LOCAL FLAVOUR: HONG KONG Gins 🥃🥃
Hong Kong has long been renowned for its vibrant culinary scene, but in recent years, a new beverage trend has taken the city by storm – Hong Kong gins. These unique gins showcase a delightful fusion of traditional botanicals and innovative flavors, capturing the essence of both the East and the West. For our readers, LocalHood Website Content Team members- Renee and Saravanan, take a look at the gins available in our city and how it differs in terms of test, palette and availability.
Hong Kong gins often pay homage to the city's rich cultural heritage by incorporating ingredients like dried tangerine peel, osmanthus flowers, and chrysanthemum. These traditional botanicals infuse the gins with a distinctively Asian flair, resulting in a sensory experience that is both familiar and refreshing. However, what sets Hong Kong gins apart is their adventurous spirit when it comes to experimentation. Local distilleries are pushing boundaries by introducing unconventional ingredients such as dragon eye fruit, Buddha's hand citron, and even the iconic Hong Kong milk tea. These bold combinations create gins that are bold, aromatic, and utterly unique.
The rise of Hong Kong gins has also sparked a renaissance in cocktail culture. Mixologists across the city are crafting innovative concoctions that showcase the versatility and complexity of these gins. From classic gin and tonics infused with local flavors to creative cocktails that blend traditional Chinese medicine with contemporary mixology techniques, the possibilities are endless. Whether sipped neat, mixed in a cocktail, or enjoyed with tonic water, Hong Kong gins offer a delightful journey for the taste buds. They embody the spirit of Hong Kong itself – a vibrant fusion of tradition and innovation, where old meets new, and East meets West.
The first location we have is N.I.P, a true Hong Kong spirit, created by their two not-important-persons, N.I.P. represents a value that the founders firmly believe in, “through grit, belief and persistence, anyone can achieve their dreams and passion as long as one is willing to take that leap of faith, even in a place like Hong Kong where a conforming mindset dominates.” N.I.P started off in 2019, with their own custom copper still, designed specially to suit the space and N.I.P’s specific functions, took ten months to make, and were ordered from Germany. From that still comes their home distilled, with the subtle Hong Kong touches. A few local botanicals features include Longjing and Shoumei tea leaves, snow pear, ginger and Osmanthus. If you peek under the bottle, it also reveals the Chinese symbol for “victory”, another homage to Hong Kong, and is often seen in vintage drinking bowls and signifies a toast or cheers! The gins offered by them ranges from Madeira cask aged gin, Exotic city gin, Fat Choi Edition gin, and rare dry gin. They also offer tours of their distillery with a fee of HKD660/head and that includes a bottle of their N.I.P gin that is valued at HKD480. There is a minimum number of participants to join the tour and the secret number is 6, so why not rowdy up the cavalry and head on down to a tour of the distillery?
The second home grown gin brand is Perfume Trees gin and the founders wanted to create a spirit for Hong Kong; a spirit that whispers tales of this uniquely dynamic, vibrant and beautiful city. Thus, out of this inspiration Perfume Trees Gin was born. With ingredients like the White Champaca Flowers, Sandalwood, dried tangerine peel and Long Jing green tea, the flavour is a complex yet refreshing on the pallet. This home grown brand only offers one kind of gin, that is fragrant with the floral and herbal aromas of white Champaca blossom and sandalwood. Juniper leads on the palate and is joined by the warm citrus notes of aged tangerine peel and east Asian herbs. The finish is a long-lasting cacophony of Longjin green tea and Chinese angelica and is on the slightly higher end price range. Perfume Trees gin is still working on their distillery that one should visit once open.
Another local gin bran that you should try is called Two Moons. They own their very own distillery that has won multiple awards is made locally and their catchphrase “every bottle tells a tale”, which is definitely catchy. Two moons has won the best Hong Kong London Dry Gin award in 2022 and Double Gold (London Dry Gin Category) in 2021, and of course for a layman like us it makes not a lot sense, but these awards show the hard work they have put into creating an elixir that tastes amazing. Their gin comes in multitude of flavours, signature dry gin, calamansi gin and five flowers tea gin. The signature dry gin is fragrant with citrus-peppery aromatics on the nose. When sipped - crisp notes of lemons and “kum pei” sweet tangerine peels (柑皮) first glide through the mouth and develop into a soft floral kick of pink berries. The sweet nuttiness of vanilla and “naam buk hang” Chinese almonds (南北杏) coat the palate before leading to a finishing flavor of classic spices comprised of coriander seed, green cardamom and of course, “kum cho” Chinese liquorice root (甘草). Makes you wonder how the other two gins will taste like! Definitely worth the try. Two moons also offer a tour of their distillery with a maximum number of 6 people (yes you read it right, 6 is the max), they offer an intimate tour, where you’ll be provided with fully guided tastings and unveiling the secrets behind crafting such magnificent gins within the city.
Gin lover or amateur, be sure to raise a glass of Hong Kong gin and toast to the city's creative spirit. Not only does it embody the local flavour and delicacies, it also has the city’s spirit fused into it.