FIRST JOURNEYS - 80 GINS AROUND THE WORLD - PIN 50 OF 80
GWEI-LO GIN, Hong Kong (London)
AROUND THE WORLD, ONE BOTTLE AT A TIME,
PHILEAS FOGG WOULD SURELY APPROVE
Gweilo started with an idea in 2014, when a group of British friends living in Asia decided that Hong Kong needed more interesting beer. The brewery launched in July 2015, founded by Joe Gould, Ian Jebbitt and his wife Emily, all originally from the UK.
They initially brewed under contract, but the business grew quickly and in 2018 they moved into their own brewery in Fo Tan. At the time it was described as Hong Kong's largest craft brewery, representing a substantial investment for a relatively young craft beer business.
In 2019 they decided to expand into spirits and launch a gin. They worked with The London Distillery Company for more than a year, experimenting with different batches before settling on the recipe, and launched Gweilo Gin in Hong Kong towards the end of 2019.
I was fortunate enough to have a tour of TLDC's very tiny facility in a railway arch in Bermondsey, where they distilled both gin and whisky. Sadly, the timing wasn't great for them, as The London Distillery Company went into administration on 17 January 2020.
Gweilo subsequently moved its gin production to Thames Distillers, although the current Gweilo website simply refers to its distilling partner and doesn't name the distillery, so I wouldn't assume that Thames is still producing it today.
What hasn't changed is the recipe, which is really quite clever. The star botanical is Mosaic hops, the lead hop from Gweilo's signature Pale Ale, alongside yuzu lemon, an ingredient they first used when brewing a collaboration with Japanese brewery Kagua. Juniper, lime and a secret blend of spices complete the recipe.
It's citrus-forward, with tropical fruit, juniper and pine notes, and is bottled at 43.5% ABV. It also picked up a bronze medal in the Contemporary Gin category at the 2020 World Gin Awards.
The name Gweilo is a Cantonese term traditionally used for Westerners, with the literal meaning often given as “ghost man” or “ghost person”. Its use and tone depend very much on context, so it is probably too simplistic to say that it is simply an acceptable or non-derogatory word today. Given that the founders are British, though, the name makes a little more sense when you know who's behind the brand!
The beer side of the business continued to grow too. Gweilo began expanding beyond Hong Kong and, in 2020, partnered with Vocation Brewery in Yorkshire to produce beer for the UK market. The Core Range followed in early 2021, with Vocation brewing the beers for the UK.
I have to say, from all the reading up about them, they are an ambitious bunch. They didn't just build a brewery and stop there; they've developed collaborations, expanded internationally and found ways of getting their Hong Kong beer into markets far beyond the city.
One of the more interesting collaborations is with Cathay Pacific. Gweilo's current website still promotes its partnership with the airline, with Gweilo Lager and the exclusive Betsy Pale Ale available on Cathay Pacific flights. Betsy was specifically developed as an inflight beer, recognising that our taste buds and sense of smell are affected at altitude.
They've also continued to build their international presence, with Gweilo's current UK operation describing the beers as having found their way onto tap lists and supermarket shelves in different parts of the world. The UK partnership with Vocation is a particularly good example of this East-meets-West approach — a beer brand born in Hong Kong, with its UK range being brewed in Yorkshire.
Do I drink beer? Actually yes! There isn't much better than an ice-cold brew at the end of a hot day — I just don't post about it!
What I particularly like about Gweilo Gin is that it doesn't forget where it came from. Rather than simply creating another gin with a couple of Asian botanicals, they have taken something fundamental to their beer — the Mosaic hop — and carried it across into the spirit. Add the yuzu, which came from another Japanese brewing connection, and you've got a pretty good example of the East-meets-West approach running through the whole Gweilo story.
And I think that's what makes Gweilo worth including in the Hong Kong story. It isn't a traditional distillery trying to make gin; it's a Hong Kong craft beer business that moved into spirits, took part of its brewing identity with it and then built an international drinks business around that Hong Kong connection.
“A Hong Kong craft brewery that found its way into gin, bringing a little bit of the brewery into the bottle.”
Cocktail: White Lady
"Show me a bottle
and I'll tell you a story."