Atlas' Yana Keller on the drink all bartenders should master

After six editions of Your Favourite Bar's Favourite Bar column, one establishment consistently appears on the lists of industry professionals' favourite watering holes in Singapore.

- Teo Kai Xiang

Located at the Art Deco-style Parkview Square in North Bridge Road, Atlas has established itself as one of Singapore's most decorated venues since it launched in 2017.

It has placed in every iteration of the World's 50 Best Bars annual industry ranking, except in 2022. The bar even appeared in Season 3 of HBO's hit sci-fi series Westworld (2016 to 2022).

When asked why Atlas draws praise globally, the bar's beverage director Yana Keller says it comes down to stellar service and a distinctive character that makes it stand out.

"When you walk into Atlas, you're immediately awed by the space," says the 35-year-old, who worked her way up from barista to head bartender to running the bar's drinks programme. "I've been here for eight years and it never gets old."

Some of the bar's iconic and frequently Instagrammed features include extensive brasswork—evocative of the Roaring Twenties, or what Ms Keller calls "the golden age of drinking"—and a 15m-tall gin tower containing the bar's collection of over 1,400 gin bottles.

"When we started, there were only about 60 to 70 locally available gins in Singapore, so our target was to bring it up to 900," she says.

The team at Atlas created what it called the "gin mule", enlisting travelling friends to bring back bottles from around the world to expand the bar's collection.

Each potential addition undergoes a gin tasting panel, which Ms Keller describes as her favourite part of the work day.

Ms Keller also leads the Juniper Society, a membership-based gin appreciation group of around 500 who convene at the bar.

Parkview Square, completed in 2002, was property developer C.S. Hwang's final masterpiece.

In 2016, his granddaughter Vicky Hwang transformed part of the building into Atlas, envisioning a social venue that would also pay homage to her grandfather's architectural legacy.