Never seen a blue sky, yet turns colourful art into cocktails

‘I only see red, black, white and a scale of grey.' Fabio Brugnolaro – the Italian-born head mixologist at Penthouse Bar and Grill – tosses this out so breezily you'd think he hadn't just dropped the sort of detail that rewrites human creativity itself.

All those jewel-toned cocktails with their fussy little garnishes, yet 'I've never seen the blue sky,' he says. 'When people go on about how blue it is – I haven't got a clue what they mean.'

His story starts like this.

The revelation arrived on the first day of primary school in Turin, Italy. The assignment: draw your house. Fabio drew his mum, his dog, the garden. The sky came out brown. The floor, blue. The dog, purple. The roof, inexplicably yellow. 'The teacher rang my mum the next day,' he recalls. 'She said, I think your son is colour-blind.'

His mum started labelling markers with colour names – teaching him to navigate a world he couldn't quite see the way others did. But when he announced he wanted to be an artist, she drew the line. 'She said no, no, no, you're going to technical school.' Art, she reasoned, was hard enough: 'Art whilst colour-blind?'

Fabio did it anyway. He worked nights as a waiter to fund his illustration degree. Tried tattooing for a spell – 'maybe 20 people'. His professor at university noticed his work looked off – too bright, a little discordant. When he explained, she handed him three books on colour theory. Mathematical equations for mixing pigments. Primary colours broken down into percentages.

'It's basically a mathematical calculation,' he explains. 'By that, I can actually calculate mathematically which colour I'm producing. So putting this much of this, I can make colours that you like, that you can see.'

The formula stuck. Not just for painting, but for everything that followed. When he transitioned from art to hospitality – floor manager at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Milan, then behind the bar – the logic travelled with him.

'I already know a balance for colour,' he says. 'So for me, percentage, also for liquid, it's been very easy to become a mixologist. Because I can mix anything at the perfect percentage to make it balanced.' 

There's a particularly dramatic chapter. A half-Thai girl. A move to Bangkok built on love and slightly reckless optimism. Years grinding through speakeasy bars, even opening his own place for a bit. Now, he's head mixologist at Penthouse Bar and Grill, mixing drinks the way he's done everything else – against the odds.

Fabio's new cocktail line-up is called 'A Journey Through Art in Every Sip'. Nine cocktails, each inspired by the art throughout Park Hyatt Bangkok, home to Penthouse Bar and Grill.

Let's go glass by glass.

Crimson Illusion takes its cue from 'Party' hanging in the lobby. Bourbon fat-washed with mango and passion fruit, goji berries, honey cordial, Lillet Blanc, finished with a silky pour of Shiraz. 'It captures the balance between profound joy and hidden affliction,' the menu reads.

'When I create a cocktail, I start thinking which ingredient I want to use and which spirit I want to pair with,' he explains. 'I start making combinations in my mind. Then I go on paper and when I'm thinking of this, I start drawing.'

His place is all notebooks – sketches of glasses, garnishes, ideas half-formed. 'The drawing process is just for me to work through what I'm going to do,' he says. 'From the drawing, I go through the shape of the cocktail, then the garnish. Which glass, which garnish.' It's almost ritualistic – the way he thinks with his hands before he thinks with bottles.

In Bloom takes inspiration from the lobby's 'Go with the wind, not the bamboo' sculpture.

A clarified milk punch built on Japanese whisky, Strega Alberti herbal liqueur, cantaloupe, nori cordial and sencha tea. The menu waxes lyrical about creation as inward journey, meditative practice, Buddhist philosophy – the whole transcendental bit.

'Because I like cooking, I know how many things taste – the spirits and food and fruits and ingredients,' he says. 'I start making combinations in my mind.' It's all connected: the cooking, the drawing, the mixing. A synaesthetic approach to bartending where texture matters as much as flavour.

Dark Horse is a tribute to Fernando Botero, named after the 'Freddy the Horse' sculpture stationed in front of the hotel.

Homemade aguardiente, two types of Plantation rum, star anise, cold brew coffee liqueur, cream. Smooth, sweet, spirit-forward.

Ripple Tipple is inspired by paintings of the Thames and Chao Phraya rivers. It brings two waterways together in a gin infused with bael, English Breakfast tea, Earl Grey, apple cinnamon, lime juice and egg white.

Served alongside a tiny cracker with homemade apple jam. 'This cocktail connects tradition with playful elegance,' the menu reads.

'Sometimes we have a pairing,' Fabio explains. 'We decide what to pair with the cocktail. In this case, it's served with a mini cracker with apple jam on top of it and the apple jam we do ourselves.'

The pairing is deliberate. Fabio thinks about texture, temperature, the way a bite of something sweet and crisp plays against the warmth of spice. It's the cooking thing again. Everything connects.

Miang Kham takes its name directly from the traditional Thai snack and is inspired by Chatchai Puipia's painting 'Rainy Night'.

It's built on coconut rum, golden falernum, betel leaves juice, miang kham syrup – essentially everything that makes Thai street food magic, now slightly tipsy.

Ghost Rider is inspired by the BMW motorcycle parked at the entrance to Penthouse Grill, it's a mashup of two drinks – the Sidecar and the Vieux Carré – served flaming over ice.

Cognac, rye whisky, pear liqueur, vermouth rosso, Angostura bitters. The menu describes it as 'a turning spectacle, capturing attention instantly', which rather undersells how dramatically it arrives at your table in a theatrical blaze.

'The Ghost Rider combines two legendary drinks into one, delivering boldness, vigour and sophistication with each sip,' Fabio says. 'It's served as a turning spectacle. Served warm over ice, it slowly dilutes to release the full fragrance of the refined spirits and is paired perfectly with honeycomb and apple chips.'

Jasmine takes inspiration from the Pagoda Mirage – a ceiling installation that floats above the ground floor, often used for wedding ceremonies.

The cocktail captures that auspicious moment with jasmine-infused gin, Lillet Rosé, peach and honey cordial, mezcal, lime juice.

'Peach and honey resemble the sweetness and mutual care of a new union, whilst the subtle smokiness of mezcal represents the complexity inherent in shared moments of life.'

Snake Bite is Inspired by the Naga ceiling installation, channeling the two-headed Thai serpent – both guardian and tempter. Sotol and bacanora (two obscure Mexican spirits), Isan rum, Thai brown sugar syrup, Campari, strawberry juice and homemade burnt bell pepper and coriander tincture. Topped with Raven IPA beer.

To make the tincture, Fabio burns red capsicum whole, completely black, scrapes off the charred skin, blends it with lime and coriander, filters it, blends it again with raw capsicum for intensity, filters again, then reduces it down until it's thick and deeply savoury. The combination with strawberry sounds mad on paper. Sweet fruit meets smoke meets bitter meets umami, all tied together with the hoppy punch of IPA.

'People are really scared to order this,' Fabio laughs. 'But when they do, they will reorder.' 

But always, there's a tightrope he walks between innovation and accessibility. Push too far and guests baulk. Play it safe and there's no point. 'Yes, that's a challenge for me,' he admits. 'When people are willing but they don't know, they are a bit afraid they're not gonna like it, I always push to say, try. Because we use some kind of ingredients, but we know how to balance it.'

The final drink on the menu is The Penthouse – a New York-inspired riff named after the bar itself.

Bulleit bourbon, clarified orange juice, citrus oleo saccharum cordial, raspberry, Sauvignon Blanc, topped with Johnnie Walker Ruby whisky foam.

It's designed to reflect the stunning environment of the cocktail bar, the rooftop, The Depth of Blue whiskey bar. A silky whiskey foam crowns it all, delivering a refined Scotch finish that mirrors the sophistication of the space itself.

Fabio keeps his menus tight. Never more than 10 cocktails, though this one clocks in at nine. 'It's quite tough to keep the standard and quality high when you have a lot of preparation to do,' The rule at Penthouse is simple: those nine drinks are always available: 'People who come here, at least these nine, they have to always be available.'

When he's not at Penthouse, Fabio keeps mostly to himself. 'Not particularly a social guy,' he admits. But when he does surface? There's a map. 

For the Thonglor commute, it's Dry Wave or Rabbit Hole – the latter for their classics, which he says fiercely: 'Their classic is legit!' Or it's BKK Social Club in Sathon or Vesper in Silom.

And recently, it's Citadel, slipped just behind EmQuartier, owned by a Japanese bartender named Yoshimitsu Obara. 'He reminds me of myself when I have my own bar,' Fabio says, voice going soft and a bit dreamy. 'Super cool energy – he's always laughing, always happy.'

Back at his Penthouse, the rooftop and restaurant buzz – but the bar is Fabio's whole world. Things get closer, more intimate. Nine cocktails arranged like gallery pieces. And Fabio, crafting away in his gleaming bar, becomes the tenth masterpiece – the living, breathing kind.

Location: 35/F, Park Hyatt Bangkok, 88 Witthayu Rd, Lumphini, Pathum Wan, Bangkok