Is Hong Kong gin the best? Why demand from millennials is a tonic for the city’s craft drinks makers

Local gin is big business in Hong Kong. Such big business, in fact, that one company, Handover Gin, reportedly tried to import gin from New Zealand and pass it off as a local product, according to custom officials, who arrested the director of the company earlier this month. Fortunately, not all Hong Kong gins are dubious, and demand continues to grow.

The emergence of local gin brands is part of a wider craft drinks revolution in Hong Kong. In 2013 there were just two craft beer breweries in the city. Five years later, following the birth of now famous brands such as Gweilo and Lion Rock Brewery, there were suddenly 35 breweries. Now, the second wave of the revolution is upon us with Hongkongers making gin.

Go to one of Hong Kong’s better stocked bars and you can see the evidence for yourself. Local gin brands such as Perfume Trees, Bauhinia, Two Moons and NIP (founded by two “not important persons”) are all generating buzz. Even Gweilo is getting in on the act with a gin of its own.

Many involved in this fledgling craft spirits industry see the rise of Hong Kong gin brands as the natural next step following the craft beer movement. Now that local consumers are more au fait with the many different types of beer, whisky and wine available, they are seeking a fresh stimulus.

“Gin has been on the rise for a few years,” says Sandeep Hathiramani, one of the organisers of Gin Festival Hong Kong and co-founder of cocktail bar Tell Camellia. “The old whisky and cognac culture does not resonate with millennials. Gin is fresh, new, with experimental flavours and botanicals, and, served with tonic, it’s particularly simple to drink.”

There are two distinct types of “local gin”. The first are those distilled abroad, which use local botanicals as inspiration. These are the likes of Perfume Trees (distilled in the Netherlands), Fragrant Harbour (Sweden) and Bauhinia (UK). Then there are the local distilleries actually based in Hong Kong – NIP and Two Moons.

Establishing a distillery for spirits is no easy thing in Hong Kong. There is a mountain of red tape to clear – significantly more than when seeking to open a beer brewery. Jeremy Li, co-founder of NIP, remembers that meeting all the government regulations was an arduous process that required dealing with up to seven separate authorities. “Given that there weren’t many references we could rely on or expertise to seek help from in Hong Kong, [we had to use] common sense and our own knowledge and experience, which prolonged the process slightly longer than we wanted.”