Mulan Cocktail Bar Brings Inventive Drinks and Modern Vibes to Shuangjing

So much more than mere alcohol flows from the decanter into your glass as Yani, your barkeep, readies your cocktail at Mulan Whisky and Cocktail Bar, the recently opened lounge near Shuangjing’s Hopson complex. As the bartender tips the bottle, the amber-shaded, whiskey-based cocktail filling your cup is accompanied by plumes of haze, giving you a whole new appreciation for the phrase "smoky-flavored drink." Yes the RMB 98 Aroma of the Mist cocktail certainly lives up to its name, and not only because of its mix of Maker's Mark bourbon, wine, and Campari, but also because of the Hookah-esque device our bartender used to puff some smoke into the mix, giving pthe drink an enchantingly hazy flavor and making for an eye-catching show as the cocktail is being readied.

The ambiance at Mulan is equally slick and stylish. Rather than going for the retro-chic motif employed at countless lounges across town, Mulan instead has starkly black walls not unlike a black box theatre, with some plush dark leather furniture to round things out. Upstairs there's a VIP room with more brightly painted walls and cushy sofas. Behind the bar are a staggering five shelves reaching nearly all the way up to the high ceiling (again, a different feature from more nooky bars in real estate-scarce Beijing), and those shelves are chockablock with 140 bottles of whiskey.

Having cut his teeth at the more vintage-vibed, but nonetheless well regarded Bubble Bar in Sanlitun, manager Ze Nan Shi says he's now eager to try something new and more creative in a different part of town, training staff members like Yani to ready the drinks he's created with equal enthusiasm. He says Shuangjing is promising, not only because of the sprawling new Hopson complex next to his bar and the well-established expat community in the southern neighborhood but also because of the increasing number of discerning Chinese customers in the area, coupled with a relative dearth of high-end lounges when compared to more saturated nightlife haunts like Sanlitun or Xinyuanxili. 

Aside from the Aroma of the Mist cocktail we also tried the less stiff, more sour RMB 88 Flashy. Though it's also a whiskey-based cocktail, it's served Chinese-style in a porcelain bowl and had citrusy notes thanks to its lemon juice. The Far East motif of the drink was furthered by the addition of rosemary, while a bit of almond syrup gave it a distinctive aftertaste. However, Ze Nan Shi’s garnish of a hunk of bacon, that he sizzled with a culinary torch until smoky, knocked the proceedings off track entirely. I very much commend him for trying to push the envelope, but he overreached on that one and rendered the drink bizarre, almost comically over-the-top. 

Nevertheless, the Aroma of the Mist was fantastic, in terms of both flavor and presentation, and other specialty cocktails on offer also impressed like the Emerald Forest (RMB 88, made with gin, passion syrup, sugar cane syrup, and lime juice), Pink Lolita (RMB 88, made with gin, lemon juice, sugar syrup, snow pear, grenadine syrup and egg white), the Lightly (also RMB 88 and consisting of sweet vermouth, passion syrup and soda water), the Mist (RMB 98 and made with rye whiskey, cinnamon syrup, pastis and an orange twist), all well balanced and satisfyingly flavorful. The whiskey list is pretty strong, featuring everything from 10-year-old Ben Nevins (RMB 120 per glass), Balbair from 1999 (RMB 140 per glass), a 12-year-old Aberlour Speyside (RMB 70 per glass), 18-year-old Glenfiddich (RMB 80 per glass) and a wide range of Japanese varieties.

Be it the sleekly modern ambiance or the cutting-edge creativity of many of the cocktails, this new bar has a distinctive personality that stands out from many of its Beijing cocktail peers and makes it a welcome addition to Shuangjing.

Mulan Whisky and Cocktail Bar
Daily 7pm-2am. Building 3, 1 1-105 Shuangyuan Nanli, Shuangjing, Chaoyang District (157 3216 7286/8892 8288)
双井 双花园南里三区1号楼1-105

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Photos: Kyle Mullin