A Local Take on An Icon
The famous Bloody Mary cocktail gets a local twist that’s a welcome addition to The St Regis Kuala Lumpur’s legendary Astor Bar
The st regis Kuala Lumpur’s Astor Bar comes with a long legacy, with the Bloody Mary cocktail undoubtedly being its most iconic. While most know the alcoholic concoction as a magic cureall for a hangover, the cocktail itself has an interesting beginning, going back pretty far. Called the Red Snapper at St Regis hotels around the world, the story began when the son of the hotel’s founder invited a gifted Parisian bartender to helm the King Cole Bar at The St Regis New York. The creative bartender had created a rudimentary version of the Bloody Mary before going to New York and continued to experiment until he perfected the recipe and debuted the cocktail in 1934. However, due to the hotel’s esteemed clientele, the drink was renamed Red Snapper and has since become a signature cocktail of the St Regis brand. With each St Regis around the world having its own local spin, such as the Aloha Mary in Hawaii or the Wasabi Mary in Japan, Kuala Lumpur too has its own take—the Assam Boi Mary. Made with asam boi-infused vodka, cili padi and a mixture of vegetable and tomato juice to shake things up, this local take on the classic cocktail is inherently Malaysian and a worthy compatriot for the other versions around the world. Even with an infusion of cili padi and asam boi, the flavour profile of the cocktail is very much still a Bloody Mary. Black pepper and chilli occasionally pops in the mouth with bursts of spiciness, while the drink is sweeter than the bar’s traditional Red Snapper. This makes for a Malaysian version worthy of the name.