How Asia bar industry expert Holly Graham found her calling and why she’s now telling the stories of its people
- Holly Graham talks about her journey to becoming Drink Magazine Asia’s managing editor and how the Lion Rock spirit is still strong in Hong Kong’s bar community
- Her new book, Cocktails of Asia, tells the stories of influential bars, drinks and the people behind them
“I think a lot of the world has looked down on Hong Kong’s drinks industry in the past. They look at us and think, ‘Oh, they’re a budding bar scene,’” Holly Graham says.
We’re sitting on a comfortable leather sofa in Kuromaru, a retro-outfitted Japanese bar on Wan Chai’s Mallory Street, drinking elegant shochu-based cocktails as we discuss her life in drink.
“But here is a great example, with Japanese-style bars,” she says, gesturing towards the bar, where smartly dressed bartenders calmly mix drinks. “You don’t get many of them outside of Japan and maybe Taiwan. And here, we have so many long-standing ones.”
The diversity of Asia’s bar community is the subject of Graham’s debut book, Cocktails of Asia. Published in June 2022 by Hong Kong printing press Man Mo Media, it is described as a “love letter to the bar industry and … the people and places behind it”.
The 200-plus-page book introduces iconic and influential bars from around Asia, from Mumbai to Shanghai, as experienced and appreciated by Graham herself. Each chapter focuses on the personal stories of the people behind the bars, and the recipes that represent their contribution to the regional bar scene.