People are becoming more and more adventurous when they go into bars.
Especially considering the growth of streaming and food ordering platforms in Australia, when people do venture out of the house, they’re expecting to be excited, and they’re expecting their bar experience to be more of a journey than a transaction.
Alongside these rising expectations, there’s a seemingly never-ending consumer quest to find something a little bit different and unusual. In the midst of a Ginassaince, gin producers across the world are catering to this trend, with new products and variations cropping up all over the place.
With so much to choose from, how do you know what direction to take?
Aligning yourself with trends like the popular pink drink phenomenon may help you cater to those customers that want something nice, different and unusual. However, the popularity of huge trends like this mean it’s not as exciting to a consumer, and it’s certainly not surprising.
Certainly, consumers who are hungry for the most unique bar experience are hard to please. To make them say ‘wow,’ you’ll need something truly unexpected.
Enter a new contender to the Australian market that can do just this, Singapore’s Tanglin Gin.
We know what you’re thinking – when you imagine Singapore, gin doesn’t typically come to mind. That’s likely because before Tanglin, there was no Singaporean gin.
Tim Whitefield, Andy Hodgson, Charlie van Eeden and Chris Box introduced the gin industry to Singapore in 2018, after two years in the making. The four friends were sitting at a rooftop in the island city state when they first had the idea, seeing a gap in the local industry and opportunity from a flourishing hospitality and bar scene.
Just a year later, Tanglin are ready to tackle their first export market, choosing Australia to launch two signature expressions: Orchid, and Mandarin Chilli.
From the flavour profiles of these gins all the way down to the name itself, Tanglin celebrates Singapore. Whitefield, who is also the Head Distiller, described how each component brings together this philosophy.
“The name Tanglin is a geographical area of Singapore derived from the area’s Chinese name, ‘twa tang leng,’ meaning ‘great east hill peaks.’ The area evolved from being a tiger infested jungle to become Singapore’s first spice plantations, just near Orchard Road, and then became home to the internationally recognised and UNESCO World Heritage listed Botanic Gardens,” Whitefield said.
Design cues on the bottle are influenced by the founders themselves, collaborating with Design Agency Landor with an illustration from TYC (Tell Your Children).
“The image is a story of Singapore with visual clues to places and experiences of Singapore, including a few hidden unexpected ones,” Whitefield explained.
In terms of the flavours of both gin expressions, they can be summarised as a mix of Eastern and Western botanicals, combining traditional gin with the quintessential taste of Asia.
Whitefield described his process to create such a flavour profile, and his desire for it to reflect the five main cultural groups that have made Singapore what it is today – Chinese, Indonesian, Malay, Indian and European.
“With my role as the distiller established, it was mostly left up to me to develop its flavour profile. I knew straight away what we needed to create,” Whitefield said.
“I had a really strong memory of my first few weeks in Singapore, I remembered a walk around a busy Hawker Centre, a true culinary wonder, with all those cuisines and cultures in one place. I wanted to squeeze that into a bottle.”
For the first signature expression, Orchid Gin, Whitefield and the team narrowed 15-20 botanicals down to 10 and then added another little Australian twist from Whitefield’s garden in Victoria. The total botanicals amounted to 11, a number in Chinese numerology that represents the way of the sky and the earth.
Whitefield said: “Our signature gin, Orchid Gin, has a traditional botanic profile with many typical botanicals found in European Gins… but we add some uniquely Asian flavours with whole Indian vanilla beans, Java Pepper and Amchoor [a fruity spice powder common in Indian and Pakistani cooking].”
On the other hand is the Mandarin Chilli, defying trends of overloading botanicals into flavoured gin infusions, with only nine natural botanicals and no extra flavours or sugars added.
“We challenged ourselves to produce a modern citrus gin with a complexity of flavour that is balanced and harmonised,” said Whitefield.
With tastes of citrus, ginger, kaffir lime and gentle pepper, the surprisingly sweet Mandarin Chilli creates a lingering heat that is said to “remind people of Asia.”
In such a short amount of time, Tanglin has already been decorated with international medals, become the signature gin of all Singapore Airlines lounges in Australia, and been selected for the Qantas First Class Lounge in Singapore alongside just one other gin. It’s definitely set the bar high for the industry it created.
Tanglin’s first two expressions on our shores add an unexpected unique twist to everything from a simple G&T to classic cocktails like a Negroni. So next time you want to hear wows from a customer after that first sip, try some Tanglin.
Stay up to date with serving tips and tricks by following @TanglinAustralia on social media, or check out their website here.
Make orders by getting in touch at: orders@tanglin-gin.com