Backdoor Bodega’s vaccine cocktails: a cure for lockdown boredom

Pfizermeister, Sinosour and ExtraGineca – a go-to cure for lockdown boredom. (Tsen Ee Lin @ FMT Lifestyle pic)

TANJUNG BUNGAH:

Imagine yourself in a speakeasy below the streets of George Town. You approach the bar, thirsty for a drink. The bartender asks if you’d like a shot – of Pfizermeister, Sinosour or ExtraGineca.

Wait a minute, that doesn’t sound right!

But it is. Backdoor Bodega, an award-winning speakeasy in the heart of Penang, has concocted the country’s first vaccine-inspired cocktails, and Malaysians have been going crazy over them.

The delicious handcrafted mixes have been in demand in practically every state and have even made waves in Singapore.

A fine-dining chef, a designer and an ex-flight attendant walk into a bar… Backdoor Bodega’s team is as diverse as its drinks. (Tsen Ee Lin @ FMT Lifestyle pic)

Backdoor Bodega mixologist Samir Lim, 25, tells FMT that the idea came about earlier this year when Malaysians were wondering when they would receive their vaccine appointments.

“Many were asking why we weren’t getting our vaccines, so we thought, ‘Why not send ‘vaccine cocktails’ to people?'” he said, explaining that it was a way of creating a cure for lockdown woes.

The cocktails are obviously derived from the three vaccine types available in Malaysia, but innovatively, the alcohols in them are based on the nations that developed each one.

Samir used to fly around the world as a cabin crew member with Singapore Airlines. (Tsen Ee Lin @ FMT Lifestyle pic)

“Pfizer-BioNTech was a collaboration between a United States and German company, so we used American bourbon and Jägermeister,” Samir shares.

The ExtraGineca is a blend of fruity Pimm’s with a dash of English breakfast tea, paying homage to its British origins; while the Sinosour was inspired by Sinovac’s oriental roots mixing Chinese Baijiu with the puckering punch of sour plum.

It took hours of experimenting to perfect each drink but by the end of May, Backdoor Bodega had the ultimate lockdown boredom-buster at their disposal, ready to be despatched to eager customers.

Each cocktail comes in a medical-grade bottle with a syringe, delivered right to customers’ doorsteps.

Samir demonstrating the best way to enjoy a Sinosour: stirred in a chilled glass with a block of ice. (Tsen Ee Lin @ FMT Lifestyle pic)

Curiously, the first customers to purchase these vials were local pharmacists.

“They would send orders to their friends who worked in pharmacies all across the country,” laughs 34-year-old Koh Yung Shen, the owner of Backdoor Bodega.

The team found heartwarming moments in their work, not from the alcohol but from their customers, many of whom would include personal messages in their orders for friends or family members.

“It was very heartwarming to see messages like ‘I can’t wait to see you’, ‘I haven’t seen you in a year’ and ‘I miss you’,” Koh recalls, adding that there were even congratulatory messages for those who were starting new jobs.

Each label was specially designed by Koh, the man behind Backdoor Bodega. (Tsen Ee Lin @ FMT Lifestyle pic)

In 2019, Backdoor Bodega was recognised as one of Penang’s top cocktail bars by The Bar Awards, a regional prize.

Before it bottled vaccine cocktails, the bar – which opened in 2016 – was known as an “overpriced pin shop” with over 40 signature drinks on its menu, each served free with the purchase of an enamel pin.

It continues to sell these novelty items from RM35 inclusive of a drink, as well as merchandise such as t-shirts, baseball caps and a dice set, all available on the Backdoor Bodega website.

And the team continues to create new alcoholic concoctions, the latest being their “Cap Pintu Medicated Cocktail”, a minty martini in the form of Malaysia’s beloved “Cap Kapak Minyak” rubbing oil.