Latest news with #divebar
South China Morning Post
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Your Hong Kong weekend drinks guide for May 23-25
It's open(ing) season for Hong Kong's bar scene. The last few weeks have seen several new concepts start welcoming customers, and two of the latest and possibly greatest are Bar Oasis and Goose Island Taproom. The former, helmed by Alex Pun of fruit spirit cocktail bar Orchard, is currently in its soft opening phase, while the latter is in full swing serving the best brews out of Chicago. If you're at a loose end on Friday, be sure to head to the new and improved Kai Tak as Kinsman's Gavin Yeung celebrates the former airport's aviation history with a collaboration at rooftop bar Jin Bo Law. Thursday, 22 May Bar Oasis Alex Pun and his team at Bar Oasis. Photo: Handout What: This month Alex Pun – the brains behind Orchard, Hong Kong's only eau-de-vie concept – brings us a modern take on the dive bar with the soft opening of Bar Oasis. Get an early look at the three on-tap cocktails and five signatures that are ready for public consumption, all at the immensely reasonable price of HK$100 each. Pun and his team are still refining the service and concept, but expect speedy, energetic service and great concoctions that reflect the best of dive bar culture all the way from the 1990s. Advertisement Where: Bar Oasis, 28 Hollywood Road, Central When: 6pm-2am (but double check Instagram for the latest opening hours before visiting, just in case). Friday, 23 May Jin Bo Law x Kinsman Jin Bow Law Skybar at Dorsett Kai Tak. Photo: Handout What: The Dorsett The Dorsett Kai Tak 's Jin Bo Law Skybar offers stunning views of the waterfront, and this weekend it's hosting Kinsman's Gavin Yeung (also associate editor at the South China Morning Post's PostMag). Yeung will work with NIP Gin to craft signatures that capture the energy of the defunct airport and Kowloon City, and that highlight the area's unique history and atmosphere. Where: 15/F, Dorsett Kai Tak, 43 Shing Kai Road, Kowloon City When: 7-10pm Saturday, 24 May Goose Island Taproom
The Guardian
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
On a roll: the snowballing success of BuzzBallz pre-mix cocktails
A trip to a dive bar over the weekend has left me riddled with despair. It was the first time in quite a while that I'd left a house party to Go On Somewhere Else™, and when I arrived at 3am, I noticed that all the other customers were so young. The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. None of them was even alive for the millennium bug, yet they all wear low-rise jeans. While my friends and I sing Avril Lavigne's Complicated with eye-watering sincerity, they join in ironically. Hell, they even show their top and bottom teeth when they smile. And, at this party, they were also all drinking BuzzBallz, curious little single-serve drinks that are becoming as prevalent as tonic wine in that small category of bottles you regularly see balanced precariously on windowsills on a Sunday morning. A buzzball is a cocktail in a rotund little can or plastic container that fits rather ergonomically into the palm. Sealed with a ringpull at the top, and made with opaque or transparent recycled plastic, they have a pleasing y2k vibe. The company was founded in 2009 by one Merrilee Kick (a fabulously American name), a teacher who wanted the welly of a cocktail but without the fragility, or ceremony, of drinking it from a cocktail glass. It's little wonder that BuzzBallz have picked up pace with gen Z. I've written before about the tinnification of booze, and its implications for the drinking habits of the younger generation, but these ones are designed specifically for those among them who actually enjoy drinking. BuzzBallz come in 200ml measures, and are all at 13.5% ABV, which puts them at the same strength as a medium/large glass of wine. That said, with the help of their high sugar content, I daresay you'll get to where you need to be a lot quicker. There are various flavours, from Chili Mango and Lotta Colada to Tequila 'Rita and Pornstar Martini. (Incidentally, does anyone know why we started calling the latter passion fruit martinis? If you're old enough to drink one, you're old enough to know what a porn star is, surely?) So, to the off-licence! My local in east London had five varieties in stock, so I bought one of each. And, on the whole, they're actually fun and really rather delicious – not as strong as I'd have hoped (it's only 13.5% ABV), and lacking the acidity of a cocktail made with freshly squeezed lime or lemon. If you're comparing BuzzBallz with a fancy cocktail from a glitzy bar, you quite obviously shouldn't. This is a completely different ballgame, for when you're after something you can pull from a box of melting ice as if you're diving for pearls, when it's hot out and all you want is something cold, simple and sexy to drink. Strawberry 'Rita £3.99 (200ml) Drink Supermarket, 13.5%. A lurid cherry red, but the strawberry doesn't taste too artificial. Add a squeeze of lime. Choc Tease £3.99 (200ml) Drink Supermarket, 13.5%. I didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did. Like a boozy Chocomel. And it tastes strong. Pornstar Martini £3.99 (200ml) Drink Supermarket, 13.5%. Super-sweet, but good if you like your pornstars more vanilla. Chili Mango £3.99 (200ml) Drink Supermarket, 13.5%. Really, really good. If a picante margarita is your thing, you'll get a lot out of this.
