The ABV Project | Southeast Asia cocktail scene

Your window into Southeast Asia’s cocktail culture.

Exploring the region’s cocktail scene through its people, passions, and places.

[Bartender Profile] Silvio Daniele, Cosmo Pony, Jakarta

Meet the charismatic Italian bartender whose journey to a long-term career in Southeast Asia began with "Where is Singapore exactly?" Silvio’s journey behind the bar began as a part-time job during his student days in Napoli — a humble start that would eventually take him around the world. After hearing about Singapore at Tales of the Cocktail while working in London, he took a leap of faith and moved halfway across the globe to join its rising bar scene. Since then, his care

[Bartender Profile] Lucas Chee, Ikiya 2.0 (KL)

Sarissa Rodriguez-Schwartz on Cocktails and the Hospitality Industry

[Bartender Profile] Aki Nakata, Origin Bar (Singapore)

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Recipes

Bar Banters

Are We Gracious Guests?

Nonalcoholic terms you should know

Beyond Mixing Drinks: What I've Seen and Heard Behind the Bar

Editorial

Spirits of Southeast Asia: Vietnam

Vietnam is one of the strongest agricultural powerhouses in Southeast Asia, with some of its commodity outputs ranking the country among the world's top ten. It's a remarkable feat, given that Vietnam was struggling to feed itself just a couple of decades back as a result of constant power struggles. Nurtured by the Mekong Delta and assisted by strong agricultural policies, rice became one of the country's biggest exports. Rice is a staple part of Vietnamese cuisine, used in

Women's Role in the Creation of the Bar Counter

At any cocktail bar, the centerpiece is undoubtedly the bar counter: it defines the space as a 'bar' that serves booze. This long, elevated surface serves the purpose of not just serving drinks to customers (standing or sitting), but also a space for conversation between both sides of the counter. The bar counter seems so natural that it’s easy to assume it has always existed. In reality, it emerged in the 19th century alongside another important development in drinking cultu

Women And Cocktails in Interwar Malaya

There’s a persistent myth in Southeast Asia that “women didn’t really drink back then.” That cocktails are a modern invention. History says otherwise. If you leaf through newspapers, memoirs, advertisements, and society columns from interwar Malaya, you’ll find women drinking – sometimes discreetly, sometimes defiantly, often stylishly – as early as the 1920s. Not just sipping sherry in the corner, but attending cocktail parties, hosting pahit parties, and eventually being j

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Book Review

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[Recipe] Hibiscus Paloma by Plai Natrucha of Tropic City (Bangkok)

[Recipe] Ladysmith by Erika Danielle

How to Make a Double Espresso (by Kar Ve)

[Recipe] Strawberry Matcha by Eunike Katherine of Modernhaus (Jakarta)