The Cocktail Club

Jakarta

Simplicity and pragmatism underscoring Asia’s finest drinks list

Since entering the Asia’s 50 Best Bars list for the first time in 2022, The Cocktail Club has received international recognition and acclaim. A bar with an ethos as simple as its name suggests, it executes the basics with aplomb in a setting that’s perfectly lit to accentuate the soft earth tones that frame the bar.

Drinks follow the theme, with near-perfect takes on classics delivered by a team of veteran Indonesian bartenders who together have pioneered the rise of quality cocktails in Jakarta’s Senopati neighbourhood, an area known for fine dining and quality drinking spots.

Its latest cocktail list, A Guide to Good Drinking, has been lauded for the manner in which it sets the identity for the bar. Each page is classically adorned with a sketch of the drink and is restrained in its description. The name of the cocktail is provided alongside its composite ingredients, with simple tasting notes such as ‘fruity, peppery, sour’. It’s backed up by a strength guide to inform the levels of alcohol each serve carries.

The final pages of the menu feature a simple four-axis grid, giving each drink a placement based on its characteristics of sweet, strong, mild and bitter. Again, an easy-to-understand approach that is designed with the guest in mind.

The drink writing the headlines is the Batavia Milk Punch, a clarified concoction with sweet and savoury notes, featuring spiced rum, Oolong tea, strawberry, pineapple and kalamansi. Once clarified using a rotary evaporator, it is aged in beeswax-rind Gruyere cheese, bringing an unmistakable headiness to the serve.

For its back-to-basics approach focusing first and foremost on the guest and conveying its cocktail ideology in an accessible, understandable manner, The Cocktail Club is awarded the Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu Award as part of Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2023.

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