Celebrity chef and queen of the kitchen, Poh Ling Yeow, is working with The Singleton whisky in a bid to showcase the versatility of modern whisky drinking.
When you think of traditional whisky, fresh summer cocktails and delicious, modern savoury and sweet tapas-style food aren’t necessarily the images that spring to mind. However, celebrity chef Poh Ling Yeow and The Singleton whisky are aiming to change that perception through their new exclusive drinking and dining experience at QTMelbourne, The Singleton’s Delicious Discoveries.
Whisky, like gin and agave, are enjoying a resurgence in popularity, especially among a younger crowd. The Singleton wants to build on whisky’s surging popularity and challenge the perception of the “typical whisky drinker”.
From February 2, guests will be able to sample some of Poh’s “culinary curiosities” – such as pandan coconut sago shots and apple miso caramel turnovers with vanilla creme fraiche – from a sushi-train style high top table, with personalised Singleton “plus two” cocktails. The concept behind the plus two cocktail is to mix the 12-year-old single malt whisky with one sparling and one still mixer – whatever can be found in the average Australian refrigerator.
“Whisky is one of the only things that I drink,” Pho told Forbes Australia. “I am not at all a connoisseur of it, and that’s why I think I am a really good brand ambassador – I am completely clueless!
“They’re not preaching to the converted with me, and I love the ‘plus-two concept, because I am such a lazy sod when it comes to cocktails. To me this makes whisky so accessible. I don’t know why, but with beverage I just don’t have the patience and with food I am happy to go the extra mile.”
The Singleton National Brand Ambassador, Kate McGraw, says as whisky continues to grow in popularity, the company wants to challenge notion of the traditional whisky drinker.
“I am going to level with you: whisky can be kind of scary sometimes. It can be really intimidating and comes with this perception of what a whisky drinker looks like, and generally they don’t look like either Poh nor me.
“At Singleton we stand to challenge all of those ideas of what we have in our mind about what whisky is and how we drink it. For us it’s about re-defining who drinks whisky, why we drink whisky, where we drink whisky and how we drink it,” McGraw says.
The Singleton’s Delicious Discoveries will feature at QTMelbourne until April.