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The Bar Awards 2017 Asia winners announced
The Bar Awards 2017 across held Asia has concluded in Kuala Lumpur with a celebration of the awards’ debut in the city, attended by bartenders and mixologists from Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok.
Kho Chee Kheong “CK” (center) with his team at The Bar Awards Party in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
“It was great to see so many people from other bar communities across Asia making their way to Kuala Lumpur for our last awards of the year.” said Tron Young, one of the editors of The Bar Awards. “We’ve always wanted to throw great parties and bring people from all over the world together. Inspire and be inspired is one of our core values and we really felt we have done that in 2017.”
Coley, a small cocktail bar in the Bangsar district of Kuala Lumpur, swept the Malaysian leg of the awards taking home three barrel trophies. Kho Chee Kheong “CK”, the owner and bartender of Coley, was voted the Bartender of the Year award, and his bar also won the award for Best Hospitality Team as well as Best Cocktail Bar award, presented by The Botanist Gin title.
This year in Hong Kong’s Best Bar Awards edition held in August saw a changing of the guard, as long time Hong Kong cocktail institution Quinary took Best Cocktail Bar award from last year’s winner Stockton. But Stockton remains a favourite in the industry, winning Best Hospitality Team, while Stockton’s resident bartender, Ajit Gurung, walked away with The Rising Star award.
In Singapore, Vijay Mudaliar of bar Native, won the Bartender of the Year award. The bar also won Most Creative Cocktail Bar, taking over from last year’s winner, Operation Dagger, where Vijay previously worked. Manhattan at the Regent Hotel Singapore took Best Cocktail Bar, breaking 28 Hong Kong Street’s three-year winning streak since the first Singapore awards in 2014.
In Bangkok, the city saw the first female Bartender of the Year presented by Diageo World Class going to Rabbit Hole’s Suwincha “Chacha” Singsuwan, who also took home The Ada Coleman Award. Teens of Thailand, a little gin-centric cocktail bar on the outskirts of Bangkok’s Chinatown, was awarded the Best Cocktail Bar trophy.