The humble highball cocktail has been bubbling to the surface lately with some innovative twists making waves in Malaysian bars. — Photos: MICHAEL CHEANG/The Star
I have had highballs on my mind lately. From some delicious drinks on the menus of some of Malaysia’s finest bars, to a couple of highball-centric events, this cocktail style is really starting to bubble up to the surface here.
What is a highball though? Well, it is essentially a drink served in a tall glass with spirits, ice and mixers (usually carbonated ones like soda, cola, ginger ale/beer, or tonic water.)
One of the alleged origins of the word “highball” in relation to drinks was in a play from the 1890s called My Friend From India, in which a character called Erastus says: “Talking about drinks, I think I’ll have one. Jennings, bring me a high ball of whiskey.”
There are quite a number of famous classic highball drinks, the most prominent being the whiskey highball, and gin and tonic. With the low ABV movement gaining traction around the world, the highball has become the go-to drink for more and more drinkers.
In Malaysia, the highball has been thrust into the limelight lately with two prominent events. The first was last week’s Jim Beam Highball Bash event at APW Bangsar in Kuala Lumpur, a two-day bash that “blends the high-energy pulse of K-pop with Jim Beam’s inclusive spirit”.
There, guests enjoyed refreshing bourbon highballs that they could even “accessorise” with unique garnishes, as well as three crafted highballs that included a quite yummy “Milo Dinosaur” drink.
The Jim Beam Highball Bash also featured a couple of crafted highballs for guests to try. — Photo: Handout
Meanwhile, the Dewars Highball Challenge entered its final round with the Top Five finalists hailing from KL bars Three x Co, Ikiya 2.0, The Vault KL, Woobar, and Skullduggery. Participants were required to come up with an original highball cocktail using the Dewars 15 Year Old.
That aside, some of Malaysia’s most prominent bars have also come up with original and creative highball cocktails of late. Here are some that caught my eye (and palate) recently.
Acai Of Mine is one of eight new signature drinks on Coley’s latest menu revamp. — Photos: MICHAEL CHEANG/The Star
Bangsar bar Coley recently revamped its cocktail menu, with eight new signature drinks, all of which were good enough to make me want to reorder them again.
Among the tall drinks, Acai Of Mine stood out because of the way it went against all my expectations. Made with Proclamation Blended Irish Whiskey infused with acai berries, lemon, Passoã passion fruit liqueur, Galliano, cucumber bitters and soda water, the drink sounded like it might be too sweet for my palate.
However, that Irish whiskey with acai was perfectly balanced with the liqueur and herbal vanilla notes of Galliano. Add lemon and cucumber bitters, and top it with soda – this was a berry, berry tasty and refreshing drink.
Ayu Ayumi is the perfect starter drink at Three X Co.
From the Indi V Duality menu at Three X Co, this signature drink by head bartender Amanda Wan is currently my go to first drink (and sometimes last) at the bar.
Made with a simple combo of sake, clarified pandan, soda, and a torched pandan leaf garnish, the drink works so well to bring out the flavours of each individual ingredient. It makes for a fun, fizzy, and fabulously fresh highball that works as a refreshing starting drink, or one to end the night with.
The frozen watermelon garnish on Penrose’s Cosmos Melon adds a playful visual to the drink.
Recently named No.8 on the Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024 list, Penrose has been setting quite a high standard in terms of drinks and hospitality in Malaysia. So it’s no surprise that even its highball drinks are well thought out and complex.
The Cosmos Melon stood out for me because of the frozen watermelon garnish, which adds a playful lollipop-like touch to the drink. Made with tequila, watermelon, cosmos leaf (better known as ulam raja around these parts), fennel, lime, the fizziness of the drink brings out a lot of the grassy, herbal aromas from the ulam raja and fennel, while the thirst-quenching nature of watermelon juice is the perfect foil for these distinct flavours.
Cabinet 8 KL’s Double Special is a tribute to the iconic Ramly burger.
A highball drink that tastes like a Ramly double special burger? Now that’s something I knew I had to try as soon as I saw it on the menu of this newly opened bar in KL’s Chinatown.
This “twist on Malaysia’s beloved midnight street food – the Ramly Burger” is a fizzy, savoury gin cocktail infused with onion, Maggi seasoning, and pickled cucumber (and topped with soda) that really does taste like the burger.
It even includes an actual snack – a mini gourmet burger featuring Oloiya Bakkwa. Now that’s doubly special.
Trigona uses charged fermented rose apple juice instead of soda for the Pastel.
Part of its current “Colour Me Curious” menu, this is a delicious twist of a classic cobbler cocktail that is made with rum, strawberry, torch ginger, and topped with charged fermented rose apple (jambu air) instead of soda.
The result is a remarkable highball that is wonderfully fruity and refreshing, with the torched ginger giving a hint of familiar spice to heighten the rose apple notes in the drink.
Michael Cheang thinks that when all else fails, a simple whisky highball will still hit the spot every single time. Follow him on Instagram (@mytipsyturvy) and Facebook (fb.com/mytipsyturvy).
