Tent City
Born and raised in the Philippines, Lester Ligon is the head bartender of ABV Manila.
Lester Better Drinking journey began in Marawi, a war-torn city. After five months the city was liberated but restoration has been slow and large parts remain in ruins, forcing many displaced families to continue living in makeshift camps.
Lester visited Tent City, a temporary living accommodation near to the city of Marawi, which houses around 600 families. The trip inspired his cocktail, the Marahu Mule, made using Ketel One Vodka, palapa syrup (made from ginger, scallions and toasted coconut), lime juice and soda.
Many of the ingredients were bought locally, including local chillies and biasong lime, sakurab scallion and ginger. Two ingredients in particular, palapa and tinapayan, were sourced directly from the people of Marawi.
Tinapayan is an overnight fermented rice wrapped in banana leaf with yeast and sugar. The tinapayan was then made into fermented rice soda. Lester used the ingredients during a series of pop-up events to raise funds for a livelihood programme. He also aimed to donate funds towards the production of palapa and tinapayan, while distributing the ingredients to other parts of the Philippines.
All proceeds raised were donated to Tent City following Lester's partnership with an international refugee agency which supports displaced communities. He continues to work with the people of Marawi to help them export their goods such as palapa and tinapayan.
