3 Women Who Are Dominating the Bartending Scene in Singapore
Bartending has earned itself a reputation of being a predominantly masculine profession. This International Women’s Day, we talk to three women who are spearheading the scene about how their work has since become second nature and how it has defied gendered constructs by having them thriving in what’s typically known as a ‘man’s world’.
When you look back at the origins of bartending or mixology, you’ll often find men behind the bar, making history as famed mixologists who have shaped the cocktail scene. Names like Jerry Thomas, and master of pre-Prohibition cocktails Harry Craddock, the last man to shake a cocktail before the Prohibition era began, tend to come up in conversations. As such, society has the tendency of viewing bartending as a gendered skill, though it most definitely is not anymore with more women joining the profession.
Studies conducted in academic publications like Ava Baron’s Work Engendered: Toward a New History of American Labor have also called out the masculine space of the cocktail industry across the world, citing that women in the past were not allowed to try their hand at bartending as they were not “emotionally or temperamentally suited for the job.” Baron goes on to describe the job requisite as a “sacred professional realms of the male,” and that bartenders “prided themselves on being the priestly overseers of the exclusively male drinking societies.” Of course, that excludes the women who have taken said gendered narratives and defied them by running their own bars in the 1920s and 1930s.
Luckily for us, times have changed and so have the notions of what women can or cannot do. Over the years, women have gotten a lot more vocal and enthusiastic about stepping into male-dominated roles like engineering, construction work and farming.
In today’s day and age, prominent bartenders – Hazel Long, head bartender and owner of Junior The Pocket Bar, Leow Yinying, principal bartender at Live Twice, and Desiree Jane, bartender and co-owner of Sago House and Low Tide, have also set an example and made a name for themselves in their respective roles within the still male-dominated cocktail scene in Singapore.
The general consensus of the three women? Gendered constructs are close to non-existent within the field today and they can hold their own against their male counterparts should they ever find themselves discriminated against.
Give It A Shot
“Like many Singaporeans, I stumbled upon the profession during my university days,” says Hazel when asked how she gained interest in bartending. “At the time, it was meant to be a temporary, part-time thing. I was bound for a military career after university, but when that didn’t work out, I decided to take up an offer and give bartending a proper shot.”
For Yinying, it all started in Malaysia during an internship at a bar. “I later on moved on to a full-time bartending job in Kuala Lumpur with an Italian lounge bar called Marini’s on 57. Afterwards, I pursued classic and bespoke cocktails at Omakase + Appreciate, a speakeasy bar that was also in KL. Eventually, I felt that I needed more exposure, so I decided to move to Singapore.”
“My journey began 10 years ago at 28 Hong Kong Street,” says Desiree. “It is where my passion and love for cocktail bars began. Fast forward to now, I co-own two cocktail bars, Sago House and Low Tide.”
All three women have admitted to growing a lot over the years – specifically in hospitality management, practical knowledge and life skills like patience – from experiences with past mentors, and through their love for the skill and the environment they’re in.
“What really turned bartending into a passion for me was the creative energy I experienced and the amazing people that I met along the way,” says Hazel. “I’ve crossed paths with so many people in the field and the abundance of knowledge, skills and creativity out there has really kept me motivated and reinforced how I feel about the industry.”
“I like that the industry here is moving at a fast pace and is always catching up with trends,” Yinying adds. “It moves quickly and yet we are all able to catch up with new technologies, and arts and crafts every day. No matter how experienced you are, you can still learn something new daily. For example, I am still discovering new classics that are not common in Singapore!”
For Desiree, bartending simply encompasses everything she appreciates in life. “I love everything about it – the organised messiness, the different people I meet every day, the camaraderie, the rush of a busy room, the thinking on your feet, the solving of problems on the spot, the art of dealing with different people from all walks of life and of course, the happy guests.”
Old Fashioned
Aside from the obvious appreciation for their work, the women shared that they have not experienced any gender biases in their profession, unlike what was common to the women of the past. “There certainly is a perception of bartending as a typically masculine profession, but I can’t say in my personal experience that I’ve had an issue with my gender at work or felt the need to prove myself because of it,” shares Hazel.
Desiree goes on to agree: “I never really saw it as an issue or felt that bars were male-dominated. Perhaps this was more so when I was a teenager working in traditional bars where there were mostly men behind the bars. But now, in this present time, there are many rockstar females who are bartending and owning bars.”
The women also go on to elaborate that they’ve never felt like they have been treated differently because of their gender due to the acceptance and respect that their male counterparts have for them. “I can’t speak for the entire field or industry, but I think my team has built an environment that doesn’t include gender as part of the conversation of whether you’re a good or equal team member or bartender,” Hazel explains.
“The challenges we face as females are similar to how it is for my male counterparts,” Yinying continues. The bartender breaks it down perfectly: “If a guest requests for a complex drink, it would be equally challenging for both myself and for any male bartender.”
Instead, the women feel rewarded for their work and feel welcomed within the scene. “It’s the variety of experiences I have that I think is the most rewarding,” says Hazel. “I wake up for work every day not knowing what’s in store for me. Working with my awesome team is also very rewarding – even if only because our kitchen team feeds us very well with delicious family meals every day!”
“The fun and the atmosphere is the best part,” Desiree concludes, even joking that she would never survive a routine desk job.
Though not all have accepted the blending of binaries within gendered spaces, it seems the biases between genders are progressively fading away with the times. With the open conversations that people are having about gender equality, and the physical representations of powerful women within traditionally masculine spaces more prominent now, it’s safe to say that it’s only going to get better from here on.
