How one Singaporean entrepreneur is impacting the global craft spirits market
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How 1 Singaporean entrepreneur is impacting the global arts and crafts spirits market
F&B veteran Michel Lu turns his hand to distilling bazaar Asian flavours nether The Orientalist Spirits brand, and as well aims to champion other independent distilleries in the region.
F&B veteran Michel Lu. (Photo: The Orientalist Spirits)
23 Aug 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 04 Jul 2022 05:32AM)
Turning 50 this twelvemonth has offered veteran F&B entrepreneur Michel Lu fourth dimension for introspection. "A brand done properly can last a lifetime, and even outlast you," he muses, equally he shares his thoughts on his latest venture, The Orientalist Spirits.
Lu is the founder and single shareholder, which makes the local spirits make something of a legacy project for the series restaurateur who has created and marketed F&B brands for the by xx years or so. Think Centro, Hacienda, Stereolab, Foodology, The Prive Group, Wildfire Kitchen + Bar and, more than recently, Savourworld, a joint venture with events company Relish.
"This thought of Asian spirits has been percolating in my head for the past four years," he shared during the soft launch of the brand's first product, The Orientalist Origins Vodka, held over cocktails at Cut by Wolfgang Puck. The beautifully packaged canteen is noticeably the most polished of all the local spirits we take seen and then far – which includes creations by local distillers Brass Lion Distillery and Tanglin Gin – with its sleek elongated form and modernised oriental typography. It is what is inside, however, that Lu believes volition create an impression in the booming global craft spirits market.
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The Origins Vodka came to fruition following his stay at The Hidden Valley Resort in the Shangri-La highlands of Yunnan, Prc. With a cocky-confessed brusque attention span, Lu admits his holidays tend to be quick 4-day getaways to cities, where wining and dining fill his itinerary, earlier he gets antsy. Having more time to hang out, he was taken by the botanicals and flavours all around him – and the pieces for his brand finally came together. "I had sold off Prive a few years ago and was looking for something else to practice," he explained, however advertisement hoc projects that come up his way via his consulting visitor, Revolver Asia.
For the vodka, "I said, it tin't just be 'smooth,'" Lu asserted with a chuckle. "Vodka was left behind as other spirits caught on, [spirits] which have more than character and flavour, such as rum, which I relish." Always the cocky-taught food geek (he'south known to be a dandy cook), Lu delved into the field of distillation, determined that he had to know everything about it to deeper sympathize and make decisions on how to create a distinctive pan-Asian vodka.
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UNIQUELY ASIAN
The result is a careful medley of ingredients that includes Tibetan highland barley, which is the backbone of a Shangri-La-style baijiu or Chinese articulate distilled liquor; organic Thai longan honey; and ix premium potatoes chosen for their contribution to texture and mouthfeel.
Suffice it to say, the Origins Vodka is anything but bland – it hews more than closely to a softer, fragrant, white spirit than Western vodka. Interestingly, Lu hasn't sampled many Asian-born gins and vodkas, though he gamely says he should. "I'm generally a flake insular, and I do what I want to practise," he let on, sharing that he didn't want to compare and benchmark at the creation stage. He did turn to his distiller friends, such as Alex Davies from Ki No Bi Gin in Kyoto, Nippon and found in them a community that was willing to grow the arts and crafts distilling industry.
That said, creating this production has taken about 18 months, which was much longer than Lu anticipated. And he already has multiple products under the make waiting to be actualised. The second product, The Orientalist Gunpowder Gin, is slated to arrive during the fourth quarter of this year. It is infused with an array of Asian botanicals such as Taiwanese gunpowder tea, Cambodian Kampot peppercorns, Korean omija berries, Malaysian torch ginger, Siberian ginseng and Chinese osmanthus, earlier being proofed with the aforementioned soft Japanese spring h2o that the Origins Vodka utilises. There's also a barrel-anile, blended malt whisky in the pipeline.
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Last Big PUSH
Lu has also been discussing with his network of friends effectually Asia, including South korea and Taiwan, on ideas for Asian spirits that could range as widely equally a world whisky blend and canned cocktails. "You hedge your bets, as some will do amend than others," predicts the savvy businessman, who remains confident that it boils downward to investing in quality. "When you have the all-time ingredients and respect them, the proof is in the taste," he posited.
The current batch of Origins Vodka is distilled in Singapore, but Lu is already setting up distilleries in Taiwan, Tibet and Southward Korea. "We fully intend to live up to our tag line of "the first truly pan-Asian craft spirits visitor" and are positioned to champion non just our own brands but all other contained distilleries in Asia that are committed to quality," Lu affirmed.
"We fully intend to live up to our tag line of 'the first truly pan-Asian arts and crafts spirits company' and are positioned to champion not but our own brands only all other independent distilleries in Asia that are committed to quality." – Michel Lu
He believes that in the aforementioned mode a brand similar Absolut, which used to be such a premium headline product, is now 2nd-tier and replaced by the likes of Dais and Grey Goose, these labels volition be replaced past new premium products, "which will nigh certainly be of arts and crafts or independent origins".
The plan is to have nether his Liquid Assets holding company various brands for different markets and segments, which includes The Orientalist Spirits. "We will also correspond, champion and bottle for contained distilleries effectually Asia under The Orientalist Special Editions banner," Lu explained. "We will promote their brand and products using our platform."
He adds that the company is already working with a partner to distil and produce in Jindo, the third largest island in Republic of korea, likewise every bit with another partner just outside of Taipei. He is also "in discussions to do something" in Kyoto.
Information technology'south easy to see how this has apace become more than just some other project for Lu. "When I started, I idea it would exist a fun little project, simply once the doors opened, I realised this is my finale."
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/access/michel-lu-the-orientalist-spirits-228821
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