The bloom of craft liquor in Vietnam

Craft drinks have become very popular in Vietnam in recent years and it is indeed a very exciting concept to try. Most of us must be quite familiar with and even have tried “craft beer”. Now, not everyone is familiar with craft liquor.
The market for craft liquor is fairly new in Vietnam but growing very fast. At this young stage, let’s skim through the young and growing brands offering craft liquor with their special local touches.

SAIGON LIQUORISTS

Saigon Liquorists was started by two passionate Frenchman with their background in spirits. The brand celebrates the essence of craftsmanship. Saigon Liquorists’ products are to honour the beauty of finer fermentation and distillation process, along with the local Viet taste blended with a modern touch. The brand is conquering the market with it’s key product, Rhum Mía.

Rhum Mía in the name itself carries the liquor’s essence. “Mía” in Vietnamese means sugarcane.

“Rhum Mia is made in a Rhum Agricole style, using ROC16 sugarcane variety from Tien Giang province.”
Saigon Liquorists

According to the brand, the process of making this refine flavoured liquor starts with the sugarcane being cut, pressed into extract then packaged carefully to avoid fermentation.

“Distillation from “LULU” (our distilling column) is processed to have a 78% Alcohol Content which will mature for 8 months in traditional Vietnamese ceramic vat called “Chum”.
Finally we operate a “reduction”(in French) which consists of lowering down the ABV% to 45, the final Alcohol content for Rhum Mia. That operation needs 2 months to be made through twice a day water addition’s.”
Saigon Liquorists

Rhum Mía has a finer and more distinctive taste from other Rhum with a fresher accent due to the distillation process combined with a touch of sweetness of sugarcane.

More about Rhum Mía and Saigon Liquorists: https://sgn-liquorists.com/

SON TINH

Founded by a Swiss entrepreneur with his love and admirations for Vietnamese traditional rice liquor. A combination of a Vietnamese rice wine flavour, a custom and tradition of making rice liquor passed down to generations with the art of distillation he learned from home country of Switzerland.
So what makes Son Tinh stands out from other craft liquor while still being distinctive from the traditional rice liquor? The secret lies in the in the distillation process with zero toxic portions being kept.
A little interesting story behind the brand is told as:

“Markus pleaded with the villagers to discard of the toxic portions. A request that was unheard of throughout the village.
The villagers agreed to make one special run, keeping only the middle portion (the portion which contains only the purest alcohol in the distillate.) They reluctantly discarded close to 50% of the yield. To the villager’s surprise the rice spirit produced was crisper, more aromatic and gone were the once nasty hangovers they all experienced the day after.”
Son Tinh

Instead of calling themselves a plain craft liquor brand, Son Tinh likes to refer to itself as an authentic brand of craft ruou (“Ruou” means liquor in Vietnamese) to let it be known as a brand which carries the essence of Vietnamese wine flavour. Son Tinh now has 12 flavours with the ABV is 27% or 38% and they are no boring flavours starting with their names. Some highlights are:
– Nep Cam (Red sticky rice): a combination of sweet and acidity flavours
– Vuong Tuu (a Chinese empress): Flowery fragrance on a distinct bitter-sweet pine resin background, wild forest berries
– Nhat Da (one night): A sour note combined with bitter and sweet taste.
– Red Plum: A sweet but smooth flavour of “Ta van” plum is a must have in any craft liquor collection.

Beside that they also have My Tuu, more fruity flavours of Passionfruit, Apricot, Rose apples, and Bach Sam, Nep Phu Loc and Minh Mang. All crafted to have unique flavours while remain the same high quality.

For more information about Son Tinh, detail of each flavour and cocktail recipes: https://sontinh.com/

SAIGON CRAFT WINE

Saigon Craft Wine is a combination between a Viet cuisine restaurant and craft wine brewery. The brand is targeting younger and more hip customers with both casual flavours of craft wine like Pineapple, Apple, Pumpkin, Acerola ….