BEING botanical-themed doesn’t mean offering only fruity or floral drinks. At the Hilton Singapore Orchard’s fifth-floor lobby bar Ginger.Lily, the cocktail programme spans a range of flavour profiles, even as each drink has callbacks to the green theme.

As a hotel bar and lounge, Ginger.Lily welcomes guests throughout the day, head mixologist Michael Mendoza noted. Their drinks menu has to do the same, he added: “We want to cater for every mood of the guests.”

Ginger.Lily’s multifaceted nature is captured in its design. An open, high-ceilinged central area is ideal for day drinking or afternoon tea; a side of cosier, more intimate seating sets the atmosphere for evening drinks.

The botanical theme, a tribute to the bar’s location on Orchard Road, is borne out in a feature wall of flowers in clear acrylic. This is echoed in the presentation of In Full Bloom, one of the bar’s signature cocktails.

“It’s like a picture frame,” explained Mendoza. The drink is served in a porthole infuser, with a colourful mix of fruits and herbs – raspberries, citrus slices, a sprig of rosemary – displayed within its glass walls.

Similarly Instagrammable is another signature, Seashell: a gin & tonic served not in a tall glass but a round one, with wave-evoking foam and topped with a net of crispy tiny crabs.

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The menu’s 14 cocktails are mostly variations on classics, which Mendoza likens to “primary colours” used in the composition of new drinks. Yet these creations do subvert some expectations.

The representative long drink, Birds & The Bees, features whisky – not quite the traditional spirit for something fizzy and sweet – together with macerated fruit, honey, and ginger ale.

Meanwhile, Mellow Fellow is a spirit-forward Negroni variant that mixes gin and aperitifs, aged in a bamboo stem rather than a barrel.

Another bamboo-aged cocktail is Coffee Break, topped with a foam of the bar’s homemade strawberry kombucha. The bamboo stems perch on Ginger.Lily’s kitchen island-style bar, alongside a rack of raw honeycomb.

For those after a non-alcoholic drink, Ginger.Lily has three teetotal creations that use non-alcoholic spirits. Said Mendoza: “We want to elevate the mocktail experience.”

The fizzy Lemonade Lustre includes Lyre’s White Cane Spirit – the non-alcoholic equivalent of white rum – with lavender and fermented “lacto blueberries”.

Fresh Botany, meanwhile, mixes Seedlip Spice with apple kombucha, lychee, and lemongrass.

Kombucha is also served as a welcome drink for afternoon tea.

There is also an all-day dining menu, ranging from salmon tartare with avocado and rock lobster risotto to a lamb rack and sea urchin tagliatelle.

The bar itself offers snacks such as a half-dozen oysters, avocado bruschetta and brie de meaux.

With the bar having only opened earlier in 2022, this marks its first year-end holiday season.

Throughout December, three festive cocktails are on offer: the Clarified Eggnog for a clear version of the traditional Christmas drink; the 0°F Negroni for a below-freezing take on the classic; and the Botanical Trail Mulled Wine.

There is also the non-alcoholic Hot Chocolate Honey, using locally-farmed honey.

In Full Bloom

45ml Rinquinquin peach aperitif 120ml London Essence Bitter Orange & Elderflower Tonic Served with fruits and herbs in a porthole infuser