Editor: This is our second interview with Singaporean independent bottler, Malt, Grain & Cane ("MGC"). To read the story of how MGC began, check out their first interview (and rum review) by John Go! 

All too often people fall into a hole of being constantly preoccupied with day-to-day things that they neglect pursuing the most important goals to themselves. So, a silver lining of the pandemic lockdowns in early 2020 and in 2021 was a rare time for collective reflection. 

We'd have noticed it within our social circles. Young couples got hitched – or divorced (it's for the better, I suppose). Well-paid lawyers and Wall Street bankers resigned and went into completely different fields. The lockdown provided us an opportunity to reflect, to realise what we want out of this life.

This Great Reflection period (which I take will take the liberty to coin) has also provided us with a whole razzamatazz of serious enthusiasts who were hit by a collective epiphany to pursue their passion for once. This gave us great new producers and retailers of great spirits and craft drinks, not least Asian indie bottlers that aim to bring in quality spirits that would appeal to an Asian drinker. One of the most passionate peoples in this space is Marcus of Malt, Grain & Cane ("MGC") who have made the Singaporean whisky and rum landscape that much more vibrant.   

This Foursquare 13 Years Barbados Rum bottled by MGC in collaboration with Miles Whisky Bar was particularly well-received (Image Source: MGC)  

MGC's journey began shortly after 2020's period of pandemic lockdowns when Marcus - already a seasoned whisky and rum enthusiast - decided to start bottling is own whisky and rum.

Read all about MGC's story in this interview by John Go here.

It's been close to two years since the Great Reflection period. And we heard through the grapevine that MGC has new and exciting plans for whisky lovers – something that involves NFTs, Infinity Stones, Shakespearean stories and Japanese City pop.

What better time than now to check in with Marcus to see what MGC is cooking up for Year 3!  

88B: Hi Marcus! We heard through the grapevine that you have an exciting project coming up that involves Infinity Stones, Shakespearean stories and Japanese City pop – we can’t wait to hear about that from the horse’s mouth so thank you for giving us this opportunity for an exclusive!

But before that, let’s catch up a bit and hear how you’re doing!

This is Malt, Grain & Cane’s second year as an up-and-coming Asian independent bottler that is taking over the hearts of more and more people in Asia and beyond – from your incredibly sought after Foursquare 13 to one of my favourite bottles from Caol Ila distillery. You have certainly come such a long way since @HampdenPirate‘s Day Zero in 2018 when you fell in love with the Caroni 17 (Orange label) at Swan Song Bar.

How has the journey as MGC’s CEO (Chief Everything Officer) been for you so far? Share with us one of the best memories you’ve had. And if you had to choose a Wong Kar-wai film to represent your journey with whiskies and rum, what would it be and why?

Marcus: Best memories so far, is launching the entire Year 1 collection at the @HampdenPirate's birth place... Swan Song Bar. It was a great honor for the bar owners to allow me to launch my inaugural event at Swan Song.

Launch of MGC's Year 1 Collection at Swan Song Bar (Image Source: MGC) 

For Wong Kar-Wai films, I'm leaning towards Chungking Express. That movie is filled with nostalgia and missed opportunities. We had a lot of good opportunities to purchase casks, that we hesitated upon.

However, unlike in real life, towards the end, there's some form of closure with Tony Leung & Faye Wong's character, the journey was definitely bittersweet; with so much tension/drama.. We've managed to close MGC Year 2 (Curated Range), with a good selection of 6 wonderful casks. *wiggles eyebrows* Stay Tuned!

Besides it all, it's still my favourite Wong KarWai movie !!! The tension between Tony Leung & Faye Wong, was AMAZING ! In the Mood for Love & Days of Being Wild, come a close second & third...

88B: On to your exciting new project! MGC has just launched a Curated Range of single cask bottlings featuring very tasteful artwork from Asian artists. We also hear that the Curated Range would be bundled with commemorative “House of Splendours” NFTs attached to digital gemstones.

You’re the first whisky and rum bottler in Singapore – and indeed across Asia – to delve into the innovative domain of blockchain and NFTs! It's definitely interesting to see a combination of leading-edge blockchain technology with the 400-year-old whisky and rum industry in one place.

What led MGC into the world of blockchain and NFTs? When did you get interested in NFTs and what about it makes it appealing to you?

Marcus: MGC itself, has always aimed to push boundaries and explore unknown territories since Day 1. After establishing Year 1: Foundation Year; We decided to push forward with more adventurous projects with the Curated Range.. Somewhere in Q3/2021, a friend of MGC, Mr Agrim Singh, nudged me towards the direction of meshing together, NFTs together with the Spirits industry.

One thing lead to another, and things kinda got out of hand (haha).

I started Project Moonshot, a codename for my NFT project. I initially wanted to do a lazy minting method with OpenSea, but early 2022, I was very lucky to meet an amazing Smart Contract Developer company, MintHouse Devs, and they helped with the drafting of the smart contact development, in accordance with my vision of turning it into a loyalty programme for Year 2.

What I find appealing is that, with blockchain technology, its transparency with transactions. Every single action on the ETH blockchain can be traced with Etherscan.io ; There is no way for anyone to fake / create fraudulent tokens.

I understand there's a lot of jokes/ridicule over BAYC (Bored Ape Yacht Club) & CryptoPunks; but they do not see the potential of blockchain technology. The decentralised solutions that they have provided, makes it impossible to create fraudulent products. Hence, I decided to take the leap of faith, and attempt to merge the offline world (physical goods) together with NFTs.

Lastly, with the low ETH prices, making it more accessible; we are looking forward to more people to test out cryptocurrencies & how it can further enhance our daily lives. 

Fun Fact: We stole the name “House of Splendours” , from a game that the @HampdenPirate plays alot with: Final Fantasy 14 😅

88B: Could you also tell us more about House of Splendours?

How could spirits and NFT fans go about acquiring one of your gems? What experiences or bonuses can they unlock once they have collected all of your gems?

Marcus: House of Splendours is the theme for Year 2's NFT release. The idea is to create a premium bundle of physical goods, and we will issue a commemorative NFT token (for Free!), to the purchaser. Gas Fees are obviously borne by the customer.

We're doing a 2-stage bonus give-away. After collecting the first 4 gemstones, you will have the exclusive right to purchase the final 2 gemstone bundles. These 2 bottling bundles, include a rare bottling of Port Charlotte 2001, 21 Years Old, Rum Barrel. At its point of release, it will be the oldest Port Charlotte release, together with its rarity of being a Port Charlotte Rum Barrel bottling, and the artwork will be one of Mr Tay Bak Chiang's works.

It is a 50-50 split between MGC and Miles Whisky Bar; making it even more limited. Most of MGC's allocation will go to the NFT project; hence, to purchase one of these Bottlings, you will need to collect the first 4 gemstones!

After collecting all 6 gemstones, you will become a VIP member for MGC's Year 3 collections; rewards include: discounts for Year 3 bottling & more importantly, the VIP membership NFT, will serve as a lottery ticket for our year-end draw! The Grand prize is a Caroni 1996, 22 year old, for Bar Lamp & Shinanoya Japan !

88B: The first of the Curated Range is the 18-year-old "Saudade 我紫在乎你" Irish Single Malt, featuring an enigmatic painting by contemporary artist, Warren Khong. People could purchase the Saudade Irish Single Malt with a commemorative NFT on the ETH network linked to digital artwork of a purple amethyst.

As a big arts patron, few people are better qualified than you to comment on Asian and Southeast-Asian contemporary art. How does this painting speak to you? What does Saudade represent? 

Marcus: Mr Warren Khong has been in the forefront of Whisky & Rum artwork bottling since 2010. His works of the Portrait series, were part of La Maison Du Whisky's (LMDW) Artists Series #1 in 2010.

I always wanted to collaborate with him for the longest time. In early May-2021, I had the fortunate luck to meet him and visit his studio. From there, we started to discuss the possibility of an artwork collaboration with MGC, and I personally requested for a fresh new painting from his Portrait's series, with a few twists of course!

A few close confidantes know of this story, a story of unrequited love and heartbreak. Let's start from the beginning...

Warren's Portrait series was an exploration and dissertation on beauty; to be exact, the pursuit of Beauty and how far, people would go to modify their facial features (eyes, chin, cheekbones, etc..) for the sake of beauty.

However, I wanted to explore a different take on "the pursuit of Beauty"; I wanted to explore.. a "What If..." scenario, an exploration of a plausible, alternate universe, where a third-party, an outsider, was obsessing over the Beauty (person).

(Image Source: MGC; Artist: Warren Khong)

I requested for a few small tweaks, including:

1. using the colour of Purple (instead of this usual choice of primary colours, Red / Blue / Green / Yellow, etc..)
2. Changing the flow of the hair to the opposite direction
3. introducing a Japanese flower, Camellia Japonica (Japanese Camellia)

The night we concluded on the painting, I was driving home, and on my Spotify playlist, Teresa Teng's 我只在乎你  (I Only Care About You) was playing, as I listened to the lyrics, I found it very meaningful to the whole concept of this painting; as it was a sorrowful song of unrequited love. Plus, the album cover was purple!

Somehow, the Stars aligned perfectly that night. I decided to draw inspiration and tweak it a bit. We decided to call the artwork, "我紫在乎你" ; where we changed the word "只" (only) to "紫" (purple).

Saudade was a perfect term to sum up everything; Warren came out with this name after hearing the inspiration for the painting. After all, Saudade is a perfect word to describe a sad state of intense longing for someone or something, that is long absent.

Some may ask, why did I choose such a tragic tale to inspire my private painting commission with Warren?

Perhaps... it was inspired by a personal experience. After all, Art imitates Life & Life imitates Art, no?

The Cosmos work in a funny way. The harder you avoid thinking about a white elephant, the more you would have it on your mind. The harder you grab a clump of fine sand, the faster the sand slips through your fingers. Similarly, when you try too hard to pursue an outcome (whether it is throwing beautiful pottery or making a failing relationship work), the Universe would resist your futile efforts if it just isn't your time.

Perhaps this is also why Wong Kar-Wai's themes of missed connections and ill-fated love speak to something deep in so many of our hearts.

88B: What else is in the pipeline in the Curated Range?

Marcus: We're launching soon, Clarendon 2010, Staoisha 2013 & a Secret Orkney 2007 (Oloroso Quarter Cask Finish).

Final 2 bottlings are, Port Charlotte 2001 Rum Barrel & a Ledaig 2005 (Foursquare Rum Cask finish).

88B: Some say “You can’t hear pictures” but one look at the stunning label art of your Secret Orkney Single Malt and I would beg to differ.

Sunset Boulevard is illustrated by the incredibly talented artist Ardhira Putra (@ardhiraputra) who has some Japanese-inspired nostalgic pop aesthetics. Definitely takes us into the world of hyper-saturated 80s-style anime with an upbeat Japanese CityPop soundtrack playing in the background!

Since you are a big fan of Japanese CityPop, which song would you use to represent the Secret Orkney expression?

Which songs would you use to represent the other bottles?

Marcus:

(1) “Sunset Boulevard” Secret Orkney Distillery Scotch Single Malt is to Remember Me - Step (1982)

(2) "Saudade 我紫在乎你" Irish Single Malt is to obviously... Teresa Teng's 我只在乎你 (Wo Zhi Zai Hu Ni / I Only Care About You)

(3) “Act IV, Scene VII – Ophelia” Staoisha Scotch Single Malt is to Ophelia (same title) - Kirk Francis

(4) “Youth –青年" Clarendon Pure Single Jamaican Rum is to Young Folks by Peter Bjorn & John (the song of @hampenpirate's youth !!!)

88B: NFTs and blockchain technology are still in their nascent stages of development – but many believe they have the potential to rock the world. It seems that you are a very optimistic supporter of this wave of innovation!

What NFTs do you have in your collection – or would you be interested to acquire – whether in the realm of spirits, cocktails, or outside the alcohol industry?

Marcus: Current proud owner of Sago House (Singapore) 's Cocktail NFT collection! What they did is amazing!!!

I'm still looking out for strong NFT projects, that have strong utility and off-line (Real World) rewards! I believe that a good NFT project, must always have good Real World rewards / utility!

88B: Looking ahead, could you give our readers a sneak peek at what else can we look forward to from MGC in the near future? What other types other distilleries, whiskies or rum are you considering to bottle?

Marcus: Year 3... is still in the works.. We've got a Fettercairn 2006 in the works, an sherried Islay distillery.. some Rums... and... (it's a Secret! 🤫) Stay Tuned!!!

88B: Is there anything else that you have going on at the moment that you'd like to share with the rest of us?

Marcus: Please have a look at our NFT project!!! It's a limited release of 50 per bottle release. We're here for the long term with our NFT project.

Roadmap: www.maltgraincane.com/NFTRoadMap

How to Mint: www.maltgraincane.com/NFTMintGuide

We're doing our best to provide value to our consumers. Yes, NFT's are a new & untested concept; however, we strongly believe that its transparency can be used to further enhance the community's drinking experience !!!

88 Bamboo would like to thank Marcus for sharing his incredible taste in music, and for the sneak peek at what's in store at MGC! 

Much can be said about the polarising domain of blockchains and NFTs. We have covered many of these controversies in our feature article Whisky NFTs: a Clear-headed Explanation by Crypto & Legal Experts.

Despite its imperfections, we see believers of the blockchain continue to work tirelessly to experiment with and take this technology to the next level. MGC's whisky and commemorative NFT token bundles are part of Singapore's growing scene for such innovation.

It's impossible to forecast what form or shape this innovation would take. But two things are for certain: Marcus has proven himself to be a great curator of music and whiskies.

Here's to Year 2 of MGC!

@CharsiuCharlie