JIGGER AND PONY – INDIA TOUR

SINGAPORE’S AWARD WINNING BAR, JIGGER & PONY WAS ON A TOUR OF INDIA SHOWCASING THEIR DRINK PHILOSOPHY. VIKRAM ACHANTA CAUGHT UP WITH GIOVANNI GRAZIADEI, BAR MANAGER, JIGGER & PONY AT ONE OF HIS SHIFTS IN THE COUNTRY.

“We’re a highvolume bar”, explains Giovanni Graziadei Bar Operations Manager of Singapore’s Jigger and Pony, “and the Espresso Martini is one of our hottest selling cocktails, but we weren’t able to standardise on the espresso shot required”. What they did then was to collaborate with PPP Coffee, a coffee roastery to create their very own Espresso shot captured in a pod and served out via a Nespresso machine. It’s a blend of Rio Brilhante and Thippanahalli Estate. It’s this same machine that Giovanni is carefully storing in his hand baggage and carrying across India as along with New Delhi they stage bar take-overs across the country.

Jigger and Pony ranked as the # 1 bar in Asia in Asia’s 50

Best Bars 2020 list, and went on to come in at 2nd place in both subsequent years. It’s also remained Singapore’s top cocktail bar for the last few years. Of late there’s been a wave of pop-ups and bar takeovers by top bars from around the world. What distinguishes this particular takeover is the collaborative nature of it, wherein it’s in most locations across the country being co-hosted by Sidecar, itself no slouch in the rankings game and Jigger. The guest shifts take them from Ping’s Bia Hoi, a Vietnamese Beer Garden in Porvorim, Goa to the House of Nomad at the Taj Land’s End in Mumbai and finally at Sidecar itself. There are masterclasses for bartenders, media interactions and of course the sublime cocktails.

I miss out on the collaborative aspect of the takeover, but decide instead to visit the one guest shift that Giovanni is manning on his own, at Cirrus 9 at the Oberoi, New Delhi. I’m killing a few birds with one stone, as it’s also my first visit to Cirrus and I’m also bidding adieu to Amit Dixit, an editor from one of my writing gigs who’s turning freelancer. Cirrus 9, for those of you who haven’t been is one of the best located bars in New Delhi, if not the entire country, with its stunning rooftop location giving you a view of Delhi unlike any other. Amit and I settle into couches, but soon shift to the bar as soon as a space opens up. There are 4 cocktails on the menu, all priced equally at INR 1000+. We resolve to sample all 4 before the evening is through. Amit is intrigued by the Black Pepper Sazerac, which uses the Jim Beam Black and black pepper syrup and I by the Soy Milk Punch, with Sipsmith and Pinot Noir. When they arrive however, he finds the pepper less marked than expected and my drink more to his liking, so we switch them around. As I discover later, the version in Singapore also has Oolong tea in it, and the soy milk adds a sense of place to the cocktail as a “childhood staple” in Singapore. All in all, it works very well.

All the 4 drinks on offer are from the Jigger and Pony menu in Singapore, albeit, some with slight modifications. Amit opts for the Clover Club and I for the Espresso Martini, a drink that I’ve always had a special predilection for ever since I heard it’s probably apocryphal creation story. Supermodel Kate Moss, walked into London’s Soho Brasserie and asked legendary bartender Dick Bradsell for a drink that would wake her up and ---- her up! The Clover Club that has Raspberry infused Sipsmith gin is totally on point, with the delicate flavour of the raspberry wellarticulated as is the Espresso Martini. We leave, our pockets a little lighter but wishing for more than 4 drinks! Hopefully they’ll be back soon.