Drinks at Jones The Grocer @ Dempsey Hill

Block 9 Dempsey Road #01-12 Dempsey Hill, Singapore 247697

Tel: 6476 1512

Website: http://www.jonesthegrocer.com

I hung out at Dempsey Hill pretty often lately - and the venue for drinks tonight was none other than Jones the Grocer. Usually I visit the outlet at Mandarin Gallery, Orchard (read about it here), so this was considered a first visit to the Dempsey Hill branch.

It was very spacious compared to its Orchard counterpart, and boosts of more groceries on sale. Rest assured that these are all special, quality cans and jars and bottles here - such as wine reduction, preserved olives etc, exotic items not found in your normal supermarkets.

The array of pastries was tantalizing - they even have Rainbow Cake now! But they were closing soon though it was merely 10.00pm on a Friday evening. Hence we stuck to the drinks and catching up we were here for.

*Gareth had the Maeloc Pear Cider (SGD10.00) - a dry cider with intense notes of pear and citrus freshness - well, a fizzy and extremely sweet beer redolent of very slight hints of pear's fragrance.

*Celine had the Little Creature Bright Ale (SGD$11.00) -  intense citrus and stone fruit characters carefully balanced with specialty malt - one of her personal favorites across several different restaurants / breweries / lounges / bars. I think I tasted it before - bittersweet.

I debated between several choices as usual, and ended up selecting the Lychee Collins (SGD$16.00) - a delicious twist to the conventional Tom Collins (Gin, Lychee Puree, Liquer, Fresh Lemon Juice and Vanilla Sugar topped with Soda). The hints of gin was light in this case, and I tasted the delightfully delicious flavor of lychee more . Bonus came in the form of large, juicy, liquer-soaked lychee fruits within the drink itself. What can I say, I loved it!