Bartender / bar director
Charmaine Thio
- Discipline
- Bartender / bar director
Portrait of Charmaine Thio
i. Biography
The Climb
Hospitality rewards calibration, and Charmaine Thio brought that discipline with her from Nanyang Technological University into bartending. At 28 Hong Kong Street in Singapore, she worked as Head Bartender, a post that sat inside one of the city’s more closely watched cocktail rooms and required the sort of steadiness that reads in the glass and behind the bar. The work later extended beyond service into representation.
As Regional Brand Ambassador of Hendrick's Gin Southeast Asia, Charmaine Thio moved into a role where product knowledge, presentation, and public-facing communication all sit on the same line. Her career has been built on fluency rather than theatrics: technical ease, conversational control, and the ability to carry a bar perspective into a broader commercial setting.
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Today
She serves as Regional Brand Ambassador for Hendrick's Gin Southeast Asia.
Signature
Charmaine Thio's signature dishes include KFChristmas, The Instant Star, Another Hendrick's Spritz, and White Negroni. The list points to a bartender working across different registers: celebratory, playful, crisp, and composed. Each name suggests a clear handle on balance and on the mood a drink is meant to carry.
In Their Words “I would say that, gratefully or thankfully, the drinks industry itself or the bartending industry itself—I don’t think we’ve ever seen it that way.” “So I think it has been done, and I personally have done cocktail and food pairings.” Those remarks place the work where it belongs: in the way drinks are framed, discussed, and paired, not just poured. Charmaine Thio speaks like someone attentive to category as much as craft, and to the context around the glass as much as the liquid inside it. She has also said, "I mean, when did it start becoming associated as a “feminine” drink?"
Recognition
Charmaine Thio's honors include First Singaporean accepted into the Tales of the Cocktail Apprentice Programme. The recognition sits alongside a career that moved from local bar service to regional brand work without losing its technical center, carrying the same measured approach through each stage.
FAQ
Asked of Charmaine
What is Charmaine Thio's current role?
As of 2026, Charmaine Thio is Regional Brand Ambassador, Hendrick's Gin Southeast Asia.
Where did Charmaine Thio train or study?
Charmaine Thio trained at Nanyang Technological University.
What recognition has Charmaine Thio received?
First Singaporean accepted into the Tales of the Cocktail Apprentice Programme.
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The Sunday email
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Every Sunday we send a lead story and up to four more about the chefs, winemakers, sommeliers and hoteliers behind the restaurants, bars, wineries and hotels we cover.
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