某些鸡尾酒术语的来源往往模糊难辨，但“西姆”一词却并非如此。2008年，它由美国作家兼鸡尾酒迷Dinah Saunders在书中杜撰而来。在2013年出版的《西姆的艺术：不失水准的低酒精鸡尾酒》一书中，她对“西姆”作出了定义：简而言之，西姆是一种“严肃的低酒精鸡尾酒——低酒精含量令它们不像强劲鸡尾酒那么易醉，但又不失复杂成熟鸡尾酒的鲜明感官享受”。听上去有道理吗？Saunders正确地指出，曼哈顿、老式鸡尾酒和萨泽拉克等厚重的棕色烈酒鸡尾酒固然出色，但较为清淡的低酒精鸡尾酒也同样令人心满意足。她提出的理念深受好评，酒吧界首先接受了西姆鸡尾酒，现在更是被广泛认可。这一类成本效益极佳的鸡尾酒正好碰上了古典酒种的大范围复兴，如味美思、阿玛罗和雪莉酒，而它们也是调制西姆鸡尾酒的完美原料。该书出版一年多之后，西姆风潮在——还能是哪呢？

The etymology of some cocktail terms is often pretty opaque but not, it turns out, in the case of “shim”. The word was coined in 2008 by American writer-cocktail obsessive Dinah Sanders. As defined in her adroit 2013 book The Art of Shim: Low Alcohol Cocktails to Keep You Level, a shim is a “serious, low alcohol cocktail – low-octane enough to provide a gentler pace between or instead of strong drinks, yet still bring the vivid sensory pleasure of a complex adult beverage.” Sound reasonable? Sanders rightly posits that, for all the virtues of heavy, brown-spirit classics such as the Manhattan, Old Fashioned and Sazerac, lighter, lower-proof cocktails can be just as satisfying. Well received, the bar community embraced the idea and shims and now are widely accepted, cost-effective cocktail genre happily wedded to the increased popularity of hitherto-undiscovered, shim-friendly categories such as vermouth, amaro and sherry. Just over a year after the publication of the book, the trend has found its first fully committed ally in – where else? –

Topiary坐落于荷里活道鸿丰商业中心三楼，设计师Laura Cheng打造的室内环境奢华又不落俗套，说明它的目标人群是女性。这并无不妥。酒单亦延续了同一风格。曾任职于Kee Club的调酒师主管Paul Fan设计了一个西姆酒单，首次涉足餐饮业的联合所有人Ellen Ho说，低酒精鸡尾酒一直不受重视，而酒吧希望展现它们的魅力。“我们想吸引女性客人群体——她们青睐优质原料调制的低酒精鸡尾酒，因为这样的话多喝几杯也不会红脸或酩酊大醉，”她说，“是时候为女士们提供果味鸡尾酒之外的成熟选择了。”Ellen并未参考Saunders的著作，她的灵感来自纽约和伦敦见闻——西姆文化已经在这两座城市扎根。她自然也希望西姆鸡尾酒能在香港流行开来。为什么不能呢？发展中的亚洲市场对强劲的全烈酒鸡尾酒很是敏感，西姆鸡尾酒应该也很适合这里。想要尝试新酒种的调酒师亦可通过西姆进行大胆实验。Paul的酒单包含了各种各样的原料，如肉桂苦精、白色爱尔啤酒、桂花醋、年份波特酒和自制荔枝席拉伯（用于调制以波本威士忌为基酒的Bonus Season，鸡尾酒的名字源自金融界）。酒单还特别标示，每款酒都以“真挚的乐观心态”奉上。相比之下，千篇一律的白葡萄汽酒是多么无聊。让我们为西姆举杯！

Set on the third floor of Hilltop Plaza on Hollywood Road, designer Laura Cheng’s plush, excitable interior makes it pretty clear that Topiary is courting a female clientele. And nothing wrong with that. The menu, too, follows suit. Joining from Kee Club, head bartender Paul Fan has devised a menu of shims which co-owner and first-time f&b operator Ellen Ho claims is an attempt to open the cocktail cabinet to a long-ignored part of the drinking populace. “We want to appeal to the female audience who appreciate cocktails made of fine ingredients but with lower alcohol content to allow them to enjoy a few more drinks without turning red or getting knocked down early,” she says. “It’s time for ladies to start having more sophisticated choices beyond the usual fruit cocktails.” Ho doesn’t reference Sanders’s book – instead, the inspiration came from her visits to New York and London where the genre has long taken root. Naturally, she’s hoping the trend catches on in Hong Kong. And why shouldn’t it? After all, the genre seems well-suited a to a still-evolving Asian market sensitive to potent, all-spirit classics. Shims also allow for an alluring degree of creative latitude for bartenders looking to experiment with new categories. Fan’s menu shows a commendable breadth of ingredients: cinnamon bitters, white ale, osmanthus vinegar, vintage port and a homemade lychee shrub in the bourbon-based Bonus Season (drinks take their names from the finance world) – served, says the menu, with a “sincere dose of optimism”. The tired, tortured White-Wine Spritzer has never looked so vulnerable. Cheers to that.

Summer Interns Are Here

·30ml 高斯林金朗姆酒
·30ml 添万利
·30ml 百利甜酒
·30ml 重奶油
将所有原料放入调酒听，摇匀后滤入碟形香槟杯，以烤棉花糖装饰。

·30ml Gosling’s Gold Rum
·30ml Tia Maria
·30ml Bailey’s
·30ml Heavy cream

Add all ingredients to a mixing tin, shake and strain into a coupette; garnish with roasted marshmallow