks could be categorized briefly into three periods in time: Pre-Prohibition, Prohibition and Post-Prohibition. These three terms were created after the Prohibition, which was an era that highly influenced the world’s drinking scene. We know exactly that the Prohibition period, which was between 1920 and 1933, was when alcohol sales were illegal in America. The Modern Classics from Vesper were handpicked by me from cocktails invented from the Seventies onward—the period when cocktails became a big thing again.
Bartenders around the world create new drinks everyday and, trust me, some of them are unintentionally repeated. How would you know if this drink was already invented if the founding bartender didn’t publicize the name and the recipe? So publicizing helps in this case. Many bars in the US and UK have started to launch recipe books, and the best part is that those recipes are now widely considered classics.
Why are you so interested in modern classic cocktails?
I think we’re living in an age where bargoers always crave for something new, and won’t keep drinking only the same drink. When I was organizing the World Class Competition, Jan [Chennarong Bhumichitr] and I would add at least one lesser-known classic cocktail to the challenge, like Last Word or Silk Stocking. Three years ago, Last Word was nothing. Now, everyone loves it. So if a new drink is invented, publishing and publicizing it are key. You need to promote it, so everyone—working every job function—in the industry can contribute to making the drink a successful new classic.
