The Swan Song is a whisky bar operating at 41A Boat Quay, Singapore 049830.
I was introduced to The Swan Song on a night by a friend who would be flying off the next day to Edinburgh to finish his Masters in Chemical Engineering. It truly was a sensational experience: the traditional bar setup, a selection of whiskies that I had never tried before, and newfound friends to share drinks with.
The Swan Song is a whisky bar with a niche in old and rare vintage bottles. Vintage bottles from the 1950s to the early 2000s are a common sight here, such as a 1958 Scapa (from The Isle of Orkney) and 1974 Talisker. Several lost distilleries, such as that of the newly reopening Port Ellen or less common names like Littlemill and Lochside, can also be found here. Of course, there is an extensive selection from existing distilleries, albeit mostly from independent bottlers. The Swan Song greatly helped in expanding my idea of independent bottlers; prior to that, The Single Cask was my first introduction to the concept.
My first visit, I tried two drams from Animal Spirits, their Blended Malt 18 years and their Ledaig 13 years. Arun was very kind to share the final pour of a Cadenhead Caol Ila 35 years with us, which was an exceptional dram of well balanced, salty peated goodness.
The Swan Song is named after the metaphorical phrase, which meant a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. This is in the spirit of the eventual depletion of vintage and rare bottles, which only increase in price as they get traded, and that every opening of a bottle reduces what was a limited batch of bottles by 1 until 0 remained.
Almost every bottle you find at The Swan Song will be extremely hard to find in other whisky bars; heck, most “whisky“ bars still stock a large variety of easily replenishable bottles. The Swan Song prides itself in searching for unique bottlings and bringing them into the bar for sale by the dram. In Arun’s words, “Good whisky sells itself.“
The Swan Song is open every Monday to Saturday from 5pm to late. If you are looking to have great conversations, try new whiskies, and make new friends, The Swan Song is the perfect place to that. I would know.
