You don’t have to be having a mid-life crisis to drink a cocktail, not at this place. Popular Chiang Mai hotspot, Midlife Crisis’ founders Kitibordee “Gov” Chortubtime, Watcharapong “Bank” Suriyaphan, Jiranat Pinnoek and Wanthicha Claykongna want their bar to be a place where people can chill, drink and process their thoughts and problems. So, they have brought the midlife crisis centre, so to speak, to Sukhumvit 16.
While the interiors in Chiang Mai are louder, bolder and scream red hot, Bangkok’s branch is a tad more subtle with a blue interior and housed on the second floor of Asian-fusion restaurant, Pepe’s. A long winding bar has a seat for everyone, though there are couches for groups going through a mid-life crisis together.
Playing with algorithms on social media, Midlife Crisis’ cocktail names have a hashtag in front of them. The names are usually Thai puns with English translations below, making it easier for us non-Thai-reading people. Gov, of the defunct Backstage Bar and 2019 Diageo World Class Champion, played around with a few keywords in the puns to create the menu. Most drinks at both branches share the same name, though the ingredients and flavours may differ because as Gov puts it, “We want people to visit both bars and taste the difference. Chiang Mai and Bangkok are vastly different with dissimilar ingredients.”
“We didn’t come up with new names for the cocktails at the Bangkok branch because one keyword can have more than one result and outcome,” he explains. If you’re not into the hashtag or the cocktails on offer, have fun with a table slot machine and let fate decide what kind of drink, base spirit and prominent flavour you're drinking. Gov will create a bespoke cocktail using the three keywords.
Start with the #lovelesslotus (B450), which is beautiful to look at. Gov uses whisky and mixes it with lotus pollen and strawberry vermouth. The strawberry and lotus pollen give fruity and floral dimensions to the spirit-forward drink. The #easylover (B450) is an umeshu-based cocktail and hence the word easy. It is easy to drink, and most times you don’t realise how easy till it’s time to stand up (guilty!). The cocktail is made with a fig leaf tea that Gov brews with tomato juice, purple cabbage and sweet basil, and distills.
I love ginger and if it weren’t such a warming spice, I would have it in everything. The #gingerrunner (B450) blends eight-year-old rum with an Islay whisky and adds blended ginger vermouth and Campari. Smoky, sweet, bitter and spicy, what’s not to love? To cool down from the heat, try the #watermelon3times (B450). It has Gyokuro tea cold-brewed gin, dry vermouth, Cynar, apple, watermelon and fizzy water. The #cryingcomedian (B450) is a dirty martini-style drink, though better. Gov uses white rum as the base and the savouriness comes from capers and their brine, and heat from pickled jalapeño soaked in fino sherry.
It would be a crying shame to not end a night at Midlife Crisis with the #loveatfirstLIKE (B450), which is a Ramos Gin Fizz. Using house-blended berry gin with cocoa and kyoho grape characters. Call 063-1678-318 or email Midlifecrisisbarcnx@hotmail.com.
