An Afternoon Soiree With Belvedere Vodka At Skybar, Traders Hotel

Drinking in the afternoon always gives me this illusion of being on holiday.  So an invitation to a Belvedere Masterclass, on a Tuesday afternoon, at the Skybar of Traders, was irresistible.

Leading the masterclass was Skybar's resident mixologist, ELVIS!!

ELVIS'S BIODATA
Are you lonesome tonight?
If you are looking for a great drink at SkyBar, look for Elvis, he will not probably venture too far away from it. Elvis loves what he is doing and he has come a long way from when he first joined as a trainee. It was the starting point of his career behind ‘bars’. Noticing his potential, Elvis was selected for cross-exposure at Shangri-La Academy in Beijing. During his training in there, Elvis impressed his lecturers and peers with his mixing skills and as a result of this, they voted him “Mixologist of The Month”!

La’ Miartinique’ is his exclusive signature - this exceptional cocktail never fails to start a conversation and make a lasting impression. Made with gin, beer, angostura bitters, pineapple, passion fruit and elder flower syrup, it is high recommended. Elvis is very proud of what he is doing and will continue to grow with SkyBar behind the bar fixing drinks for the discerning though Elvis will never be able to live up to his contemporaries i.e. to lend an ear for he is too busy creating that awesome cocktail or two.

We start with a
Lychee Rose Martini
Ingredients:
5 ml lychee juice
5 ml monin rose syrup
15 ml lychee liqueur
45 ml Belvedere vodka
Directions: Pour all the ingredients into a mixing glass with ice cube and stir for 5 seconds then pour into Martini glass. Garnish 1 no of lychee fruit.

Elvis apportioning the martinis for the "students" to try.

After he had demonstrated, it was our turn, but not before Ciki of CCFoodtravel took the stage and hogged the limelight with this ladida hair blowing free "I'm on the beach in Rio" shot...

Our workstation for the day...such hard work, these masterclasses, I tell you.

Gotta love the implements of pleasure laid out for our mixing adventures.

Being the quintessential ace student, I take my classes very seriously.

Apart from the fact we had finished our allocation of lychee, and sent poor Thrishie scrambling for more, (hey, it's from a can okay, not freshly plucked from an orchard in China), we did a fabulous job of mixing our own, as is evidenced by the enthusiastic round of toasts...

Yam Seng, our drink is damn good.

Next was the
Caprioska
Ingredients:
1 whole lime fruit
2 teaspoon brown sugar
60 ml Belvedere pure vodka
Directions: Muddle 5 lime wedges with brown sugar into rock glass & vodka and stir thoroughly with ice cube. Add some crush ice on top and garnish lime wedge.

It's like a Vodka sour, very refreshing, could do with half the quantity of sugar if you ask me.

Next, a name inspired by the blood and gore of a bull fight, and the passion that goes together with such... The very aptly named

Mata D’or
Ingredients:
40 ml passion fruit puree
10 ml pomegranate syrup
30 ml Belvedere vodka
Topped with Red Bull
Directions: Pour the passion fruit puree first and followed by pomegranate syrup, topped with red bull garnish with a twist of lemon skin.

Of course, the topping with Red Bull completes the narrative. We were given a chance to mix our own, and my own concoction had double the vodka, and half the red bull, which yielded a result that Cherry Koh of MHD declared as "yours super yum lor" as evidenced by this shameless instagram screenshot.

Incidentally, that cute little bear is called the BELVE BEAR....

And that's cute lil me with the cute bear..Ahem..

And finally, the drink made famous by that TV series, Sex And The City...
Cosmopolitan
Ingredients:
3 lime wedge
60 ml ocean cranberry juice
15 ml cointreau liquor
45 ml Belvedere vodka
Directions: Muddle 3 lime wedge and pour all the ingredients into mixing glass and stir for 5 seconds with ice cube pour into Martini glass and garnish orange zest (flame).

I could almost here the theme song from SATC as Elvis shook his thing..

Some post class snacks to line the tummy....delicious nachos from Sky Bar Traders Hotel, and a basket of chickeny stuff...

Always good to make new friends...

Ah, I could use a cold Belvedere cocktail just about now.

#BelvedereMY