The Penang cocktail scene has been going from strength to strength over the last couple of months, with the success of the Penang Cocktail Week in September, and then culminating in Backdoor Bodega’s achievement of winning the World’s Best Cocktail Menu Award at the recent World’s 50 Best Bars event in Hong Kong on Oct 8.

Amid the havoc of Penang Cocktail Week in September, I managed to squeeze in a few tastings of the regular drinks at some Penang bars, including some that I had not visited in a while, as well as a few newer and underrated ones.

I personally think The Nest is one of Penang’s top bars, not just because it’s located in a beautiful restored Peranakan shophouse, but also for its unique menu. Here, each drink is paired with an exclusive side dish that is meant to enhance the drink’s flavours and provide a more elevated experience.

Founder Oh Chong Hau is steadfast in his belief in not using any synthetic flavouring or syrups, focusing instead on natural and homemade ingredients.

I started off with Mist & Tide, a drink that was initially inspired by a white Negroni, but evolved into ... something else. It’s nothing like a White Negroni now – there’s a lot going on in this drink, with glutinous rice pu er tea adding a lovely sweetish umami note.

With innovative drinks paired with unique side dishes, The Nest is one of the most underrated bars in Penang.

The drink is paired with Hokkaido scallops seared with homemade “sacha mala” butter, and a sliver of crispy duck skin on top. On its own, the drink is lovely, but it is sensational with the scallops.

I went for the Shiso Iced Tea and Jwipo next. It was a decent enough sip, refreshing and tastes exactly like, well, a shiso iced tea.

That Jwipo though ... it’s a Korean grilled filefish that looks like sotong strips, but tastes like a bit like fish bak kua, and went really well with the shiso flavours. Another instance where the pairing works better than the drink on its own.

The Poseidon's Potion is a strong martini that is made with Belvedere 10.

Lastly, I asked for a Martini drink (of course), and got the Poseidon’s Potion, made with Belvedere 10 vodka, Sorgin, honey tequila, and absinthe. On its own, it’s an excellent Martini – spirit-forward, full of flavour, a hint of sweetness, and with a streak of absinthe anise.

The pairing? Taiwanese mullet roe, grilled atop a bowl of flaming Shede baijiu, and served with pear. A decadent side dish to go with a decadent drink.

To add to the many accolades that Penang bars have been garnering, Oh also recently won the Malaysia leg of the Hennessy MyWay Challenge, and represented the country at the global finals in Cognac, France.

His winning creation, the Golden Fondue, is also available at The Nest.

Chez Chez has come to be one of my must-visit bars in Penang. Founding couple Felix Schumacher and Cheryl Phang are great hosts, and their drinks have a nice East and West flair that is quite unique.

The bar’s new “Senses” menu is a special one – it encourages you to use all five senses when sampling the drinks, and the menu itself has a scratch and sniff feature.

Some of the drinks have been a staple at Chez Chez since they moved to Lebuh Noordin last year, and among them, the Sauerkrautini and One Night In Bangkok are my regular go-tos.

Chez Chez has come to be one of my must-visit bars in Penang.

Of the newer drinks, the Lao Hao Beng is an interesting twist in a Penang kopitiam nutmeg classic, while their nitro-charged Espresso Martini has a nice Mezcal and banana twist to it.

The Wasabi And Bread was arguably my favourite of the new drinks – it’s bread-ish but has a lovely spicy finish.

Los Santos was another interesting one, with Paolo Santo adding a distinct flavour to a sort of tequila martini, and passion fruit caviar on the side allows you to adjust the sweetness to your liking.

Chez Chez's Lao Hao Beng is an interesting take on a Penang classic kopotiam drink.

All in all, I quite like this menu of drinks - the twists are not too far out and still have a distinct “Chez Chez” personality.

I do wish I got to try some of the other new drinks, but I guess the Kulim Old Fashioned and Blueberry Cheesecake will have to wait for my next visit to Penang!

Although I didn’t spend a lot of time there during PCW, it would be remiss of me not to mention The Suckling Pig, as I had not one, but two great Martinis there.

I went there on a whim, after a couple guest shifts on Day One of PCW, as the bar was just directly opposite the hotel I was staying in and it was relatively quiet.

The founder Adrian Foo is a bit of a celebrity in the bar industry – the Kelantan-native is a former head bartender of Singapore’s famous Jigger & Pony, leaving after almost a decade there to open The Suckling Pig in the middle of Georgetown.

A classic cocktail bar “rooted in Chinese spirits and oriental flavours”, the bar has a chill, laidback vibe, with the glittering lights of disco balls lending a lightheart vibe to the premises.

The first drink I had was the Dirty Asian Martini, made with seaweed infused gin, aged shao xing wine, Dolin dry vermouth, stuffed olive with seaweed, cream cheese and preserved bean curd.

The Dirty Asian Martini at The Suckling Pig is a drink that really lives up to its name.

It certainly lived up to its name – the Shaoxing wine gave it a distinctly Asian flavour that gelled pretty well with the dry vermouth, and the seaweed obviously added a little of umami maritime notes as well. Also strong as hell, just the way I like it.

The Shochu Martini (Daiyame 40 Shochu, Martin Miller’s Arctic Clarity Gin, Cocchi Americano, Lillet Blanc) was not the first time I’d had a shochu martini, but here, combination with the gin was quite lovely.

The Cocchi Americano’s quinine element also added a nice little tonic-like note to the finish.

I really liked this bar, and my only regret is I didn’t go back to have more of their drinks during the week.

Just around the corner from The Nest is a relatively new establishment, Round Bar, which was on my to-visit list even before Penang Cocktail Week.

Named after King Arthur’s Round Table, its current menu is based on the Seven Deadly Sins.

Round Bar is one of the newer establishments in Penang that is also worth a visit.

I started with the Hennessy VSOP-led Envy 2.0, mainly because it has two of my favourite cocktail ingredients – Benedictine DOM and Cognac, and also has a lemon cream brûlée element that actually adds a nice desserty touch to what reminded me of a classic Vieuve Carré.

Next, I went for Wrath 2.5 , a pretty tasty clarified Piña Colada riff with a unique tuak note on the finish.

The Hennessy VSOP-led Envy 2.0, at Round Bar.

For my last drink, I asked for a Martini (as usual), and founder and head bartender WK Boey made me a vesper twist that uses a bourbon bak kwa distillate (does that make it a ... Meatini?).

Though Boey said it’s still in the R&D phase, it was actually pretty good, and though it did still need a bit of work, it was pretty promising.

The drink will be for the bar’s next menu, by the way. Can’t wait to try the final product!

Located in Pulau Tikus, Baobae is another uniquely Penang bar that doesn’t conform to conventional bar sensibilities. I’d not been back there since before the very first Penang Cocktail Week in 2023, so I just had to right that wrong this time around.

It’s nice to see founder Tett Lim’s little “bar first, restaurant second” concept is still going strong, with his bespoked cocktails and Vietnamese bites.

While Lim tends to focus on a more bespoked style of bartending on regular days, the bar did have a menu of four featured drinks for PCW.

Located in Pulau Tikus, Baobae is another uniquely Penang bar that doesn’t conform to conventional bar sensibilities.

Wine And Spirit is a Dewar’s whisky highball creation inspired by Lim’s first discovery of wine, and his family’s love for wine and spirits. It’s got a nice “bleeding” presentation, and the drink itself is like a wine cooler... but stronger.

The gin-led Yuzu Business is dedicated to late bartending legend Sasha Petraske, and is nicely balanced between the honey sweetness and yuzu citrus.

The Umami Martini is a bespoke cocktail at Baobae.

With both rum and rye whiskey in it, Casper Old Fashioned veers very closely to the classic cocktail, but the rum and torched demerara gives it a lovely burnt candy note that normal sugar won’t have.

Finally, I got Lim to make me a martini, and he came up with the Umami Martini, with gin, fino sherry, dry vermouth, Umami bitters, and shochu, which was strong, dry, and full of Umami. Definitely gets my Martini stamp of approval.

Michael Cheang had a few other bars he wanted visit in Penang, but didn’t manage to this time around. Follow him on Instagram (@mytipsyturvy) and Facebook (fb.com/mytipsyturvy).