The Riff

The Riff: Slinging Drinks

By: Emily Havener

This Baltimore bartender blends summer and fall with a tiki-inspired classic

Not all bartenders with 17 years of experience also have a degree in neuroscience, but Kim Vo hasn’t looked back since she left one kind of research lab for another. “I began at a high-volume chain restaurant that taught me how to make drinks quickly and to command a bar,” she says. Vo moved on to hotels, then craft cocktail bars with a whiskey focus: “I got a taste of a vast world that I didn’t know existed, and dived right in.” Now she’s been at Baltimore gin bar Dutch Courage going on four years, where she loves experimenting. 

“Taking known classics and restructuring them requires understanding of the cocktail’s structure, as well as an in-depth understanding of the individual spirits,” she says. Her riffs on the Singapore Sling play this out. Although she doesn’t consider the sling to be technically a tiki drink, they do come from similar places, Vo explains. “It has that tiki and tropical inspired background. Tiki drinks are famous for being overindulgent but doing it in a balanced way.”

For fall, she replaces the Benedictine in the classic recipe with Becherovka for its “similar spice effect but with more pine notes.” She also replaces cherry heering, a Dutch liqueur or brandy, with easily homemade seasonal syrups.

DutchCourage Baltimore

Singapore Sling

DutchCourage Baltimore

Fancy Footwork

DutchCourage Baltimore

Scream Queen

Date Published: 09.20.24
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About The Author

Emily Havener

Emily Havener enjoys writing about food almost as much as she enjoys eating it. She has been food blogging and developing recipes since 2008, and her particular areas of expertise are finding creative ways to use leftovers and never making a recipe the same way twice. She’s always up for raw fish of any kind and a good gin cocktail or a glass of orange wine.

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