FIRST JOURNEYS - 80 GINS AROUND THE WORLD - PIN 51 OF 80
PAPER LANTERN GIN, Northern Thailand/Singapore
AROUND THE WORLD, ONE BOTTLE AT A TIME,
PHILEAS FOGG WOULD SURELY APPROVE
Singapore-born, Southeast Asian in spirit, and one of the early craft gins to put rice and Sichuan pepper firmly in the spotlight.
I first came across Paper Lantern Gin during those early days when Asian craft gin was starting to make its mark. It was quite different from the London Drys I was used to and, at the time, felt like a real glimpse of where the Asian gin movement might go.
Paper Lantern was founded in Singapore in 2013 by husband and wife Simin Kayhan Ames and Rick Ames, and the gin was launched in 2016 following a successful crowdfunding campaign. Simin is originally from Turkey and Rick is American, but they had made Singapore their home and wanted to create a spirit that reflected the extraordinary range of ingredients and flavours they were discovering across Southeast Asia.
It wasn't a quick recipe to put together either. They spent more than a year experimenting with hundreds of different botanicals and combinations before settling on the final recipe. The first batches were distilled in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where they could source the rice and other ingredients they wanted directly from local farmers.
Paper Lantern has always described itself as a regional Southeast Asian brand, rather than belonging to one particular country. The company calls its approach a “Living Distillery”, meaning that production can take place wherever they can source the best quality ingredients. After Thailand, production moved to northern Vietnam and that is where the gin has subsequently been produced.
The idea was never to make another London Dry with an Asian botanical or two added for interest. Instead, they started with the flavours of the region and built the gin around them.
And that starts with the base spirit.
Most gin is made using a commercially produced neutral spirit, but Paper Lantern makes its own rice-based spirit at the distillery. The rice gives the gin a noticeably soft, silky character and makes it feel quite different from the grain-neutral spirits we're more accustomed to in gin.
The botanicals were chosen after all that experimentation and there are eight of them, with Sichuan pepper taking centre stage. It is joined by makhwaen, ginger, galangal, lemongrass and juniper, with the spirit finished with a little longan berry honey.
Sichuan pepper isn't actually a pepper at all, but comes from the Zanthoxylum family of plants. It has a wonderful aromatic quality, somewhere between citrus, spice and herbs, and produces that familiar tingling sensation on the tongue. Makhwaen is another member of the same family and is native to northern Indochina.
I think that pairing is what makes Paper Lantern so interesting. They aren't just using Sichuan pepper because it sounds exotic; they've paired two related Asian spices which bring different aromatic qualities to the gin.
The label is just as interesting as what's inside the bottle. The design was inspired by traditional Chinese paper cuttings, with the Sichuan pepper berries providing the visual starting point. The design team wanted something that felt distinctly Asian but avoided the rather obvious “craft gin” look that was becoming popular at the time.
Paper cutting is an ancient Chinese folk art, traditionally made by folding and cutting paper into intricate symmetrical designs. Red paper is particularly associated with celebrations and good fortune, which makes it a rather fitting inspiration for a drinks label. The little red and pink pepper berries on the bottle almost look like they have been cut from paper themselves.
There is also a nice connection between the name and the packaging. A paper lantern immediately conjures up Asia, particularly the glowing red lanterns seen during celebrations and festivals, but the label takes the idea somewhere more intricate and decorative rather than simply putting a lantern on the bottle.
The gin itself is definitely not trying to imitate a London Dry. The Sichuan pepper gives it an earthy, warm and slightly prickly character, while the makhwaen and lemongrass bring citrus and aromatic lift. Ginger and galangal add warmth and the rice spirit gives everything a soft, almost creamy quality. The little touch of longan honey brings some subtle sweetness.
I remember finding the rice base quite noticeable when I first tried it. It's smooth, warm and slightly sweet, with the pepper and spices giving it a very different personality from the classic juniper-led gins I was more familiar with.
It has picked up some good recognition too. Paper Lantern won Silver in both the Super Premium and Contemporary categories at the 2018 World Gin Masters Asia, and in 2019 it was named the Contemporary Style Gin Category Winner for Vietnam at the World Gin Awards.
The company also has an interesting place in the history of Asian craft gin. When Paper Lantern launched in 2016, there were relatively few modern craft gins coming out of the region, and the founders were doing something genuinely different by making their own rice spirit and building the recipe around Southeast Asian flavours.
I also like the fact that the story isn't really about Thailand, Vietnam or even Singapore individually. It's about the flavours of the region and the journey of finding the right ingredients. Singapore is where the company was founded and launched, Thailand was where the first gin was distilled, and production later moved to Vietnam. The gin itself draws on ingredients and influences from across Southeast Asia.
That makes Paper Lantern a pretty good example of what I find so fascinating about Asian gin. It isn't trying to be a Japanese gin, a Thai gin or a Vietnamese gin. It's simply taking the ingredients and flavours that surround the people who created it and rethinking what gin can be.
“Born in Vietnam, Based in Singapore, distilled in Northern Thailand”
The cocktail is an
Asia Daisy. Crush lime into your glass, add ice, 60ml Paper Lantern Gin, 25ml sugar syrup and 25ml ginger ale. Stir gently and float 25ml lychee liqueur on top. Garnish with fresh or canned lychee and a sprig of mint.
"Show me a bottle
and I'll tell you a story."