Our Australian Brand Ambassador’s Choice of Drink
Meet Rene Schaeffer, Bar Manager at Serai, an award-winning contemporary Filipino restaurant in Melbourne, Australia. Rene created this vibrant highball to celebrate becoming the Australian Brand Ambassador for Bandoeng’22 Pandan Liqueur and to showcase the layered flavors of Southeast Asia.
Why This Cocktail?
“I wanted to create an easy-serve highball with complex flavors for an event we hosted in July, which coincided with my appointment as Bandoeng’22 Brand Ambassador,” Rene explains.
“We collaborated with Melbourne distillery Dutch Rules to create Australia’s first Filipino-inspired gin. The main botanicals are Calamansi, Jasmine (Sampaguita), Bay Leaf, Green Mango, Batuan, Papaya, Pine, and Cashew Nut.
The tropical gin together with Bandoeng’22 Pandan Liqueur, with its sweet floral notes and spice kick, is a perfect match. The shiso bitters make it pop.
If you can’t find Mezzanine Makers Herbal Tonic, any good tonic will work.”
The name Sipan is a playful portmanteau:
– Sipag (the name of the gin) means diligence in Tagalog.
– Pandan adds its signature emerald touch.
– And in Tagalog, sipan can also mean layers—a nod to the cocktail’s rich layers of flavor.
How to Make the Sipan Highball
Here’s Rene’s recipe, so you can make the drink yourself.
Ingredients
30 ml Serai × Dutch Rules Sipag Gin
10 ml Bandoeng’22 Pandan Liqueur
5 ml fresh lime juice
2 dashes The Japanese Bitters Shiso Bitters
Mezzanine Makers Herbal Tonic (or any quality tonic)
Preparation
Build directly in a chilled highball glass over cubed ice. Top with herbal tonic and gently stir. Garnish with a shiso leaf and fresh calamansi (or a burned pandan leaf for extra aroma).
Meet Rene Schaeffer
From Dive Instructor to Cocktail Innovator
Rene’s path to bartending is anything but ordinary. Born in Essen, moved to Berlin, he first worked in social care and nightclub door work. My ‘Filipino journey’ started when I went to the US for 1 year as an exchange student and lived with a Filipino family. Then moved to the Philippines to become a dive instructor.
After five years of tropical life, he relocated to London, joining a friend’s cocktail events company in 2012. In 2014, a working holiday visa brought him to Melbourne, where he joined Siglo Bar, eventually becoming Bar Manager.
He’s now been at Serai for three years, leading the bar for the last two.
“I never worked a day of my life in an office and couldn’t imagine it,” says Rene. “I love the action and energy of a bar and the human interaction. My time in Southeast Asia left me with a deep appreciation for Asian flavors, Bandoeng’22 Pandan Liqueur fits perfectly into my cocktails at Serai.”
Raise a glass to the Sipan Highball, a drink that’s as layered and lively as Rene’s own journey.
Where can we follow Rene on Instagram? Click here
