Tippling Club's Got Its Own Limited Edition Gin, Sons of Tippling
by Reuben Oh
@ 13 Jul 2018
The brainchild of three masters in their own field, Chef Ryan Clift, bartender Joe Schofield, and Master distiller James Young (Old Young's Distillery), the Sons of Tippling Gin is a product of their collective knowledge of food, drinks and distillation in a meticulously crafted concoction.
Made from botanical ingredients such as juniper, coriander seed, angelica root, orris, liquorice, aniseed, cardamom, lemon peel, fresh orange peel, and lemon myrtle, the Sons of Tippling Gin is available in a very limited quantity of 300 bottls, and will be retailing at S$90 per bottle, at Equatorial Wines and Tippling Club.
We asked Chef
Ryan Clift,
Joe Schofield and
James Young some pertinent questions regarding this latest venture:
CWA: Given that the Sons of Tippling Gin was created by a chef, a bartender and a master distiller, we would reckon many factors were considered in the making of it. What has each key person (Chef Ryan, Mr Schofield and Mr Young) lend towards the making of the gin? Esp, how does Chef Ryan Clift’s culinary perspective being factored in make a difference?
Ryan: First and foremost, Sons of Tippling Gin is a three-way collaboration between myself, Joe, and James. James Young is a master distiller who has won multiple awards for his gin, and he is actually sort of the real creator of the gin itself. But Joe and I wanted to customize a gin specifically for Tippling Club, that we feel accentuate the flavours we prefer mostly in a gin. There are so many boutique gins in the market
and people have their own preference of gin and their favourites of it, so we wanted to create our own favourite that we will be able to serve in our bar. Working with James Young, Joe and myself were able to control the quantity of each ingredient in the gin, and James was able to match our questions. It took us 3-5 batches of distillation to get to the final product. Again, it is not my culinary influence, I’m still the owner of Tippling Club and I have the responsibility to ive my advice and creativity to the bar, and everything that happens in the bar. It is not just about culinary for me, I’m not just a chef. I help develop the drinks for the bar as well, that’s my passion and that’s what I like doing. For me and Joe, being English, we were brought up on Gin and Tonic – something so simple and one of the world’s most famous cocktail and has recently came back into the cocktail scene. And hence the boom of all these boutique gin bars. That’s why we wanted to create our own gin, and for me, good gin is heavy on the juniper and the beauty of our gin is that James was able to get Tuscan juniper, which has far more essential oils, far more flavour. The end result is that we end up with a punchy flavoured gin and it makes an old English flavoured tasting Gin and Tonic, which is what we’re looking for.
Joe: This wasn’t about each person adding or lending something individual to the gin. This was about us all coming together to create something unique. We looked at our most sold drinks outside of the cocktail menu and realised that the most popular drink was the gin and tonic. And we wanted to add our own Tippling Blub twist on this.
James: For me, it was important firstly that both Chef Ryan and Bartender Joe understood that I needed to know the philosophy for the spirit before I started thinking about the flavours or ingredients we might use in the gin. A gin designed for a hot Australian summer afternoon gin and tonic is different to a special occasion gin for a martini at midnight! It was important to consider the climate of Singapore comparedto the Swan Valley in Western Australia. To think about why Sons of Tippling Gin would be the first choice for a customer walking into the bar! Both Chef Ryan and Joe were adamant that we retain the signature citrus forward notes that our own 1829 gin is famous for, but taking that to the next level. A gin that would make superb gin and tonics that you would never tire of, but also a brilliant, clean martini. Once I knew that, then my role is to find the botanicals and techniques that would deliver on their vision.
CWA: What are the best food pairings recommended to match the gin?
Ryan: For me, to be honest, none. This is a Gin that should be enjoyed in a Gin andTonic. Warm afternoon, loads of ice, slice of lemon, not too much tonic, and a double measure of gin.
James: I am certain that Chef Ryan Clift is better equipped to answer this than I am! However, in the last 3 years I have paired our gins with cheeses, high end modern cuisine, chocolate and native Australian foods. This gin in particular has such clean resh citrus notes, that I think it is a good accompaniment to flavourful and spicy ishes, right the way through to seafood dishes. If the meal would be well served by a small squeeze of lemon, then it with match beautifully with this Sons of Tippling in.
CWA : Does Tippling Club see itself creating other spirits moving forth?
Ryan: What we can say is the Sons of Tippling Gin is a limited release in 300 bottles.When that is sold out, what Joe and I have done is we created a new label called Sensorium – there will be the release of Sensorium Gin – which will be distributed commercially and globally by James Young Distillery. It is the same collaboration between James, Joe, and myself. At the same time, we are currently working on developing flavoured vodkas. Flavoured vodkas sounds gimmicky and not many companies have created decent flavoured vodkas. We want to create vodkas that have slight backnote flavour. So that when you drink it with soda, you’ll either get a hint of elderflower or little hint or yuzu in the background. We want to create vodkas that you can drink straight or with a wedge of lemon. Very simple. Yes, there will be new spirits moving forward, but that will be under our new label – Sensorium.
For now, diners can also look forward to experiencing Sons of Tippling Gin at all Spa-Esprit group restaurants.
If you'd like to check out more on Old Young's distillery, you can visit
www.oldyoungs.com.au or head down to Tippling Club at Tanjong Pagar Road.
Tippling Club
38 Tanjong Pagar Road, Singapore 088461
+65 6475 2217
