Being easy company
Ordering at a bar
Say three things, in this order. The thing: a category or a brand (“a Negroni”, “Glenfiddich 12”, “a gin and tonic, Tanqueray if you have it”). The serve: neat is spirit only at room temperature, on the rocks is over ice, up is chilled and strained with no ice, highball or with soda / tonic / ginger ale is tall and fizzy, double is two measures. The format: pint or half, bottle or can, glass or bottle of wine, tower, bottle service. Modifiers if you care: “with a twist”, “dirty”, “easy ice”, “less sweet”. For wine by the glass, name the grape or the colour plus “dry”: “a glass of the Sauvignon Blanc”, “the house red”.
Singapore specifics: “one Tiger” at a kopitiam is a 633 ml bottle to share, ice is normal. Happy hour is usually 5–8 pm, often one-for-one. Retail sales and public drinking stop 10:30 pm to 7 am; the drinking age is 18. The drink-drive limit is being halved: the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act passed in 2026 takes it from 35 to 15 µg of alcohol per 100 ml of breath (80 down to 30 mg per 100 ml of blood), in force later in 2026. At 15 µg one drink can put you over, so the honest answer while driving is none.
Words that signal fluency
- Dry
- No residual sugar (wine); less vermouth (Martini); “brut” (sparkling); “karakuchi” (sake, and Asahi Super Dry). Define it by context.
- Tannic
- The mouth-drying grip in reds, from skins and oak.
- Body
- Light, medium or full weight in the mouth.
- Oaky
- Vanilla and toast from barrels.
- Peaty, smoky
- Phenols from peat-dried malt; Islay is the home, but peat is a process, not a region.
- Sherried
- Whisky aged in ex-sherry casks (Macallan, GlenDronach): dried fruit and Christmas cake.
- Finish
- How long the taste lasts. Also “port finish”: final months in a port cask.
- Single malt, blended
- One distillery’s malted barley versus malts plus grain whisky. Single malt means one distillery, not one cask.
- Cask strength, NAS
- Undiluted from the barrel; no age statement on the label.
- Session, hazy, crisp
- Beer words: low enough to have several; cloudy juicy IPA; clean cold lager.
- Corked
- A musty wine fault. The sommelier’s taste is a check for this, not a chance to send it back for taste.
- Old World, New World
- Europe labels the region; everywhere else labels the grape.
- Junmai, ginjo, daiginjo
- Sake: no added alcohol; rice polished to 60%; polished to 50%.
- 酱香, 浓香, 清香
- Baijiu aroma types: sauce (Moutai), strong (Wuliangye), light (Fenjiu). 高度 and 低度 for strength.
- Blanco, reposado, añejo
- Tequila ages: unaged, rested up to a year, aged one to three years.
- VS, VSOP, XO
- Cognac minimum ages: two, four and ten years.
- Imo, mugi, kome
- Shochu bases: sweet potato, barley, rice. Mizuwari is with water, oyuwari with hot water.
- Somaek, haibōru, nomihodai
- Soju in beer; a Japanese whisky-soda; an all-you-can-drink session, usually two hours.
Toasting and etiquette
Chinese business dinners (mainland, Singapore, Malaysia)
The host toasts first; nobody drinks before that. 干杯 with baijiu is literal, drain the cup; 随意 (“as you like”) is the sanctioned sip. Clink with your rim below a senior’s rim, stand for elders and bosses, and hold the glass with both hands or with the left hand supporting. Expect to go round the table toasting people (敬酒) and to be toasted back (回敬). Pour for others and never only for yourself. Cognac and red wine are as common as baijiu; Martell Cordon Bleu on the wedding table, Hennessy with green tea at KTV. To decline without losing face: 以茶代酒, “tea in place of wine”.
At the banquet table, tea has its own manners: tapping two fingers thanks a pour (a Cantonese habit that has spread), and a lid left open on the pot asks for a refill. Singapore Chinese weddings end with three rounds of 饮胜 “yaaam-seng”.
Korean
Never pour your own. Receive and pour with two hands, or the right hand with the left on your forearm. Juniors pour for seniors and turn their head away when drinking. Glasses are not refilled until empty, so an untouched full glass is the polite “no more”. 건배 geonbae, or 짠 jjan among friends. Somaek is roughly three parts soju to seven beer. Nights run in rounds (1차, 2차, 3차); leaving after the second is fine.
Japanese
Nobody drinks before the group 乾杯 kanpai, and “toriaezu bīru” (beer first) is the opening order. Pour for others with the label facing up, receive with both hands, keep the glasses around you topped up, and leave yours full when you want to stop. Kanpai does not mean drain. Never say “chin chin” in Japan; it is slang for a body part. Nomihodai is usually a two-hour clock.
Western business
The host or the most senior person proposes the first toast and orders the wine; if it lands on you, ask the sommelier for something mid-list, never the most expensive. Eye contact when clinking matters in Germany and the Nordics; at formal dinners raise the glass rather than clink. Sip, don’t drain: nobody counts your drinks but everyone notices drunkenness. In the UK, Ireland and Australia buy your round or say “I’m only staying for one”. In the US tip a dollar or two per drink or 18–20% on the tab.
Ten safe orders
- “A pint of Tiger” (or Asahi, Heineken) at any Singapore bar.
- “A whisky highball” (Toki or Kakubin) at a Japanese place.
- “Gin and tonic” anywhere.
- “A glass of the Sauvignon Blanc” for crisp and dry, or “the Shiraz” with dinner.
- “An Old Fashioned, bourbon” at a cocktail bar.
- “A Negroni” before dinner, or “an Aperol Spritz” if you dislike bitter.
- “Glenfiddich 12, neat”; Macallan 12 in a business setting; Laphroaig 10 to signal you like peat.
- “A chilled junmai ginjo” or “Dassai 45” at a sushi counter.
- “Chamisul Fresh” at Korean barbecue; join the somaek if the table is doing it.
- At a Chinese banquet drink what the host serves. Asked for a preference, “red wine” is always fine; “低度 baijiu” scores points.
How much is that, really
Singapore counts in standard drinks of 10 g of pure alcohol — about 12.7 ml of ethanol — and the Health Promotion Board's low-risk guidance is no more than two a day for men, one for women, with three or more in a night counted as binge drinking. Multiply volume by strength and divide by 12.7 to get the number:
- 2.5
- A 633 ml Tiger at 5% — the kopitiam bottle, shared or not.
- 1.8
- A 175 ml glass of 13% red.
- 3.5
- One 500 ml Strong Zero at 9%. This is why they add up so fast.
- 3.8
- Six 15 ml baijiu cups at 53% — one circuit of the table.
- 4.5
- A 360 ml bottle of 16% soju, which is one bottle each at KBBQ.
Nothing here is a target. The point is that a normal-looking evening in any of these cultures — a bottle of soju, a round of toasts, two cans on the way home — is three to five standard drinks, and the table will not be counting for you.
Drinking little, politely
Order a highball, a shandy or a half pint: low strength, still a drink. Soda with lime in a highball glass passes for a G&T. In Japan and Korea a glass is only refilled once it is empty, so accept the pour, take one sip, and leave the glass full — that is the polite way to say no more without saying it. Credible reasons that need no debate: “I’m driving”, “on antibiotics”, “early flight”, and in Asia “I go red” (the ALDH2 flush affects about a third of East Asians and everyone understands it). In a Chinese setting, 以茶代酒. Most Singapore bars now stock 0.0% beers (Heineken 0.0, Asahi Dry Zero) and non-alcoholic spirits (Seedlip, Lyre’s).
Being easy company
Ordering at a bar
Say three things, in this order. The thing: a category or a brand (“a Negroni”, “Glenfiddich 12”, “a gin and tonic, Tanqueray if you have it”). The serve: neat is spirit only at room temperature, on the rocks is over ice, up is chilled and strained with no ice, highball or with soda / tonic / ginger ale is tall and fizzy, double is two measures. The format: pint or half, bottle or can, glass or bottle of wine, tower, bottle service. Modifiers if you care: “with a twist”, “dirty”, “easy ice”, “less sweet”. For wine by the glass, name the grape or the colour plus “dry”: “a glass of the Sauvignon Blanc”, “the house red”.
Singapore specifics: “one Tiger” at a kopitiam is a 633 ml bottle to share, ice is normal. Happy hour is usually 5–8 pm, often one-for-one. Retail sales and public drinking stop 10:30 pm to 7 am; the drinking age is 18. The drink-drive limit is being halved: the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act passed in 2026 takes it from 35 to 15 µg of alcohol per 100 ml of breath (80 down to 30 mg per 100 ml of blood), in force later in 2026. At 15 µg one drink can put you over, so the honest answer while driving is none.
Words that signal fluency
Toasting and etiquette
Chinese business dinners (mainland, Singapore, Malaysia)
The host toasts first; nobody drinks before that. 干杯 with baijiu is literal, drain the cup; 随意 (“as you like”) is the sanctioned sip. Clink with your rim below a senior’s rim, stand for elders and bosses, and hold the glass with both hands or with the left hand supporting. Expect to go round the table toasting people (敬酒) and to be toasted back (回敬). Pour for others and never only for yourself. Cognac and red wine are as common as baijiu; Martell Cordon Bleu on the wedding table, Hennessy with green tea at KTV. To decline without losing face: 以茶代酒, “tea in place of wine”.
At the banquet table, tea has its own manners: tapping two fingers thanks a pour (a Cantonese habit that has spread), and a lid left open on the pot asks for a refill. Singapore Chinese weddings end with three rounds of 饮胜 “yaaam-seng”.
Korean
Never pour your own. Receive and pour with two hands, or the right hand with the left on your forearm. Juniors pour for seniors and turn their head away when drinking. Glasses are not refilled until empty, so an untouched full glass is the polite “no more”. 건배 geonbae, or 짠 jjan among friends. Somaek is roughly three parts soju to seven beer. Nights run in rounds (1차, 2차, 3차); leaving after the second is fine.
Japanese
Nobody drinks before the group 乾杯 kanpai, and “toriaezu bīru” (beer first) is the opening order. Pour for others with the label facing up, receive with both hands, keep the glasses around you topped up, and leave yours full when you want to stop. Kanpai does not mean drain. Never say “chin chin” in Japan; it is slang for a body part. Nomihodai is usually a two-hour clock.
Western business
The host or the most senior person proposes the first toast and orders the wine; if it lands on you, ask the sommelier for something mid-list, never the most expensive. Eye contact when clinking matters in Germany and the Nordics; at formal dinners raise the glass rather than clink. Sip, don’t drain: nobody counts your drinks but everyone notices drunkenness. In the UK, Ireland and Australia buy your round or say “I’m only staying for one”. In the US tip a dollar or two per drink or 18–20% on the tab.
Ten safe orders
How much is that, really
Singapore counts in standard drinks of 10 g of pure alcohol — about 12.7 ml of ethanol — and the Health Promotion Board's low-risk guidance is no more than two a day for men, one for women, with three or more in a night counted as binge drinking. Multiply volume by strength and divide by 12.7 to get the number:
Nothing here is a target. The point is that a normal-looking evening in any of these cultures — a bottle of soju, a round of toasts, two cans on the way home — is three to five standard drinks, and the table will not be counting for you.
Drinking little, politely
Order a highball, a shandy or a half pint: low strength, still a drink. Soda with lime in a highball glass passes for a G&T. In Japan and Korea a glass is only refilled once it is empty, so accept the pour, take one sip, and leave the glass full — that is the polite way to say no more without saying it. Credible reasons that need no debate: “I’m driving”, “on antibiotics”, “early flight”, and in Asia “I go red” (the ALDH2 flush affects about a third of East Asians and everyone understands it). In a Chinese setting, 以茶代酒. Most Singapore bars now stock 0.0% beers (Heineken 0.0, Asahi Dry Zero) and non-alcoholic spirits (Seedlip, Lyre’s).