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Victoria Chow

All rules are off when it comes to gin these days.
Green ants, dry-aged beef, elephant dung and truffles – these are a few of my favourite … weird gin botanicals!
So how did we get here – from the humble London Dry gins such as Beefeater that our grandfathers used to drink, to this Harry Potter every-flavour-bean assortment of ingredients?
Let’s start at the very beginning.

What is gin exactly? By definition in European Union and United States law, it is a spirit that “must derive its main characteristic flavour from juniper berries”. For those unfamiliar with it, juniper has a distinct piny and resinous aroma.
As far as legalese goes, you can see where the problem arises. That juniper main-character-energy can be very subjective and open to interpretation.
Fok Hing Gin’s name is obvious bait, but what about a Slippery Nipple?
To give this context, many other spirits are defined by laws and are given specific metrics to meet. Cognac, for example, can be made only with six approved grape varietals, distilled in copper pot stills and matured for a minimum of two years in oak barrels.
Gin’s definition is loose in comparison. A bit of juniper is the only thing that stands between it being a gin or a flavoured vodka (which, as a category, has fallen out of style so no one wants that label). This fluidity has given distillers the creative licence to push boundaries within the category.
And why have we, in recent years, seen so many new gin brands, clambering over one another to differentiate themselves with exotic botanicals? I’ll let you in on a little secret.

It’s partly because the barrier to entry for creating a gin is extremely low. You don’t need to own a distillery or obtain a special licence. It can be as easy as picking up the phone and contacting a contract distiller (these are companies who you can simply pay to customise and bottle your own brand).
Of course, not all gins go this route, nor is it necessarily inferior, but it’s a readily available one. The process is quick because no fermentation is required – the base spirit is typically bought from large distilleries, the botanicals only need to soak in it for hours before being redistilled (sometimes neither is done – flavours can be added via essences as well).


This differs drastically from creating something like tequila and mescal, where the raw material takes years to grow and fermentation can take anywhere from days to months.
There is also no ageing requirement for the distilled product, unlike scotch and bourbon whiskies. All this makes for a lightning-fast way to jump on the bandwagon when it comes to keeping up with the spirit trend, and fun botanicals are a way to stand out among the newcomers.

This new diversity in gin “flavours” has been aggravating for some in the industry who want to keep the label strictly reserved for those who adhere to a traditional botanical profile – namely focused on juniper complemented by citrus, coriander and rooty botanicals such as angelica.
Others celebrate how the range has brought drinkers into the category who previously would have turned their nose up at “their grandfathers’ stuff”. For me, I say, the world is your oyster when it comes to finding a gin that speaks to you – and yes, there’s an oyster gin out there, too.


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Food and Drinks

Weird gin flavours are trending – beef, oyster or elephant dung, anyone?

Modern gins are being created with weird botanicals and flavours, from beef to oysters and ants, and even elephant dung. Photo: Victoria Chow

Gins have evolved from the juniper-flavoured London gins (above) our grandparents used to drink. Photo: Shutterstock

Ibhu elephant dung-infused gin. Photo: Ibhu

Isle of Bute Handcrafted Small Batch Oyster Gin. Photo: Isle of Bute

Mooncakes for Mid-Autumn Festival in Hong Kong that are one-of-a-kind, from coffee hazelnut to sweet potato mochi

Cafe Revol’s red velvet mochi mooncake. Photo: Cafe Revol

Patisserie La Lune assorted mooncakes. Ubiquitous around Mid-Autumn Festival in Hong Kong, mooncakes come in many flavours these days.

Creo by Brentwood’s Earl Grey tea mooncakes. Photo: Creo by Brentwood

Cafe Revol’s coffee and hazelnut, red velvet mochi mooncakes. Photo: Cafe Revol

Patisserie La Lune red bean and mandarin peel mooncake. Photo: Patisserie La Lune

Assorted mooncakes from Mirai Bakery.

Jadery’s pandan and egg custard mooncake. Photo: Jadery

Mooncakes from Sage. Photo: Sage

Doughnuts and Hong Kong: an on-again, off-again love affair that’s gone into overdrive amid the coronavirus pandemic

Condensed milk and chocolate cream doughnuts from Hole Foods, one of a number of online bakeries in Hong Kong that have helped end a doughnut drought in the city. Photo: Hole Foods

American doughnut chain Krispy Kreme first opened in Hong Kong in 2006, but only lasted a couple of years in the city. Photo: SCMP

A variety of doughnuts from the now-closed Munchies. Photo: Munchies

Munchies was on Shin Hing Street near Soho. Photo: Munchies

A selection of Hole Foods’ bestselling doughnuts. Photo: Hole Foods

Hole Foods' original glazed doughnut. Photo: Hole Foods

Krispy Kreme’s foray into the Hong Kong market may have been a case of “wrong time, wrong place”. Photo: SCMP

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Founder of Grandma’s Scones Evon Cheung Yin-fong at her kitchen in Kowloon Bay.  Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Dough Beings is a successful Hong Kong online bakery that has amassed more than 23,000 followers on Instagram for its doughnuts. It is one of many such businesses in Hong Kong that uses the app as its main marketing tool. Photo: Dough Beings

Banoffee pie bomboloni from Dough Beings. Photo: Dough Beings

Evon Cheung Yin-fong is the founder of online bakery Grandma’s Scones. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Cheung launched her brand in 2019 after realising scones weren’t widely available in Hong Kong outside afternoon tea sets. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Ch.eese Department, which launched last November, sells individual canned and boxed cheesecakes. Photo: Ch.eese Department

Cheung sells about 4,000 scones per week. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Grandma’s Scones offers six core flavours, but launches a new one every two months. Photo: Instagram/@grandmas_scones

Since Cheung launched her brand, at least 10 more scone bakeries have “opened” on Instagram. Photo: Instagram/@grandmas_scones

Ch.eese Department offers regular flavours such as original, tonka bean and matcha as well as special flavours. Photo: Ch.eese Department

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Gin has come a long way from the London gins of old, and distillers are adding all kinds of strange flavours to stand out from the crowd
Traditionalists want the classic juniper to remain, but new gin makers are putting everything from truffle to dry-aged beef in their spirits



New gin makers are moving away from juniper and adding some weird and wonderful aromatics and botanicals to their spirits, anything from oysters to dry-aged beef or truffle.


Wine and Spirits

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Opinion