Location: Marikina City

Bear by East is made with vodka infused with gummy bears, citrus, raw sugar, and lemon-lime soda, then garnished with gummy bears. It’s a light, refreshing, and tasty cocktail that will remind you of your childhood. It is a great cocktail to start your nightcap and it could be even a good dessert cocktail as well.

Why it’s their signature

We have a handful of signature cocktails but Bear by East is by far the bestseller. It accounts for 60% of the total cocktails sold since we opened. We also named it as such to more strongly represent our bar.

The inspiration behind the cocktail

We wanted to bring the cocktail culture to the East of the metro—particularly, Marikina City—and we figured we could do that by slowly injecting craft cocktails techniques into the scene. Bear by East is an easy and tasty cocktail with a great story to tell, as we can talk about easy infusions you can make in your home bar. Our childhood served as the inspiration for the cocktail. At the end of the day, we all love gummy bears!

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Location: BGC, Taguig City

For the cocktail All Eyez on Me, we redistill cognac with our rotary evaporator along with Belgian chocolate and fresh berries. We then add our own blend of vermouth (French and Italian) with a touch of Aperol and homemade bitters. The cocktail also incorporates berries and chocolate absinthe for a truly unique sip.

How the cocktail came about

To enrich the list of usual suspects to tip back, The Back Room’s beverage manager, Alex Renoue added a cognac cocktail for everyone to enjoy. To give our boozehounds a taste of this velvety cocktail, All Eyez On Me was introduced for a stroke of elegance yet complex spirits in a glass.

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Location: Legazpi Village, Makati City

The SyCip Sour is a prototypical sour, but we wanted to approach it in a non-traditional way, so the acid component is done through hibiscus and the sweet component is worked with hawthorn berries. That interplay allows you to add a lot of richness by way of the rye whisky and the pisco to the drink while still having levity. It’s a fun idea.

Why it’s their signature

We don’t necessarily have a signature cocktail per se. Our style has mostly been about making drinks specific to the guest, so this one's a slight departure, made in honour of Washington Sycip. I mean, he’s pretty cool: he enlists while studying at Columbia; becomes a US code breaker during World War II after being told by the US army that he’s overqualified for infantry; then he comes home and creates the largest accounting services firm in the region, then organisations like AIM and the park across from us . . . so yeah! We might as well highlight how nice our area is.

How the cocktail came about

Well, this approach started from listening to Washington SyCip’s episode of Bago Ang Lahat about great Filipinos. He was pretty cool! And since the park and AIM are great parts of our neighbourhood, we wanted to honour the person behind them.

We approached the drink’s skeleton by building upon Filipino and Chinese structures as its soul and then imbuing flourishes of worldliness. A fun nod we found was old Cantonese sweet and sour recipes that would use hibiscus and haw flakes as their base, so we thought that might be a great nod to the character. Then we added spirits that were strong enough to match the character of the syrup base. This drink was a little tough to nail perfectly, but I think we’re close.

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Location: Poblacion, Makati City

The Swizzle In, Swagger Out is a rum-forward, tropical cocktail made with dark rum, gold rum, pineapple, orange, lemon juice and activated charcoal syrup. It is a sweet, trippy treat you would need multiple rounds of.

Why it’s their signature

We are known for citrusy, herbal, spicy yet balanced cocktails, and those who know us know why “Swizzle In, Swagger Out” ranks high in the list of cocktails that represent us best. It's serious and meticulously made but does not scrimp on the fun, either.

See also: What Cocktails Do We Love At Tatler?

Location: Solaire Resort and Casino, Parañaque City

Although Baccarat Room & Bar is known for its whisky-based cocktails, it also has a roster of signature cocktails that welcomes any type of drinker. Take, for example, Citizen Kane, which was inspired by none other than the eponymous 1941 American classic film. Like its namesake, this cocktail shares the same compelling and mysterious qualities—from looks to tasting notes—that make guests enthralled and captured from the moment it is presented to their last sip.

Why it’s their signature

Citizen Kane is a perfect cocktail both for guests who are seasoned liquor and spirits enthusiasts, or those easing into cocktails. It boasts floral notes from the botanical gin and elderflower liqueur, sweetness and tang from the orange liqueur and lemon juice, and a hint of spice that lingers from the cinnamon liqueur. It’s finished off with a frothy egg white, a rosemary garnish, and bubble smoke that’s both dramatic and aesthetically intriguing.

Contrary to the taste profile of this cocktail, its aroma leans smoky and spicy. As for the texture, unlike other cocktails, Citizen Kane has a thicker and creamier feel but is still very smooth to drink. This pairs well with savoury dishes or for something lighter, have it together with your choice of cold cuts and cheese.

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Location: Poblacion, Makati City

The Ube Cream Fiesta is made with muscovado syrup, fresh coconut milk, toasted desiccated coconut and cashew nuts, and Filipino dark rum with a base of Ube Cream Liqueur, then topped with crushed iced and nuts. The base spirit won an award as the world’s best cream liqueur in London at the World Liqueur Awards last April 2022.

Why it’s their signature

We have a lot of best-selling concoctions on the menu, and we regularly change the menu based on my foraging expeditions. However, if a cocktail is heavily requested, it will be a mainstay on the menu. The Ube Cream Fiesta became the number one most requested and aptly represents not only our Ube Cream Liqueur but the festive nature of the Filipino.

The inspiration behind the cocktail

[Apart from showcasing the Ube Cream Liqueur], the goal was also to create a national cocktail. I [Kalel Demetrio] created this cocktail to highlight some of the best and most common flavour profiles present in every Filpino fiesta, which are ube coconut, sugar, and a lot of creaminess, kind of like a halo-halo profile. Now, the cocktail is being executed in different bars across the country, and even some bars in Singapore.

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