Devised by Head Bartender Lidiyanah ‘Yana’ K and the Atlas team, Singapore bar Atlas’s new cocktail menu, Preservation of Fire, pays homage to cocktail heritage while using innovative modern bartending techniques.
“Preservation of Fire is actually a quote from the Austrian composer, Mahler, in which he talks about how tradition is a force that can ignite innovation,” Yana said.
“This menu is our love letter to the history of bartending; we can’t wait to narrate this story for our guests through a collection of cocktails that takes them on a historical journey that bridges the past with the present.”
The menu contains four chapters, each representing a bartending technique; Carbonation, Temperature, Washing, and Infusion. Each chapter features versions of four classic cocktails – Martini, Champagne Cocktail, Sour and Old Fashioned – that have been reimagined using that chapter’s technique. In addition, there is a fifth non-alcoholic cocktail option to promote mindful drinking.
The Carbonation chapter opens with a gin cocktail, Priestley’s Company, named after Joseph Priestley, who invented carbonated water in 1776. The Jubilee Royale blends gin, rum, rose infused rosso vermouth and raspberry liqueur with effervescent Champagne.
Temperature features the Silver Bullet, a take on the Vesper Martini which combines vodka and gin with rose verjus and ylang ylang water, garnished with a frozen grape. Named for New York’s historic pizzeria, Lombardi’s blends savoury notes of capsicum, sweetcorn, lime and chili with pisco, which is then shaken with rosemary and served with a torched basil mozzarella garnish.
The Washing chapter includes Electric Club, an Old Fashioned that pairs butter-washed bourbon with nutty Frangelico liqueur, chocolate bitters, sherry and Amaro Nonino. Named for the technique of extracting floral scents for perfume, Enfleurage is a sour style cocktail combining butter washed gin with sherry, citrus and geranium, shaken with aer to provide texture.
The final chapter focuses on Infusion, and features the non-alcoholic Age of Discovery, which utilises Seedlip Spice with raspberry-infused Italian soda and a passionfruit vanilla syrup. The Debutante is made with the heat-free infusion technique of sous pression to infuse cherries into gin, which are then blended with Oloroso sherry and Champagne.
The menu includes illustrations by Adrien Pack, which draw their inspiration from vintage spirits advertisement posters. The menu still includes popular Atlas cocktails such as the Atlas French 75. Additionally, guests are able to design their own Gin & Tonic from Atlas’s extensive gin collection, with the aid of an illustrative wheel that pairs flavours with tonic.
