Tell us about the inspiration behind Backdoor Bodega.

The essence of a speakeasy is all about the experience of indulging in alcoholic beverages in a secret location, hidden from the public eye. So being a branding guy as well as an idealist at heart, even though I built Backdoor Bodega initially for fun, I still wanted it to be a 'real' speakeasy, especially knowing that there were no other speakeasy bars in Penang then.

I branded Backdoor Bodega as an 'overpriced pin shop' to make it an extension of the clothing store in front, where you can purchase a cute lapel pin and receive a complimentary glass of cocktail in return, as, in a true speakeasy spirit, I didn’t have a license to run a bar back then.

Don't miss: Asia's 50 Best Bars 2022 Revealed, Coa in Hong Kong Retains Top Spot

Can you share an anecdote about making cocktails at Backdoor Bodega?

Although I’ve always been a fan of cocktails—by the way, I don’t drink beer—I’ve never really made any proper cocktails prior to starting a cocktail bar. When I first started creating the initial menu for Backdoor Bodega, I wanted to avoid being judged for how bad I would’ve been at serving classic cocktails which I had no experience in making so I decided to just look up different flavour infusion methods and syrup-making processes to 'design' my cocktails, as opposed to starting by making riffs or twists of classic cocktails.

That was how drinks like our signature Kelapa Hotak came about. I infused fresh desiccated coconut and pandan in rum for days, strained the rum along with the coconut milk and added a bar spoon of kaya to it, and my very first Backdoor Bodega cocktail was born. Fortunately, my first few cocktails were well-received and many of them have remained on the menu or are still being requested until today.

Just as Penang’s bar scene reached its peak, the pandemic hit. What were some of your challenges?

Twenty-nineteen was a really fruitful year for Backdoor Bodega and the initial plan was to do a major renovation in April 2020 as we needed a better bar setup to work more efficiently and to give customers a better experience.

When the lockdown started in March 2020, it messed up the renovation plans and when it was semi-lifted in July, most bars went straight back to operations with food and all. However, for us, we could only start our renovation then as it wasn’t allowed during the lockdown. We finally reopen in December 2020. Barely two months later, the second and third lockdowns hit. It was excruciating as we barely had the chance to operate for more than four months in total out of the 18 months of lockdown we had to endure.

Read more: 22 Asian Bartenders To Follow On Instagram For World Bartender Day 2022

What were some strategies and mindsets that helped you get through the pandemic?

I'm grateful that I was able to 'move' the bar online in just a matter of days when I realised that the lockdown was gonna take longer than we anticipated. As I had all the resources for building an online store, the packing and packaging, and courier and logistic services at my fingertips due to my background in running an online clothing store, I was able to replicate the whole platform for Backdoor Bodega and bring our 'pin shop' online, along with other merchandise and, of course, bottled cocktails.

Thankfully, we were able to push our bottled cocktail deliveries pretty efficiently, with a very easy ordering process through our online store, and we managed to deliver cocktails all over the country, which helped tremendously in bringing in precious revenue during the lockdown. I'm also very grateful to CK of Coley for being so generous with his resources and recommending glass bottles to use for our cocktail deliveries.

The vaccine-inspired cocktail series was genius. How did you/your team come up with the idea?

During the second lockdown over the Lunar New Year, we actually released a set of Chinese New Year-themed bottled cocktails that came in bird’s nest and essence of chicken type of bottles and it did really well. Then the third and longest lockdown started in May 2021; this time, it really felt like it could’ve been the final nail in the coffin for our little bar business so I told the team that we urgently needed to come up with another bottled cocktail gimmick just like our Chinese New Year-themed one. This was during the peak of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia when most people still haven’t gotten their vaccines and were very impatient about it.

So we decided to do a vaccine-themed bottled cocktail series inspired by the three different vaccines available in Malaysia at that time: Pfizer, Astra Zeneca, and Sinovac. Coincidentally, the bottles that we were already using for our cocktail deliveries, also happened to be actual injection vials that were used in the medical field for vaccines. So I designed the labels to mimic the vaccine labels and created a parody series of the brand names for the cocktails—Pfizermeister, Extra-Gineca, and Sinosour—and they took off almost immediately as everyone found them to be great novelty items to be shared with friends while waiting for their actual vaccines.

See also: Mixologists to Watch in Kuala Lumpur

Congratulations on making it to Asia's 50 Best Bars 2022: 51-100 List. What was your reaction when you heard the news? 

It's incredibly humbling to be even considered to be on the same list as many of these other bars that we admire and look up to on a daily basis. Coming out from an almost two-year lockdown when we had to work extra hard to keep the lights on, I’m extremely grateful for this recognition as it gave the whole team a huge morale boost and something to celebrate. More importantly, I’m grateful that the Penang cocktail scene is finally given a spotlight.

What would you like people to know about a night out at Backdoor Bodega?

Well, it's hard to describe in words because it’s definitely something to be experienced in person! (laughs)

NOW READ:

6 Women Who are Raising the Bar

11 Questions With Bartenders Angel Ng And Amanda Wan

4 Refreshing Summer Cocktail Recipes