A story that moved me to “BRASS LION DISTILLERY”, a professional gin distillery in Singapore | TABI LABO

In the song “Club Night” by the Andymori band, there is a line that reads “Come to the club night~Let’s dance with a gin and tonic~”.

When I fell in love with this song in college, it was exactly the same as when I stepped on the “club” for the first time in my life, and my brain began to recognize it as “the smell of club”.

Originally, my physical strength was not enough to drink, so I didn’t have much interest in alcohol. I’ve had access to high-quality highballs and sake, but I’m not familiar with everyday bars, so I’ve been ignorant of the esoteric world of the gin and tonic.

That’s right, until I visited this store…

When I was reporting in Singapore, after work, I was invited by an acquaintance of a media person to visit a craft gin distillery that he was interested in.

I was taken to a shop called “BRASS LION DISTILLERY”, which is located a bit far from the center of Singapore. The first floor of this shop is an original gin distillery, and on the second floor you can enjoy cocktails made with gin.

As soon as I entered the store, I was asked about the menu and how to drink it by an acquaintance who is familiar with sake. After getting back to the seat, it seems that this shop has 6 kinds of tasting courses where you can experience the depth of “original gin”.

Came all the way here and wanted to try everything, so I ordered this first.

Originally I didn’t know anything about gin, but it seems that it is flavored with a spice called “juniper berries” in the brewing process, and it can be called “gin”.

On the contrary, there are no major restrictions other than that, so gin is a kind of wine with a high degree of freedom.

Taking advantage of these characteristics, “BRASS LION DISTILLERY” brews gin using herbs, citrus fruits and spices traditionally used in Singapore.

The base spirit is based on juniper berries and coriander seeds and appears to use 22 botanicals including ginger flower and lemongrass.

For the tasting set I ordered this time, I first serve a glass of wine that only contains gin, and after tasting for a while, I drink it with tonic water that suits everyone’s taste.

Among them, there is also a blue gin made with “butterfly pea”, which reacts with acidity and turns pink when added to tonic water, which is a visually interesting cocktail.

There’s also a gin with a distinctive chocolate flavour, and a tonic water with a grapefruit flavor.

BTW, there is a school behind the bar where you can actually experience artisanal gin making, and I was allowed a short tour.

It’s a bit like making a perfume. You can make everything from the main flavor to the fragrance and aftertaste by yourself, but this time I couldn’t go because of time constraints.

In the end we each re-ordered our favorite gin and tonic and left the restaurant in comfort.

The subtle taste changes are very interesting, so I ordered a lot, and of course the alcohol content is high, so be careful not to drink too much when you come to the store.

“Bronze Lion Winery”

(Address) 40 Alexandra Terrace, Singapore 119933
[Business hours]Tuesday-Friday 17:00-23:30, Saturday 14:00-23:30, Sunday 13:00-19:00
(School) Weekends only (reservation required)
(Official site) https://brassliondistillery.com/

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