An aromatic affair greets those looking to venture to Tippling Club. I've always treasured my sense of smell, sure, my taste buds may be faulty at time, but nothing trips the nose. So imagine my delight when I found a cocktail at Tippling club with a description of "rain"- one thing you gotta know about me is the inexplicable swell of joy in my heart whenever the smell of incoming rain hits. The thousands of memories evoked turns the corners of my lips, such is the effect of Tippling Club's recently conceived Sensorium Menu.
Tippling Club and International Flavors and Fragrances have collaborated to put the boundless possibilities of a flavors and scents marriage into actualisation through the Sensorium Menu. Designed to stir deeply-rooted memories by nervous-system information carried down the olfactory nerve, this 'new technology' is as deeply profound as it is delicious.
And despite the inability to relate to certain 'experiences' such as the Leather and Campfire. Yes, I have missed out on too many opportunities to roast marshmallows by the campfire only because I hold a deep hatred for commercialised marshmallows. I would like to believe the warmth I've encountered in the cocktail translates to a full-fledged representation of the experience.
Some of my favourite concoctions on the 12-item long list include the Leather ($22) - a smoky libation that pairs sweet notes of raisin, orange and vanilla with a satisfying whiff of new leather via whisky and a splash of Pedro Ximenez. Also, the Campfire ($22) deserves your undivided attention, its amalgamation of marshmallow milk, campfire, burnt syrup, ash and gin is the perfect cocktail for those nursing a sweet tooth.
Another one that would leave you slightly quizzical is the Gin&?&?&?&? ($22) which is placed gingerly on a pad of flavors, lemon, orange, olive and grapefruit to be exact, each portion of the glass spritzed with that particular flavor to enhance the various notes in the gin and vermouth concoction. With a gentle rotation of the glass and sipping on each corner, you'll be able to experience the libation in different dimensions. An 'out-of-this-world' experience which Tippling Club is all about.
The peculiarity of the sensorium cocktail experience begins even at ordering. Here at Tippling Club, you aren't presented with the same ominous presage of a written menu which obviously isn't the most convenient to peruse when you're two bars down. Instead, 12 individual smell sticks, each listing a drink's name and smell are stuck into a strainer and brought to the table. Each spritzed with a distinctive smell created by IFF, several sniffs and muffled laughter afterwards, you settle on your preferred choice of aroma which then translates into a glorious drink minutes later.
Speaking of bars decor, Tippling Club puts some neat little touches to its emerald tiled backed bar. old school bomb-shelter-esque lamps and those hanging bottles on twine are potential head hazards but oh too gorgeous not to attempt to capture. Recently appointed Head Bartender (in early 2016), Joe Schofield works with deft hands and a curious finger jerk quite similar to Gambit's card expertise; the mastermind of the new Sensorium menu, he works closely in tandem with kitchen maestro Ryan Clift to create concoctions teaming full of evocative memories solely based on scent alone - which I would confess to being sold on. completely through and through. Pre-dinner drink woes? Joe would solve those.
Thrumming with life even on a weekday evening, the future looks bright for Tippling Club.
Tippling Club
38 Tanjong Pagar Road
t: 6475 2217
Operating Hours:
Sun: Closed
Sat: 6pm - 12am
Mon- Fri: 12pm - 12am
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