Cover Braveheart Sake Originals is Singapore’s first dedicated sake cocktail bar (Photo: Braveheart Sake Originals)
Braveheart Sake Originals is Singapore’s first dedicated sake cocktail bar (Photo: Braveheart Sake Originals)
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After falling hard for sake, first-time business owners James Li and Ong Jun Quan are updating the Japanese brew experience with modern mixology and tasting programmes
There’s a faint clue in the shophouse space design. On one side is where the bar counter resides and where cocktails are crafted. That’s Brave.
The other half is where sake is served, honouring its tradition and breaking new ground around sake tasting. That’s Heart.
James Li is the bartender behind the cocktails, and Ong Jun Quan (“JQ”) is the International Kikisakeshi-certified sake sommelier. Together, they have founded Braveheart Sake Originals, Tanjong Pagar’s latest mixology salon which has drawn an enthusiastic, loyal following since its soft opening in February of this year.
“Those in our generation may think of the movie Braveheart, but we were thinking along the lines of shinpaku, which is the ‘white heart’ of the starchy grain of sake rice that is turned into sake,” explains Li. “Maybe it’s also because friends said we’re very brave to open a bar,” quips Ong. For a myriad of reasons, the name ‘braveheart’ won out over more traditional names like their original Shin Koji (“new mould”) for instance, as the name felt more in tune with how they approached the world of sake.
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Above Braveheart Sake Originals is the first dedicated sake-cocktail bar, located in Tanjong Pagar
Braveheart Sake Originals is the first dedicated sake-cocktail bar, located in Tanjong Pagar
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Their easy camaraderie points to a long friendship, which began some 16 years ago when both stayed at Kent Ridge Hall while studying at the National University of Singapore. At the time, Li was part-time bartending at Zouk and was the one who got Ong interested in drinks. Over the years, they entered different fields, with Li entrenched in corporate and start-up worlds while running private home bar experiences, and Ong building brands in the beauty and alcoholic beverage industries, most recently at Diageo.
As time passed, they often spoke about what the future holds. “If you throw your life into it, you’ve got to enjoy it, right?” Li philosophises. A visit to Sake Matsuri in late 2024 was the catalyst for action, where they discovered many brewers, labels and flavours that they never encountered before in sake. Being dark spirit fans, the sheer variety and welcoming community at Sake Matsuri “opened our eyes” to the potential around sake, notes Ong.
Li explains, “We keep hearing that drinking culture is dying among the new generations but that was not evident when we visited the sold-out sake festival. We found so much enthusiasm around learning, tasting and discovering sake. My previous impression was that sake is something you drink at dinner, accompanying sashimi. It should be clean, crisp, light and floral. And when I found so many more flavours than I imagined, we could see a runway for building and expanding a business from there.”
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Above Amabuki Banana JM DGJ
Above Mizubasho Pure Awasake
Amabuki Banana JM DGJ
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“We’re cognisant that sake comes from centuries of heritage, and it’s completely ingrained into Japanese culture,” Ong adds. “We don’t tear it apart or change how it’s drunk, but we want to respectfully add more layers and flavours such that it’s more exciting and appeals to newcomers. From what I observe after taking courses in International Kikisakeshi, WSET Sake Level 3, and getting hands-on experience brewing sake at Gakkogura, is that the industry in Japan is also thinking and doing similar things.”
For the bar side, Li is the fearless Brave—working out an entirely sake-led, sake forward cocktail menu that has not been done in Singapore before. Although he learned the fundamentals of cocktails from stints in high volume nightlife venues like Balaclava and Fabrika, Li is largely self-taught. The difficulty in using sake is that it is a brewed beverage with an alcohol strength of around 15 to 18% ABV, which is much softer than a spirit that is at least 40% ABV. It’s not as straightforward as swapping out the main spirit, or looking to (non-existent) recipe books for inspiration. Li had to start from scratch, to ensure sake shines through whether as a dominant flavour, such as in the Shin Classico, or as a supporting character to give extra length, in the Wild And Free.
Above Shin Classico, made with spicy Gari Sake, citrus, honeyed ginger liqueur and a sweet sugar-sake shard
Above Wild & Free, concocted with peated whisky, vermouth and a wild strawberry liqueur and sake
Shin Classico, made with spicy Gari Sake, citrus, honeyed ginger liqueur and a sweet sugar-sake shard
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Shin Classico, a riff on the Japanese Pantheon classic, uses a spicy Gari Sake, layered with citrus and honeyed ginger liqueur, finished with a sweet sugar-sake shard to balance all the ginger. It’s a winsome ginger candy in fresh liquid form. In the Wild And Free, peated whisky, vermouth and a wild strawberry liqueur bring Scotland and Japan together, with sake as the unifying element. Li also created four drinks—Lager, Merlot, Rose-A-Pet, Whisky—that uses sake to approximate these namesakes in flavour and appearance.
Above James Li, who helms the bar at Braveheart Sake Originals
Above Ong Jun Quan, the heart of the operations at Braveheart Sake Originals
James Li, who helms the bar at Braveheart Sake Originals
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Ong is the warm Heart of the operations, smoothly matching guests with the sake profiles they would most prefer. Working with an optimal selection of 15 bottles at a time, he eschews the traditional technical descriptions such as dry, sweet or polish ratio for his own lexicon of flavours: fruit, umami, cereal and milky, built into a graphic chart.
Each sake has curious descriptors to help establish character, narrative and taste. If you love pizza for instance, the sake #6 Lagoon Margherita is described as “basil, tomato, Fuji apple, Nashi pear”. Sake #13 Tengumai Yamahai Junmai Daiginjo is “the warrior prince, definitive umami” with notes of “complex, butterscotch, shiitake, walnut, honey.” Sake #5 Tsuki is “wine pretending to be sake.”
The hardest part of starting Braveheart hasn’t been the long hours or capital outlay, the guys say. It was the uncertainty of how the concept would be received, and of staying true to their initial vision even when they started second-guessing themselves. “Sake cocktails have mostly been a side thing, or a small twist to the menu,” notes Li. Thankfully, all the months of R&D and preparation paid off. Ong chimes in, “Very quickly, the traction and feedback from customers, partners and the trade showed us there’s a lot of runway in what we’re doing. We’ve found our place in bringing up sake’s uniqueness and novelty in the cocktail scene. Just a few months ago on New Year’s Eve, we sat down amidst all the dust and renovations, with a few wooden blocks where the bar is, counting down to 2026. And here we are now!”
Braveheart Sake Originals
Address: 83A Tanjong Pagar Road, S(088504)
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Images: Braveheart Sake Originals
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June Lee is an independent writer, editor and consultant. She is passionate about the growing appreciation for wines, spirits and cocktails in Singapore, which are ideal complements to the dining experience.
