The Singaporean making gin with ingredients from your neighbourhood market
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The Singaporean making gin with ingredients from your neighbourhood market place
Talk almost "local spirit". Ashwin Sekaran's Singapore Distillery boasts gin flavours fabricated with pandan, different types of lime – and even ones that are inspired by the Singapore Sling and bandung.
The different local gin flavours at Singapore Distillery (Photograph: Singapore Distillery)
How would you define a Singapore-made gin? For new-child-on-the-block micro-distiller Ashwin Sekaran, it's all about "showcasing the astonishing Asian herbs and spices that tin can be easily plant hither".
"(With) Singapore historically being a trading hub, (it) has immune u.s. to use all sorts of ingredients like spices from Republic of india, local herbs, Asian fruits, and yes, western botanicals in a well-balanced style," the 27-yr-onetime Singaporean told CNA Lifestyle.
Which is why Sekaran'due south Singapore Distillery – the youngest histrion in the local distillery game, having merely started in 2020, has whipped up a whopping eight different gins with a local touch.
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These avowal flavours such as Coconut Pandan (made with creamy coconut and pandan leaves), Stolen Roses (a rose blend inspired past the bandung drink) and the cocky-explanatory Singapore Sling version (distilled with all the ingredients commonly used to brand the famous cocktail, such every bit fresh pineapples, oranges, cherries and angelica root).
And the ingredients that go into these creations? They're all to be plant in your friendly neighbourhood markets. Sekaran and his team regularly go to those in Geylang Serai, Bishan and Bedok, likewise as Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre, to source limes, spices, oranges, pandan, coconuts, pineapples and more.
Talk most fully embracing the local spirit.
"We wanted to get super fresh ingredients to make our gin," shared Sekaran, who serves as Singapore Distillery's head distiller. "And the all-time manner to get them was by going direct to local markets and getting them straight from the supplier."
And in true Singaporean kampung spirit, the aunties and uncles at the wet markets have become friends – even throwing in a "lobang" (favour) or two.
"We would keep going and ordering kilos and kilos of spices, herbs, coconut flesh, and fruits from the various vendors," Sekaran said, recalling the early days of his business.
"After a while, they got friendly with usa and would tell us to contact them and identify orders beforehand and then they can keep the freshest ingredients for usa to collect."
To think this all started during a family holiday in London in 2017.
"I had only gotten into drinking gin but hadn't had any exposure to craft gin withal," he shared. "It was only when I ordered a gin and tonic at a London pub and was given a craft gin menu did I find out about craft distilleries and craft gin."
Then, in lieu of the usual holiday sightseeing pitstops, Sekaran attended a arts and crafts distilling expo instead. That same night, he went on a distillery tour where the head distiller explained that it was very of import for them to use expensive and hard-to-find botanicals like cardamom, cinnamon, fresh limes, and cloves.
"And I idea to myself, all of those ingredients are very ordinarily used here in Singapore!" he recalled. "That's when I got the idea to start a distillery here in Singapore and make gins using local botanicals but also using quality imported juniper berries and other necessary western botanicals to really enhance the flavour of the gin."
After making certain he learned "how to brand gin properly" with stints at the Institute of Brewing & Distilling in London, Brewlab in Sunderland and the University of Adelaide in Australia, Sekaran officially opened Singapore Distillery's doors in September 2020, right smack in the center of the global pandemic.
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The distillery is located in a flatted factory in Ang Mo Kio, with a 500-litre, custom-congenital copper even so that churns out about 500 bottles of gin a day.
Sekaran is especially proud of the wide range of gins they produce – from the 13 spices and herbs Merlion to the Lime Garden, which is made from limes commonly used locally: Limau nipis, limau purut, limau purut leaves and calamansi.
"Nosotros've got the widest range of any Singaporean distillery and I think, one of the widest ranges of gins in the world from a single distillery," he said.
What however astounds Sekaran to this twenty-four hours is that the name – Singapore Distillery – hadn't even been snapped up after all these years.
"Nosotros thought we'd only endeavour our luck. It only seems the almost natural proper name to apply for a local distillery and yet it was still available," he gleefully recalled. "And so we grabbed it!"
Singapore Distillery debuted with six different gins and has since added two new flavours to its bill of fare: The Orange Grove (filled with kumquats and tangerines) and Ichigo Cameron (the get-go and only gin made with Japanese strawberries grown fresh in Cameron Highlands from Japanese parental seeds).
Now that Singapore Distillery is a robust almost one-year-old with a staff strength of six, what is Sekaran'south biggest takeaway about making it as a homegrown distillery in a competitive market?
"You have to work very hard to keep the gin balanced. I learned this when I was getting my distilling qualification from the Found of Brewing and Distilling in London. A proficient gin has got to be a balance of juniper and the other botanicals," he shared.
"This is even more important when nosotros're using the bold and bright flavours of Asian fruits, herbs, and spices. Y'all can't just chuck everything you want to use inside a gin and expect it to be good. That will just result in a lot of clashing flavours."
Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/singaporean-making-gin-ingredients-your-neighbourhood-market-249776
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