December 2018: Up to number one in our list is Junior – a cosy pocket bar highlighting the drinking culture of New Orleans. It's due to change its concept once again soon so head there quick before yet another refresh. New at number 15 is The Other Roof. Brought to you by the same people behind The Other Room (number 9), this rooftop establishment is fun, breezy and chock full of addictive tea-infused tipples. Welcome to the Time Out DRINK List, our handpicked ‘best of’ Singapore’s drinking scene. These are the most buzzing bars in this city right now: the most inventive and most memorable watering holes, all ranked by expert local editors. Drinking in Singapore is expensive so we did all the hard work for you – scouring the city every night in search of amazing drinks, visiting incognito and footing the bill. That’s how you know that if it’s on this list, it’s awesome. Whether you sip or quaff, these are the city's top bars for a boozy night out. We've got joints stocked with quality vino, speakeasies hidden behind unmarked doors, dens devoted to whisky, craft beer breweries and much more in our roundup. We guarantee you won't be able to stop at one drink – just make sure you have a safe ride home. Drank somewhere on this list and loved it? Share it with the hashtag #TimeOutDrinkList. You can also find out more about how Time Out makes recommendations and reviews bars here.
The drink of the gods, mead – or honey-wine – is liquid gold created by fermenting honey and water. An ancient beverage, it’s long fallen out of popularity but just like kombucha, kefir and other fermented products, it’s suddenly finding its way back to the limelight.
You might be surprised to learn that Singapore has its very own meadery. Owned and operated by Simon Zhao, Rachelle the Rabbit Meadery is a one-person outfit that began in 2016. Simon does everything from the fermenting and bottling to going on supply runs and coming up with new flavours.
As Singapore’s only mead guy, he creates unique concoctions with an Asian twist by adding ingredients distinctive of the region. Herbs and spices like ginger, lemon, cinnamon and cloves make an appearance during the mead’s primary fermentation vessel before the wine is left to develop in steel barrels for at least a year. We chat with Simon to learn more about this golden elixir.
How did you get started brewing mead?
My background is in chemical engineering, but I’ve been home-brewing since 2008. I tried making beer and rice wine, I even tried to ferment grapes from NTUC, but that batch ended up sour. I discovered mead along the way and found it interesting. I passed some samples to my close friends and got good feedback, so I went on to commercialise it. I’ve experimented with over 30 flavours over the years. It’s not just about making a good product. I want people to remember the mead when they try it. It has to leave an impression.
Why did you decide on mead?
The main reason why I started Rachelle the Rabbit Meadery is my daughter. Rachelle is her name, and I want to brew one flavour of mead each year so that by the time she gets married, I can give her a whole array as a wedding gift. That was the initial idea so I had to look for something that could keep for a long time. You can keep mead in the fridge for 10 to 20 years, just like a vintage wine.
What are some of the challenges you’ve faced?
In Singapore, when it comes to alcohol production, you either make beer or something else. I don’t make beer, and at that time, I was the first person here to want to start fermenting mead. When I tried to contact stat boards like the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore, they couldn’t give me strict guidelines, so I had to improvise as I went along. In the eyes of Singapore Customs, the meadery is classified as a distillery, which is why I pay a higher licence fee than microbreweries, even though our production volume is a lot less.
Despite this, why did you decide to carry on?
I like to brew and I love the product. I want to hare mead and the story behind it to more people. For example, it has a part to play in how the word ‘honeymoon’ came about – newlyweds would get at least a month’s supply of honey wine. I hope that more people come to know this wonderful drink. The method of production is similar to natural wines: no heat, no pasteurisation, and no artificial additives like sulphur, which kills off the yeast. I try to preserve what’s naturally inside the honey so it tastes better than commercially available products.
What are your plans for the future?
I’m moving the production facility to Mandai. Since Rachelle is considered a distillery, I plan to distil the mead too. I might be able to get a honey spirit out of it, just like how distilling wine results in brandy, beer to whisky and rice wine to sake. The distillate could be used to flavour other spirits like gin.
