Art and Fine Spirits feel almost like an inevitable match. After all, both embody craftsmanship and in turn demand the pausing of time, the dissolution of one's surroundings in order to pay it its due appreciation.

Intuitively it just clicks. Ask any collector, heck ask anyone who enjoys whiskies or rums or any sort of spirit for that matter, and they'll tell you that a great bottle donning a gorgeous artwork possesses an almost inescapable gravitational pull of sorts on one's wallet. You almost feel like you have little choice but to add it to your shelf.

"I'd like to think I played a role in bringing art to spirits"

Warren Khong

Why's that? Humans after all select items because we resonate with it and picture it as an extension of us or we desire to add it to ourselves and thereby augment our identity. It truly has a mercurial quality about it that simply feels right.

The Artifice series of Karuizawa's rendered by Singaporean artist Warren Khong. (Image Source: Bonhams)

It wasn't always the case though, as Singaporean artist Warren Khong reflects, "I'd like to think I played a role in bringing art to spirits". Who should know better than a man whose works have adorned amongst the most sought after Karuizawa whiskies and has been commissioned to cover the bottles of an entire Velier series of rum bottlings dedicated to his art.

But first - a highball!

And so today, we're about to take it one step further, we'll get to enjoy several drams of whiskies and rums whilst appreciating the debut of several new artworks by a trio of Singapore's art luminaries Warren Khong, Fiona Koh and Tay Bak Chiang - and whisky and rum label frequenters as well - in a project titled Neat Work. We had in our presence two prominent local bottlers, M&E Drinks and Malt, Grain & Cane, who paired their whiskies and rums for the evening.

An exploration in Art and Spirits pairing.

The name "Neat Work" is, as illuminated by Warren, a play on the words "Neat" referring to both a job well done, as well as the act of savouring fine spirits undiluted.

The venue was itself a really cool surprise - a hair salon by day, which has been converted into an art gallery for the event.

The first piece of art comes from both Warren and Fiona, who jointly created a text-based artwork "One Day, Almost. If Only..." which comes from their Punctuation Series, which may appear like print but is actually hand painted to an incredible level of precision!

On the surface, the work appears simple, but as Warren explains, it is a triptych (a three-part work) that is perhaps alittle more sombre than meets the eye, and yet relatable to all humans - the moments where words of hope meets reality. 

"How many of us have said "One day,"... One day, we'll take a holiday... or "Almost."... You almost made something you wished for happen but alas it was not to be..."If Only,"... If only things were different,... If only I had done this or you had done that..."

Each all too oft said piece of hopefulness is perfectly paired with a punctuation that embodies reality. 

This was paired with an 11 Year Old Glenburgie bottled by M&E Drinks.

This was actually the first bottling from local Singaporean independent bottling stalwart and featured a couple of his early partners, and was rendered by the now prominent whisky label artist, Whisky Hobo (whom we interviewed here).

The chief of M&E tells us that the bottle represents much of what the afore artwork conveys - a sense of hope that meets reality. However, he expresses that while this bottle almost never happened (which would lead to M&E Drinks altogether), he is thankful that it nonetheless did. And today we have loads of great releases from them.

This was a fantastic vibrant Glenburgie with loads of lovely floral notes and Sherry fruitiness on the palate. It sports great complexity of bright notes, a creamy texture, and then richer cooked fruits, with an incredibly long and ever-evolving finish.

Fantastic stuff, reminds me why we love Glenburgie so much!

Next up, we have a work by Tay Bak Chiang, whose art you might have seen on some incredibly sought after Chichibu's or some locally bottled Port Charlotte.

This work is titled Lunar Gate and was inspired by an old poem from China's dynastic era, which described the poet's experience of having travelled to visit a friend who was nowhere to be found upon the poet's arrival. As he had arrived in the dead of night, he had contemplated if he should knock on the door or simply push it open and enter his friend's abode.

The poem centers around this conflict - to knock would alert his friend, but would also disrupt the neighbours, yet to enter without warning would seem rude.

Bak Chiang explains that this is an often felt tension during his creative process - how should he render his works in light of competing ideas and desires of interpretation. Yet he believes that when we stop to consider our actions, we are nonetheless more thoughtful and hence the better for it.

Here we have a 10 Year Old Secret Islay with an awesome label designed by American artist Charles Fazzino paired with the artwork. 

The bottling was done by M&E Drinks alongside Aloha Whisky and Bar Mirai - their first ever friendship bottle!

This was bright, zesty and coastal - just as you would have a certain Caol Ila. Its aromas had so much oomph, whilst the palate balanced out with more sweetness and continued to bloom into the finish with more on white florals, soot and vanilla cream. Spectacular!

We were then guided to a narrow corridor that led somewhat surprisingly to a TV screen filled with flickering images that didn't quite make sense.

However, Warren explained that this video-media work by himself and Fiona had a hidden code of sorts - it was a first attempt at something more out of character for the two artists - a fun experiment in conveying a message through smaller individual messages packaged in the form of GIFs.

They talked about how GIFs are commonly used today as a form of conveying a feeling or a message without necessarily spelling it out. And yet somehow it does so perfectly well, presenting almost a new form of communication.

The work is titled "Galileo, Galileo", and I wonder if our readers can figure the hidden message from my photo alone.

This was paired with M&E Drinks' latest 2005 Long Pond Jamaican rum bottling - a real treat with all its verve and boldness, with loads of classic Jamaican-styled overripe bananas, but also showcasing a rarer note of old lacquered wood. Great stuff! This is actually my second encounter with the bottling, check my review of M&E's 2005 Long Pond here.

Unlike the previous two bottlings, this one's actually still available via M&E Drinks over here, if you're keen. 

Now we're on to the fourth artwork of the night and going strong!

This one's a five-part piece titled #164 | #165 | #166 | #167 | #168 by Warren, which was inspired by his art academy mentor's opinion that Warren's creative process resembled more closely to that of an engineer than something more spontaneous. Yet, Warren posited that it was ultimately a reflection of his personality which is then expressed in his artistic style.

Here we're paired with a 14 Year Old Belize rum from Travellers Distillery, bottled by Singaporean indie bottler Malt, Grain & Cane (MGC). It's been awhile since I tried this during MGC's launch and its always nice to revisit some lovely rums.

This bottle is punchy and exuberant with lots of heady florals, vanilla and darker notes of raisins and figs. On the palate expect heaps of dark chocolate, pandan, menthol and an aromatic roastiness. This was a heavily flavored and a real textural sensation. 

We have Bak Chiang back to unveil his latest piece -  Love Awakens. The idea behind which was to illustrate the seeds of love bursting open from anticipation and blossoming, much like a tree.

For this work, we were treated to a lovely Kavalan Solist Port Cask Taiwanese Single Malt selected by Malt, Grain & Cane. As you would have it, the label of the whisky bears much resemblance to the primary color of the artwork.

This Kavalan, the latest of MGC's selection showcased rich and deep notes of sour plums, fruitcake, raisins and mocha - a lovely, aromatic and delicious dram that warms the soul.

As this was recently unveiled by MGC, it actually still is available if you're interested - over here.

To cap off the night, we had Fiona who gave her interpretation to her work Green Threads Black Hair which explores her perspectives towards the connotations around ageing.

Fiona has a particular fondness to the color green and is a consistent motif across her works - which incidentally, is the label for our final spirits pairing of the night - an 11 Year Old Clarendon Jamaican rum! 

This was again selected by Malt, Grain & Cane and bears Fiona's work 青年, which translates to "youth" but holds a double meaning of one's quality of remaining evergreen.

I'd like to believe it is the aspiration of MGC's humorous founder to continue to approach his drinks selections with new eyes.

This is a lovely Jamaican rum that I've also had the benefit of enjoying before and just as I remember, this had a buttery texture, with loads of butterscotch, lovely yellow kiwis, alittle bit of licorice that offers that nice contrast. This somehow always reminds me of a traditional Southeast Asian confectionary tau sar piah which is a sweet and/or salty flaky pastry stuffed with mung bean paste.

And what a way to cap off the night! 

Did I mention that in the lovely intimate showcase where we were brought from artwork to artwork, dram to dram, we had in our presence a very wonderful little Dachshund that was so incredibly affectionate and was constantly on the lookout for belly rubs!

This was an incredibly enjoyable night filled with great art, great spirits and some awesome company, as we got to listen to artists and bottles themselves take us through the objects of their passion.

Was that neat work or what?

Kanpai!

@111hotpot