TASTE Whisky
Clockwise from above:
Chin Chin Bar; an “Old Fashioned” at Baxter Inn;
Boilermaker House
The visitor to Tokyo – or indeed to any other major
Japanese city – need only consult his/her hotel concierge to get a long list of recommended bars with fine whisky menus. Top picks include Bar High Five (barhighfive. com), a world-renowned cocktail bar that has just reopened in a new location with a much bigger whisky selection, and Star Bar (
starbar.jp), which is famous for the quality of its ice carving – creating perfect spheres of ice to cool the spirit without diluting it is a Japanese speciality – as well as for its fine whisky collection. The New York Bar at the Park Hyatt Tokyo
(
parkhyatttokyo.com) has an iconic significance for movie buffs and Japanese whisky fans, because it is where much of the 2003 movie Lost in Translation was shot. The whisky list there isn’t that long, but you certainly can emulate Murray and nurse a glass of Hibiki 17 Year Old while you take in the fine city views from the 52nd
floor of Shinjuku Park Tower.
Taiwan, as you would expect, also has its fair share of bars that take whisky seriously, although they often seem to have relatively short life spans. Alchemy (2/F, No.16-1 Hsin-Yi Road Section 5), owned by star bartender Angus Zou, is well established and considered to be one of Taipei’s top cocktail bars, but also has a fine range of artisanal spirits, including American bourbons and rye whiskeys. When going out to drink whisky himself, Zou heads
64 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016
for Backyard (also called L’Arrière-Cour, No.4, Lane 23, Anhé Road Section 2, Da’an District), a dark but welcoming bar with an extensive “ library” of around 400 whiskies at any one time. The list changes regularly however, and thousands of different expressions have been served in the bar since it opened in 2000.
STEEPED IN HISTORY Elsewhere in Asia, independently owned fine whisky bars are thinner on the ground than in Japan and Taiwan, but quite a number can be found in international hotels. Maintaining an inventory of high-cost spirits, which may take a long time to move off the shelves, is more affordable to those operations than to most independents, which depend on faster turnover to pay the rent. The Hyatt group has made a particular point of maintaining good whisky collections in its bars in several hotels around Asia (in addition to the Park Hyatt Tokyo), including Brix at the Grand Hyatt Singapore (
singapore.grand.hyattrestaurants.com), The Timber House at the Park Hyatt Seoul (
seoul.park.hyatt.com), and Chin Chin Bar at the Hyatt Regency in Hong Kong (
hongkong.tsimshatsui.hyatt.com). In Thailand, the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok’s iconic Bamboo Bar (
mandarinoriental.com) is noted for its whisky collection – as well as famous historical guests, often in combination – while Mandarin Oriental Hong
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