Coming from a successful run last May at BGC, Johnnie Walker brought back its Johnnie Walker Highball Bar last August 19 until September 11. This time, they took a break from the bustling business district and instead found home in the quiet and laidback community of Molito all the way to the South. But while the environment may have been different, the signature Johnnie Weekend experience filled with good time and good food and drinks remained.
For its opening weekend last August 19, Johnnie Walker partnered with Karpos Multimedia to recreate a mini Wanderland Music Festival at the Johnnie Walker Highball Bar. The event was complete with live art from Lee Caces, music performances by Barbie Almalbis and August Wahh, DJ sets from DJ Ean Mayor, DJ Dayglo, and DJ Abdel Aziz, good food from Onlypans, Grouphug, Vito’s BBQ, and Hungry Homies, and highballs from the Johnnie Walker team including the iconic Johnnie & Lime, Johnnie & Ginger, and Johnnie & Apple.
DJ Dayglo, August Wahh and DJ Ean Mayor
Specialty cocktails developed by Diageo Brand Ambassador Rian Assidao and Diageo Reserve World Class Philippine Bartender of the Year 2018 Lester Ligon are the Johnnie Guava Sour, a creative twist on the classic whisky sour made with guava juice and the Johnnie Orange Cold Brew, a balanced whisky and coffee cocktail in collaboration with EACH Coffee and the Johnnie Old Fashioned, a timeless whisky cocktail that brings out the bold flavor of Johnnie Walker, stirred down with sugar and garnished with an orange wedge. Of course, the extensive range of Johnnie Walker such as Red Label, Black Label, Double Black, among others were available by the shot or bottle.
To encapsulate the distinct vibe of the Johnnie Walker Highball Bar in the south, we created a video together with Gabba Santiago who came up with the custom music inspired by his visit at the bar. Gabba is an independent musician whose most recent foray is his solo project under the moniker ‘Gabba’ which is an instrumental act which revolves around the Post-Rock, Math-Rock, and Progressive Rock sound.
For the instrumental track of this video, he shared that he wanted to show the contrast of Molito in the day which is very chill and laidback against the energetic highball bar at night.
Clara Benin, Daniel Peters, Laureen Uy and Patricia Prieto
“As the night went on, everyone became looser and the energy just kept on getting higher along with the live music. Also, more and more familiar faces were coming in so at one point it felt like a reunion. There were friends who I haven’t seen for a long time so it was really exciting. I tried to translate the buildup of the night into the music I made wherein it starts low and just goes higher and higher,” he shared when asked how his experience at the Johnnie Walker Highball Bar inspired him to create the instrumental track.
The presence of the Johnnie Walker Highball Bar—filled with energy and spirit—juxtaposed against the laidback energy of the South are complementary. And this is felt with the track’s progression. “I also intentionally used both organic and electronic elements as a way to mirror the combination of the laid back Molito vibe and the high energy highball bar.”
Watch the full video to get a feel of the Johnnie Walker Highball Bar.
Apart from the opening weekend of having a mini Wanderland Music Festival, Johnnie Walker held numerous weekend events at the Johnnie Walker Highball Bar:
August 26 –28: LU Long Time at the South Chill with La Union food favorites: Hang Burgers, Sabong Fried Chicken, and El Union Coffee with DJ sets from Some Guy & South House Co and live music by She’s Only Sixteen
September 2-4: Johnnie Walker x Let’s Eat Pare feat. Red Ollero with Let’s Eat Pare to bring crowd-favorite food partners Daniel Baker, Kanto Pares, and Starr’s Famous Shakes to the Highball Bar with a stand-up performance by comic Red Ollero
September 9-11: Poblacion Eats with Careless Music to close the Molito run on a high note with food offerings from Notorious Concepts’ Alamat, West 32, and Japonesa live music performances from Lesha Liton and Issa Pressman on September 10 at 9PM
Laureen Uy, Lee Caces, and Patricia Henson and friends
SUPPORT PURVEYR
If you like this story and would love to read more like it, we hope you can support us for as low as ₱100. This will help us continue what we do and feature more Filipinos who create. You can subscribe to the fund or send us a tip.
