COLIN CHIA CHRISTINA VEIRA

NUTMEG & CLOVE, SINGAPORE

DYNAMIC IDEAS MAN ELEVATING THE CRAFT OF COCKTAILS IN ASIA

Colin Chia is a man brimfull of energy and ideas, and he channels those qualities into the realms he loves with a passion: drinks and hospitality. As a result, over the last decade or more, few have done more to champion the Asian cocktail scene and to help professionalize the craft of bartending than this year’s winner of the Roku Industry Icon Award.

Steeped in the food and drink sector since his years as a teenage bar back in his native Singapore, Chia is a true industry veteran even though he’s only recently hit middle age. Having been involved in helping bring Diageo’s World Class events to south-east Asia in his corporate days, Chia opened his first bar, Nutmeg & Clove, in 2014 – and it remains his flagship to this day.

While there are higherprofile bars than Nutmeg & Clove, none represent the Lion City as authentically as the Purvis Street stalwart. The bar and its cocktails are an homage to the history and culture of Singapore, providing a cultural narrative through the medium of original serves and intelligent service. Located in the commercial heart of the city, the bar is pared back and unpretentious, as familiar and welcoming as a local café, but one which just happens to serve some of the best libations around.

It’s from Nutmeg & Clove that Chia has nurtured a host of young bartenders of all backgrounds, genders and ethnicities, exemplifying his profound belief in investing in and developing raw talent. During the pandemic, it was no surprise that Chia was one of the first to ensure he protected his own team, as well as banding people together to help others in need within the F&B industry and beyond. But Chia has always looked beyond Singapore’s shores too, having worked across the continent in his younger years. He is a massive fan of the Japanese bartending tradition, while also celebrating the fast-developing and varied bar cultures in China, Hong Kong, Thailand and elsewhere. In 2017 he helped open the Bangkok speakeasy #FindTheLockerRoom with a range of international partners, which was followed by #FindThePhotoBooth in the same city. More recent projects include Chuan by Nutmeg, a craft cocktail bar on the 60th floor above the UOB Plaza in Singapore, as well as the more low-key Last Word, a simple space adjoining Nutmeg & Clove that serves classic cocktails alongside Japanese food.

He is a man at the very heart of the Asian cocktail scene, who remains ever open to new ideas and new flavours. This is Colin Chia, the Roku Industry Icon in Asia in 2022.

BAR MORDECAI, TORONTO INFLUENTIAL BARTENDER AND EDUCATOR TRANSFORMING THE INDUSTRY FROM THE INSIDE

Aprogressive and admired figure in North America’s bar world, Christina Veira has been a central figure in furthering the conversation around cocktails, hospitality, leadership and safety, emerging as a role model and mentor for bartenders across the length and breadth of the continent. She is recognised for her commitment to making the cocktail sector a safer and more equitable place to work with the first-ever Roku Industry Icon Award as part of North America’s 50 Best Bars. With family roots in Jamaica, Veira has hospitality in her blood – her grandmother owned a shop-cum-bar-cumdancehall – but she only joined the industry by chance while at university. It was the beginning of a romance that saw her progressively hone her practical cocktail-making skills while also developing an interest in the educational side of the business, achieving a certification as spirits educator and hospitality consultant from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET).

As partner and general manager of Bar Mordecai in Toronto, No.47 in North America’s 50 Best Bars 2022, Veira is putting her leadership skills to good work by leading a group of talented and conscious bartenders. Located in a trendy stretch of Dundas Street West, Bar Mordecai has become a hit among Toronto locals and visitors thanks to its accessibility, commitment to community building and carefully crafted cocktails.

At Bar Mordecai, Veira has already harnessed her hospitality skills to raise over US$100,000 for organisations that support women and LGBTQ+ rights and that fight food insecurity. Passionate about educating the next generation of bartenders, she plans to open her own school in the second half of 2022, featuring a holistic approach that will centre intersectionality, empathy, accessibility and empowerment.

Beyond her work at Bar Mordecai, Veira also shares her learnings generously with the industry as bar and beverage curator for Restaurants Canada Show, the country’s largest hospitality event; as national coordinator for Speed Rack Canada, an all-female bartending competition; and formerly as director of programming for Toronto Cocktail Week. With the Roku Industry Icon Award now under her belt, she is establishing herself as a leading light, nationally and internationally, in the movement towards a better hospitality space.