Tempeh, kombucha and sea urchin sashimi are so much more popular now than like, ever.

Many iconic Asian “superfoods” or delicacies have existed in the culinary universe for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Kombucha was said to be invented in northeast China around 221 BCE. It wasn’t until the late 2010s that kombucha saw a resurgence in popularity that American retailers could sell cans of the fizzy vinegary stuff to hipsters who would happily buy them at US$6 a pop. Europeans now know about tempeh, a fermented soy cake first documented in 17th century Indonesia, now touted as one of the most nutritious sources of protein for animal-loving vegans.

It seems that certain foods and ingredients have a way of eluding our (highly-divided-by-social-media) attention, only to show up on the radar in a Parisian restaurant or Californian beach bar, dripped out in full glamour and being heralded as the next big delicacy that everyone in town needs to try immediately.

A few years back, British media credited celebrity chef Nigella Lawson for apparently discovering the next big culinary ingredient: a sweet, fragrant, herbaceous leafy plant from Southeast Asia called pandan. This narrative was swiftly criticised as the “Columbusing” of pandan, an ingredient widely known in almost every Southeast Asian household.

But why blame Nigella Lawson when many Asians themselves do not seem as excited about their native foods? We do have a tendency to overlook the culinary potential of many a commonplace ingredient here. So, this begs the question: Why aren’t we as excitable?

Maybe it’s tough to get excited about the dishes that our grandparents ate. But maybe the big reason is that these Asian ingredients have not yet been served in the most creative or attractive manner.

Those are just some of my thoughts after speaking with Ashwin Sekaran, who took me on an intimate tour about the Singapore Distillery where he is Head Distiller and Manager.

Getting to his distillery involved a long drive to a fairly remote office compound with multiple stories and driving up to a nondescript unit with very high ceilings – probably big enough to set up a car showroom. This distillery isn’t open for visit to the general public yet. Without much certainty I tried my luck with the buzzer. The door opened and I’m face to face with the tall and bespectacled Ashwin.

The first thing we discussed was the Asian origin of the herbs and botanicals used in gins around the world.

“Many amazing flavours and ingredients that we take for granted in Asia are actually very exotic and appealing internationally,”

– Ashwin Sekaran, Head Distiller and Manager of the Singapore Distillery.

On the reason why we take these ingredients for granted, Ashwin suggested “it’s just that no one has ‘pushed’ them.”

Ashwin fell into the gin distillation rabbit hole after a fateful trip to London in 2017 where he visited several craft gin distilleries. With a goal of setting up a gin distillery in Singapore himself, he left a conventional job as a marketing executive and then apprenticed under gin and whisky master distillers in the UK and Australia.

In London, he discovered that craft gins were a notch above the commercially-produced gins he was familiar with. “I was shocked by the sheer amount of distilleries in London alone! Tasting all the craft gins really opened my eyes to what gin could be and how different – in a good way –they were from the same old gins I was always drinking.”

At a distillery visit, an Englishman explained to Ashwin how, besides juniper, gins also require “very exotic ingredients” from the far east such as coriander seeds, cardamom and fresh limes. The irony was plain. “These are all very common ingredients in our cuisine here in Singapore,” noted Ashwin, and he became inspired to take advantage of Singapore’s position and access to Southeast Asian herbs and spices to make gins with distinctly Asian flavours.

After setting up Singapore Distillery, Ashwin’s Australian mentor visited and tasted the first experimental batch of pandan leaf-infused gin. The Australian’s eyes lit up and he exclaimed that it was the best thing he’d tasted ever. “Okaay it’s nice… but it isn’t mind-blowing,” replied the amused Ashwin.

The recipe was refined further. Eventually, Singapore Distillery released one of its most popular expressions yet – the Coconut Pandan Gin.

Among other botanicals, this gin is distilled with coconut hearts, fresh coconut flesh and pandan leaves, giving the spirit a fragrant and creamy aroma of said ingredients. Even a whiff of this spirit would make any Singaporean abroad think of home.

Most craft gin producers, including Ashwin, take pride in quality and abide by certain non-negotiable standards. Ingredients have to be authentic and fresh, and not from concentrates or factory-made flavourings.

“Let me show you something,” Ashwin eagerly beckoned. I followed the distiller up a narrow flight of stairs to a cool area with many stacked buckets.

He opened a bucket with thousands of black peppercorn-looking things and offered it to me. I realised those are the fresh juniper berries essential for every gin. Unsure of his intentions, I took a couple of berries and ate them. (Spoiler: they’re not meant to be eaten this way.) But to satisfy your curiosity, they taste very piney, woodsy, very sour, with a dry texture on their skin somewhat like blueberry skins but much thicker.

He then opened another bucket full of an ingredient that looked like irregular but smooth brown flakes. “This is cinnamon…?” But they smell nothing like the predominantly woodsy and vanilla-like cinnamon sticks from the grocery store. In fact, this cinnamon-looking stuff smells much milder and fruitier, with an aroma that somewhat resembles lemon peels.

Ashwin explained to me that I was in fact smelling “true cinnamon”.

Apparently, grocery store “cinnamon” is in fact bark from the Cassia tree, a plant which grows abundantly and can be cheaply sourced. Ceylon cinnamon or “true cinnamon” on the other hand is more difficult to cultivate, and is native to Sri Lanka and southern India. This variety has a milder, more delicate aroma and flavour, and is prized as an expensive cooking spice. Singapore Distillery uses both the Cassia cinnamon and Ceylon cinnamon, sometimes combining them in a single expression for fuller and rounder flavour.

Apart from botanicals, there are fruits. Ashwin has to work fast because fresh ingredients are a requirement here. One of their other expressions incorporates strawberries – the Ichigo Cameron Gin – and is made with punnets of fresh strawberries grown in the Cameron Highlands that are plucked on Sunday and received in Singapore on Monday. The distillery immediately distils with the strawberries first thing on Tuesday morning.

Another major challenge from using fresh ingredients: “No two distillations are the same and there can be no set recipe as each batch of botanicals will be slightly different” explains Ashwin. “I often have to do 2 to 3 batches and blend them together to ensure there's consistency in each bottle of gin. It's challenging but it's worth the effort as the flavour and aroma will be fantastic!”

Ashwin’s focus on Asian ingredients and botanicals also means that he often has to work with ingredients that haven’t been used in gin production before. Without any points for reference, he has to do research on his own, sometimes even comparing molecular structures of the new ingredients with those of the existing ingredients to decide on the appropriate recipe. “Then I'll start drafting a recipe and distilling a test batch.”

“Figuring out a recipe can be challenging as you never know how the botanical will distil. Will it distil well and will you get a lot of flavour and aroma? Or is it going to be more finicky like with cucumbers where we have to do a cooler distillation in the vapour baskets so the cucumbers don't ‘overcook’.”

And because so many botanicals with different aromas are involved in a gin, finding the right balance involves a lot of trial and error - like playing Jenga with your palate. And we mean A LOT of trial and error. The Coconut Pandan Gin took Ashwin about 30 revisions (and 30 distilled batches) to find the right balance. According to Ashwin, 30 revisions was on the low end because coconut and pandan are already very harmonious and complimentary ingredients as they are.

On the other hand, the Merlion Gin which involves 13 different botanicals took Ashwin over 100 revisions to find the right balance - the sweet spot where none of the botanicals overpower the others.

Whew said I, palm in my neck. Ashwin carried on about how certain important organic compounds found in some Asian fruits are also found in some European plants, but he's lost me at this point. This all truly sounds like rocket science. It seems like my pipe dream of running a whisky distillery will never be possible. Naturally, I wondered how Ashwin transitioned from working in a white-collar job to putting on his work apron, pouring sacks of grains and distilling gin.

“The transition involved a lot of learning. Setting up a manufacturing company is always challenging, especially if you're doing it for the first time and it's also a distillery in Singapore (which at the time had no other distilleries). The day to day is a lot more involved as I'm not just an employee anymore but in charge of the entire distillery. I have to be very hands-on with everything, from the distillation to administrative work – just to make sure everything is being done okay and the people doing it don't have any issues or problems that I might be able to help with.”

Ashwin went on, “My average day usually starts in the distillery, where we prep for whatever gin we're distilling that day. While the still is heating up and during the distillation, I'll be attending to whatever paperwork or business things that need to be done. Once the [distillation] cuts are made I'll usually head off to our office or warehouse and continue with the more business side of work. So, there's an even balance of distilling and more standard business, sales or marketing things.”

Singapore Distillery's distillation set up is shiny, coppery and looks like something out of a steampunk movie.

Distillation at the Singapore Distillery involves a Scotch-style pot still and two column stills (or rectification columns) with vapour baskets (intended to hold botanicals), all neatly arranged in a circle to optimise space in Ashwin’s stillhouse. Why does he need both pot still and column still? These components were influenced by Ashwin’s background of apprenticing in a gin distillery and later a whisky distillery. The “onion head” of the pot still helps bring out a lot of bold flavours and aromas from the distillate. The columns, on the other hand, are used by Ashwin to tame and balance the distillate, depending on the type of gin.

By now I was beginning to be thirsty, fidgety and neck-scratchy. Seeing as my alcohol withdrawal symptoms were beginning to set in, I was graciously invited to have a seat. Ashwin opened an unlabelled bottle on the desk and poured me a glass of the stuff. Then I realised there’s an entire piece of ginseng immersed in the spirit. “I see you have a GINseng experiment huh?” My weak dad joke did not land.

The gin had been “aging” with the ginseng in the bottle for about half a year. Ashwin was still looking for the ideal period of “aging” to reach the optimal balance. As Ashwin’s willing lab rat, I took a sip of it. It was surprisingly complex with many layers to it. I was expecting something bitter or medicinal. This instead was actually mildly herbal, sweet, earthy, woodsy and thrillingly spicy.

Without such experimentations, Singapore Distillery would not have its lineup of 10 gin/vodka expressions with contrasting flavours. “I think that's the real fun part of having a distillery! Being able to make interesting gins that no one else is doing, or being able to put my own spin on more familiar drinks.”

It’s easy, romantic even, to speak about “chasing your dreams”. In reality, actually chasing your dreams is often incredibly hard work and much more challenging than being an employee at a white collar job. I know this much is true from just watching Ashwin work tirelessly not only distilling gin but also managing the business operations. His passion in craft gins is clear; the effort and quality of the products undeniable. No whisky, gin or rum has evoked as much nostalgia in me as the Coconut Pandan Gin which is chock full of familiar flavours and aroma from the Singaporean desserts I’ve had since I was a child.

If anyone were to re-discover pandan and make it a wildly popular ingredient on the global stage, I’m hoping it’s someone like Ashwin.

@CharsiuCharlie