Bar Trigona recently launched a complete revamp of its Colour Me Curious cocktail menu, with 20 new drinks.
Located at the Four Seasons Hotel KL, Bar Trigona has been one of the country’s highest ranked bars on Asia’s 50 Best Bars for the past five years. Its previous 'Colour Me Curious' menu used locally-sourced natural products to create unique and innovative drinks that "add a splash of colour” to the bar.
The bar's recently launched new menu, aptly named 'Colour Me Curious 2.0', takes this concept further. The lineup of drinks has been completely revamped with 20 new cocktails, and five tweaked and refined versions of cocktails from the previous menu, while also adding a distinct touch of class and luxury to the entire lineup.
The menu is divided into five sections with five drinks each, and we'll proceed with the review by going through each section.
This section comprises drinks that can either be consumed at the bar, or purchased in a bottle of one, two or five servings, and brought home (yes, this is basically their 'tah pau' or takeaway section).
A must-have is Trigona’s signature Old Fashioned, Bumblebee, which has been a staple at the bar since it opened.
The previous Bumblebee had both rye whiskey and bourbon, but this time around, it has been tweaked again, with a base of only Michter’s Rye Whiskey, making it less sweet than the previous iteration, and more like the original version.
Zen (left) and BumbleBee are two drinks that were retained from the previous menu.
Another returning drink is Zen, a crowd-favourite lychee/vesper martini twist, but this time, with an added blue-tinge instead.
The standout new drink of this section is Dusk (Rémy Martin 1738 Cognac, Cacao Husk, Malbec, Black Sesame, Orange Bitters), an excellent French Manhattan twist that is fruity and silky, with a nice rich, savoury note to it.
(From left) Campfire, Immortal, Dusk
The other two drinks are also riffs on classic cocktails. Immortal is a beautifully balanced Oaxacan Negroni twist made with Siete Misterios Mezcal, Mandarin Orange Peel, Campari, Perfect Vermouth and Pu-Er Tea.
Campfire, on the other hand, is a Sazarec riff made with Royal Brackla 12.Years Whisky, Wakame, and Smoked Peach, with a flaming mist of absinthe adding a touch of theatrics to the presentation.
Bar Trigona is named after the Trigona bee, a stingless bee that produces a honey that has a unique citrusy sweet flavour, and which the bar sources from a local farm in Negeri Sembilan.
This particular section highlights the virtues of Trigona honey, and contains arguably one of the new menu’s best drinks – Cosmos, a seemingly simple vodka soda riff that is anything but simple.
The drink combines Belvedère Pure Vodka, Honey Jackfruit, Butterfly Pea Flowers and Trigona Honey for a lovely sweet, jackfruit drink that has two lemonade ice balls change the drink by adding citrus notes as it melts.
Cosmos (left) is the standout dirnk in the 'All About Honey' section, while Under The Canopy is also worth trying.
Under The Canopy is another memorable one – combining Mount Gay Eclipse Rum, Malaysian tuak rice wine, Osmanthus Blossom, Trigona Honey, Pegaga Leaf for a floral, honey sweet drink that is further made complex by the yeasty notes of the tuak.
I was a bit apprehensive of Afterglow at first, because I'm not a big fan of roselle, but the longan notes and raw honey were a great combo, balanced by the tartness of the grapefruit soda and Prosecco.
(From left) Trigona Penicillin, Bloom, Afterglow
If you love ginger, then the last two drinks are for you. Retained from the last menu, Trigona Penicillin is a riff on one of the quintessential classic cocktails that highlights honey.
Meanwhile, Bloom makes use of Trigona’s very own house-made Trigona honey liqueur – Herradura Blanco Tequila, Pink Dragon Fruit, and Ginger Beer make for a spicy yet fruity tipple, paired with a side garnish of Trigona Honey Caviar.
This is the luxury section of the menu, with drinks designed around rare and prized ingredients around the world (with prices to match).
The Elysian is the undisputed highlight of this section – a luxurious, complex vodka martini riff that uses the 'world's first luxury vodka' Belvedere B10 Vodka and pairing it with Chablis Premier Cru, Wormwood, Lemon Bitters.
The drink is served in a carafe like a sake, to keep the drink cold and tasty and so you can take your time with it. Which is just as well, as the drink is priced at an impressive RM288. You can even up the opulence by pairing it with Trigona Oscietra Caviar for the tidy sum of RM588.
The Rare & Remarkable section highlights rare ingredients such as wagyu beef in The Wagyu (left), and luxury vodka Belvedere 10 in The Elysian.
Next up is Lumos, which revolves around saffron, pairing it with house-made Trigona Mead alongside Botanist gin, Passion Fruit Pulp and Vanilla for a decadent take on the Pornstar Martini.
Antigua is a fine, silky and spirit-forward drink that makes use of black truffle; By The Lakeside tops a herbaceous, fruity mix of Farmer's Gin, Basil, and Muscat Grapes with Telmont Reserve Brut Champagne for a sparkly, bubble-licious tipple.
(From left) By The Lakeside, Antigua, Lumos
By far the most, well, interesting drink in this section is The Wagyu, which fat washes Rémy Martin 1738 Cognac with A5 Wagyu Tallow, and ‘seasons’ it with All Spice Vermouth, and Kulim Bitters.
The beef notes stand out very distinctly (almost TOO distinctly, to be honest), making for a very savoury riff on the French Manhattan.
Trigona has always been big on sustainability, and this section reflects that, with each drink derived from one single ingredient.
The fruit based ones on this list are testament to this approach, bringing forth every imaginable flavour you can think of from that particular ingredient.
The Single Origin section features drinks that utilises every part of an ingredient, such as Banana (left) and Cacao.
Banana is a tuak-based drink from one of the earlier menus, using all the parts of the banana (Banana Flower, Banana Peel, Banana Flesh, and Banana Leaves) for a drink that is, for want of a better word, very banana-y.
The same goes for Pomelo (Hapusa Gin with Pomelo Marmalade, Pomelo Pith, Pomelo Peel Soda); and Watermelon (Ford's Gin with Watermelon Rind, Watermelon Juice, and Watermelon Foam, Tinkered Watermelon Seeds, sonic water) – the drinks are a mash-up of the familiar flavours and aromas you get from all those different parts of the fruits.
(From left) Pomelo, Pickles, Watermelon
I love coffee, so Cacao was arguably my favourite here, with its Michter's Rye Whiskey base, Cointreau, Cascara (a tea made from dried coffee cherries), mole bitters, and Java Ristretto.
On the other hand, I’m not a big fan of pickles, but I quite enjoyed the way Pickles enhanced the herbaceous notes of the Codigo Tequila Bianco with Pickled Agave, Pickle Juice, Pickied Peels, and Pickle Oil for a drink that was not quite as pickle-y as I expected.
Made up of drinks that are, well, easy and breezy and can be ordered with or without alcohol, this was surprisingly my favourite section of the five (surprising because I tend to prefer spirit-forward drinks).
Fern Valley is probably my favourite drink in the entire menu – the simple combination of Malfy Con Limone Gin ,Mint, Asam Boi, and Aloe Vera Soda made for a super delicious, refreshing and effervescent drink that I definitely see myself ordering again in the future.
Fern Valley (left) is one of the best new drinks on the menu, while Pastel is another popular favourite retained from the previous menu.
Blossom & Bubbles is another winner here – a base of Patron Silver Tequila gels perfectly with salty, sweet, sour flavours from Salted Saltura and Lychee Kombucha, topped with Perrier Sparkling Water.
Pastel, which was one of my favourites from the last menu, has been tweaked - instead of rose apple soda, it now uses red apples, which is still tasty, but not quite as unique as the previous one, I must say.
(From left) Evergreen, Blossom & Bubbles, Secret Island
The nutty, matcha flavours of Evergreen was also quite palatable, as was the Secret Island, a Pina Colada riff using Bumbu The Original Rum that substitutes pineapple juice milk for cham (cofffee and tea) brew in what is almost like a throwback to the Teh Tarik drink from a couple of menus back.
From strong, spirit forward drinks to easy sippers, the use of ingredients that play around with some distinctly familiar yet unique flavours makes this a pretty strong cocktail menu from one of Malaysia's top bars.
Michael Cheang wouldn't mind another Fern Valley to bring him to the Cosmos. Follow him on Instagram (@mytipsyturvy) and Facebook (fb.com/Mytipsyturvy).
