Meet Tim Whitefield, Distiller & Co-Founder of Tanglin Gin

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From architecture to distilling Singapore’s first craft gin, meet Tim Whitefield, Distiller & Co-Founder of Tanglin Gin.

Tell us a little about yourself, your background and how long you’ve been distilling.

I was born in Dorset, England, trained as an Architect, spent some time in Canada, and moved to Australia in 1990. Due to the recession of the early 90’s, I found myself in Asia where I spent five brilliant years working and living in places like Hong Kong and Bangkok. I moved back to Australia in 1995, spent some time teaching diving in Airlie Beach then finally moved back to Melbourne. After building an Architectural practice of about 40 people I decided I needed a change. So about 5 years ago, I sold my office and took a job with a big design and engineering company, moved to the Middle East then to Singapore. It’s been these life experiences that have prepared me for Tanglin Gin. I’ve travelled and tasted so many amazing foods and drinks along the way that my palate knows what it likes and what works.

My introduction to gin started a long time ago when I’d go out foraging with my dad for sloes to make Sloe Gin. The distilling bit, I would describe myself as a newbie. I’d fit that perfect line up of 90% of gin distillers, self-taught.

Who is the team behind Tanglin Gin and how did the idea to create Singapore’s first craft gin came to be?

Tanglin Gin came about like the beginning of a bad joke, “a Pom, two Aussies and a Dutch guy walk into a bar… “. The four of us, Andy Hodgson, Chris Box, Charlie van Eeden and myself were enjoying a nice selections of gins at a Singapore rooftop bar, the conversation gravitated to how it was odd Singapore didn’t have its own gin given the explosion of the cocktail scene. Andy mentioned he’d tried to create a gin brand whilst living in Hong Kong. I mentioned I knew how to make gin, Charlie started talking about his branding background and Chris was able to give insights into the business and finance world of Singapore having lived there for over 20 year. That was two years ago, and so began the story of Tanglin Gin.

What inspired you to create Tanglin Gin?

I had a strong memory of my first few weeks in Singapore, walking around a busy Hawker Centre with all those cuisines and cultures in one place. I knew from the start that I wanted to squeeze that into a bottle. We all threw the concept around but never moved away from wanting to make a truly Asian Gin, and to capture at its core, Orchid.

We bounced around a few names, we wanted a single word, something that was instantly connected to Singapore. The name Tanglin is derived from the area’s Chinese name twa tang leng, meaning “great east hill peaks”. Originally a tiger-infested jungle, it became Singapore’s first spice plantations then finally home to the UNESCO World Heritage listed Botanic Gardens with its front gate called Tanglin Gate.

What are some of the challenges you faced while setting up a Singapore’s first craft gin distillery?

Tanglin Gin is the first gin and first spirits distillery in Singapore. That has meant stepping through the regulatory processes very carefully. Gin is classified as food so our distillery had to be located in a food zone; in Singapore this means a multi-storey food factory. We’re on the ground floor of a new building located in Mandai near the zoo. But its location doesn’t lend well to being a ‘destination’ so there’s no cool front bar to hang out in. Singapore as a country evolved pretty quickly and we are working with the authorities so in the future we can move out of a food zone and create a ‘destination’. Singapore’s second gin distillery opened about four months after us and has been able to located outside of a food zone. So positive signs. Singapore is a country that imports nearly everything it consumes which for us meant sourcing an overseas supplier for nearly every element of our process. So we’ve had to learn  a bit about air and sea  logistics.

We’ve had a few interesting conversations about the cost of our gin. Some local clients think it should cost less because it’s made locally, when the commercial challenges are the opposite. We pay a high alcohol duty, rents in Singapore are tear-inducingly high, we airfreight botanicals in, and our ethanol is shipped from Australia, so we’re making a craft gin in the world’s most expensive city. However we knew that, and it’s the price we have to pay to create Singapore’s first original gin, it’s the cost of Made in Singapore.

What botanicals go into making Tanglin Orchid Gin and how do they connect to Singapore’s culture?

Tanglin is inspired by the 5 main cultural groups that have made Singapore what it is today: Chinese, Indonesian, Malay, Indian and European cultures. We started with about 20 botanicals that represented those cultures and after a lot of small batch testing, we settled on 10, plus an Australian twist.

The signature of Orchid is represented in two botanicals, Chinese Dendrobium and whole Indian Vanilla Beans. Orchid connects to Singapore, being its national flower. We use Malay Cassia and Indonesian Java Pepper. From Europe, we use Liquorice, Bulgarian Coriander and Angelica Root (known in Chinese as Dang Gui) and Orris Root. We needed some additional citrus notes and we identified Amchoor, an Indian botanical, our Juniper comes from Macedonia. The Australian connection is whole organic oranges from my garden in Victoria.

Where is the process of making Tanglin Gin?

For our base spirit, we selected  ethanol from Manildra Group in NSW. They use  the very best wheat grain, the same grain that makes the best soba noodles in the world.

We stayed away from the copper and stainless steel look of a traditional still. Instead we selected a Gineo still made in Poland, it’s a very modern design, full stainless steel, using electric elements to heat an oil jacket that produces a perfect uniform indirect heat. The still has a brilliant little computer brain that feeds information on temperature from multiple points. It’s essentially a pot still with a reflux column directly over the top of the pot, except that there are two packs of Raschig rings, below and on top of a series of glass botanical baskets. This results in the most intense flavours.

In the making of our signature Orchid gin, we use the still as both a pot and a botanical basket configuration. The most delicate and the most expensive ingredient, the vanilla beans, sit in the top most basket. It’s the very last botanical that carries over to create our gin. We use juniper in both the pot and the basket. In the pot, the juniper is added fresh and whole. In the basket, we add about 700g of juniper that’s a little battered and bruised. The final ingredients in the basket are those sweet oranges from my garden.

How would you describe the flavour profile of Tanglin Orchard Gin, and what is the signature serve?

What it’s not, is another juniper gin. We created a gin that honours the origin of the spirit. We take juniper and add lots of complex flavour, whilst still being a true dry gin style. This is a gin that quite literally changes from one person’s palate to the next. I get a slight citrus on the nose followed with a smooth herbaceous flavour, a long finish with a creamy mouthfeel. Some experience an earthy sweetness and floral note.

I designed the gin to answer three things: can it be drunk neat without leaving an ethanol burn or after taste and works in a Martini, could it change to a sipping gin with just an ice cube and simple condiment like an orange wedge and would it work in a classic Negroni, my cocktail of choice.

If you’re a G&T drinker, Capi Native works really well, Fever-Tree Mediterranean is a good choice, East Imperial Yuzu lifts and takes the G&T somewhere else and if you can get Folkingtons English Garden Tonic, this is a totally different drink.

You also produce Tanglin Mandarin Chilli Gin with young ginger, kaffir lime leaves, chilli and mandarin peel. Was the gin created with an idea in mind?

We always wanted to have a bright citrus-forward gin. Our Mandarin Chilli Gin has the addition of a slight floral nose and to connect it to Singapore and Asia more broadly, we introduced chilli and young ginger for a little zing.

This gin makes a perfect instant cocktail, 90ml of Mandarin Chilli Gin, 60ml or 90ml of soda over ice with a lemongrass stick snapped and twisted to release its flavours. For something a little extra, add a wedge of young ginger. As a test, I’d like to try it with Capi Blood Orange Soda.

How was the gin received when it was launched in 2018 and has it changed the way gin is perceived in Singapore?

When we launched, the support was amazing, from the take up amongst the local bar scene, to almost immediate request from DFS at Changi Airport to stock us as part of their craft push.

Gin consumption is growing in Singapore. The emergence of an amazing local cocktail and speakeasy bar scene, with Singapore now hosting 5 of the world’s top 50 bars has changed the demand for drinks, and gin is definitely part of that mix. Local consumers may have had little exposure to gin, but we see the demand for gin growing with Singapore’s evolving bar scene, from hidden bars, hole in the wall bars that sit 12 people, to bars with a rotation of international mixologists. The launch of an original local gin is certainly helping introduce more people to the spirit class. It might not be the IT spirit yet, but it’s a sleeping dragon.

What can we look forward to from Tanglin Gin?

A limited release Bourbon Barrel Aged Gin using Garrison Brothers Bourbon barrels is due out in the next month or so. Our third core gin, a higher proof gin will be a mid-year release. We will be making another batch of our occasional Cranberry Gin, red, sweet and strong, perfect with soda.

We have formed a really exciting partnership with the creative force behind Spiffy Dapper, Oriental Elixirs (OE) in Haji Lane, a concept R&D destination where you’ll be able to find unique products made in Singapore – beers, meads, soaps and marmalades and of course the full selection of Tanglin. The tiny upstairs destination will have about 6 cocktails, changing each week, and as George likes to say, ‘other crazy shit.’ OE is expression on the unexpected part of Singapore. You will also be able to get Oriental Orange Bitters (OOB) made from nothing but the by-products of our gin runs, and in development we have a bunch of other R&D short run concepts which will only be able to be tasted at OE.

Our plan is simple, we want to be the gin that people think of when they think of Singapore. And Tanglin and Tonic has a nice ring to it.

Tanglin Gin can be purchased through The Wine Providore in Australia. For trade inquiries, contact [email protected]

Next… How to Use Tanglin Gin in Cocktails

In partnership with Tanglin Gin.