Get a grip, BARTENDERS!

TRUST A WHISKY named Monkey Shoulder to bring a cocktail-making device called the Konga Shaker back from the brink of extinction. We’re not saying it’s named after King Kong, but it sounds like it fell off a jungle vine someplace.
The shaker has rotating handles so you can “roll” out cocktails rather than shake them. Just as Prohibition released its chokehold on America in the 1930s, the Konga Shaker became a big deal there, only to fade away when the more familiar two-handed shaker became popular.
From nightclub glory, it ended up nearly forgotten in private collections, occasionally turning up in auctions and flea markets. But now the unconventional Scotch brand has unveiled a limited edition of Kongas for the bartending community.
The Monkey Shoulder Konga Shaker is still a stainless-steel cylinder with red plastic handles, but the sieve’s been improved for simpler assembly and perfect pouring. The Shaker is also bigger than the original so you can make three or four cocktails at a go, the better to slake the thirst of waiting customers.
Distributing the product in |selected watering holes across the globe, much as it did with the acclaimed iSpoon in 2014, Monkey Shoulder recently presented the Konga Shaker to the mixing team at the Snobbish Bar on Bangkok’s Soi Ekamai. Other places around town got one too.
Dean Callan, the firm’s global brand ambassador, says Monkey Shoulder is building on the long tradition of its parent firm, William Grant and Sons. “Monkey Shoulder aims to take away some of the preconceptions about whisky, making it accessible and enjoyable to all,” he says.
“Cocktail bars should always be fun, but even they are starting to take themselves a little seriously these days. The Konga Shaker is set to change that. It represents all that’s good about cocktail making – theatre, sociability and great tasting drinks – so it made perfect sense for us to bring it back.” Callan’s counterpart in Southeast Asia, Jay Gray, says they’ve been “itching” to launch the Konga Shaker in the region.
“I’m stoked about the enthusiastic response we’ve had from the local bartending community and can’t wait for consumers to get in on the fun by trying out some pretty great cocktails at selected bars in the city.”
Gray invited some of the city’s top mixologists to the Snobbish Bar to try making their signature recipes using the Konga Shaker. After a lot of shaking, rolling and, yes, rattling, no one was complaining.

You can see the Konga Shaker in action at more than a dozen stand-alone cocktail bars in Bangkok. Ask your bartender if he’s got one.