PUBLISHED June 17th, 2020 10:00 am | UPDATED July 22nd, 2024 03:01 pm
For every classic London Dry Gin or bog-standard bubbly, there’s a reimagined spirit just waiting to be discovered. If you’re still fledging your palate, though, narrowing down your world of choices – not to mention getting hold of them – can be a tough feat. Cue SELECTS Singapore, a new online boutique with an intriguingly, well, selective curation of alcohol.
Launched just two months ago, SELECTS is the brainchild of F&B veteran Michel Lu, along with Collective Minds co-founders Zaran Vachha and Alfred Castillo. Eschewing quantity for quality, its booze selection is small and eclectic, with a focus on independent producers around Asia. If your home liquor trove could use a shake-up, you can count on their range for some boundary-breaking bottles. Feeling the spirit of adventure? We’ve picked out five of our favourites here.
Empirical Spirits Charlene McGee
The fun of gin, for a new wave of craft distillers, is its relatively loose definition – it leaves producers plenty of room to play with styles and flavours. One of the boldest new kids on the playground? Copenhagen-based ‘flavour company’ Empirical Spirits, whose ethos of continual tinkering has produced category-defying bottlings like Charlene McGee.
A juniper spirit with a whisky-like soul, Charlene McGee pays homage to the Scandinavian tradition of smoked foods. This golden child is made from juniper berries smoked with their own wood, with the final distillate left to age in Oloroso sherry casks. What emerges is a radically different flavour experience to your usual light, bright gins. This berry-rich, resinous blend is woven through with barley sweetness, while packing all the smoky heat of a good Scotch.
Shop Charlene McGee here.
Sunday’s Coffee Shochu
Fun fact: sake may be Japan’s top tipple export, but shochu – a traditional spirit typically distilled from rice, sweet potatoes, or barley – is the more consumed within the country. If you’re planning to explore this oft-overlooked liquor, one must-try on your list has to be Sunday Spirits‘ Coffee Shochu.
From the same folks behind famed Hong Kong izakaya Yardbird, Sunday Spirits is all about sharing quality Japanese alcohol with the world. Their pioneering Coffee Shochu marries rice shochu from Japan’s Tsubosaka Brewery with beans from Beyond Coffee Roasters in Kobe, along with Japanese rock sugar. The result is a sweet, roasty cuppa – perfect for a boozy Sunday brunch.
Shop Sunday’s Coffee Shochu here.
Fuchs Und Hase 2016 Pet Nat, Vol. 4
When you think bubbly, you probably think champagne, Prosecco, or Cava; well, here’s one more sparkling style to add to the mix. Pétillant naturel, aka pét-nat, is an ancient method of making bubbly; still-fermenting wine is bottled to trap carbon dioxide within, creating carbonation ‘naturally’. In contrast, the méthode traditionelle (used in champagne and Cava) sees extra sugar and yeast added to the bottle to induce a second fermentation. Pét-nat’s fizz is hence gentler, and it tends to attract epithets like ‘funky’.
If you’re up for some funk, Austrian winery Fuchs und Hase has just the ticket. Like orange wine, their Pet Nat Vol. 4 spends a prolonged time on the skins, drawing out deeper notes of apricot and rhubarb. Citrusy fresh on the nose, this unfiltered wine has a mineral bite and a lasting finish.
Shop Fuchs und Hase Pet Nat Vol. 4 2016 here.
Fernet Hunter Granit
Fernet-Branca might have the market cornered on fernet – the minty Italian liqueur downed as a digestif – at the moment, but other producers are certainly stepping up. Offering a fresh take is Austria-based label Fernet Hunter, created by ex-Yardbird manager Raphael Holzer and his friend Neville Kotewall.
Inspired by an early-1900s recipe from Holzer’s great-grandfather, Fernet Hunter brings together botanicals handpicked from the Brunnwald forest – arnica, orris root, and lavender among others. Fernet Hunter Granit is their latest surprise, a bitter which amps up the dryness and astringency of the original. Floral and silky, with a tinge of honey sweetness from chamomile, it’s nothing like the menthol sharpness of your usual Branca fare.
Shop Fernet Hunter Granit here.
Coca-Cola Signature Mixers
Love a good rum-and-coke? Take your highball experience up a notch with Coca-Cola’s Signature Mixers. Launched the middle of last year, this set of four mixers was the fruit of a collaboration with some of the world’s leading bartenders including Max Venning (Three Sheets) and Pippa Guy (The American Bar at The Savoy). Each is tailor-made to pair with dark spirits like rum and whisky, ranging across four distinct flavour profiles.
As the name suggests, Smoky Notes infuses the familiar Coke taste with delicious bonfire notes – ideal for drawing out the woodsiness of aged spirits. Spicy Notes packs some heat with lime, ginger, and jalapeño – just the thing to amp up spiced rum or even tequila. For those summery mixes, there’s Herbal Notes, which bursts with refreshing hints of lemongrass and dill. Meanwhile, Woody Notes offers an earthy bouquet of patchouli, vetiver, and basil, bringing out the warm oak notes of bourbon nicely.
Shop Coca-Cola Signature Mixers here.
Top Image: Empirical Spirits, Charlene McGee