The gentlemen he speaks of are Leroy Ong, the fourth-generation director at Joo Lee Chan – a local rice wine distiller that’s been around for over a century; Tan Khuang Soon (KS), the creative director of Raksasa; and Chan Wen How, a biochemist who serves as the master blender for Raksasa’s creations.
Mah Kang Wei
Leroy Ong
Tan Khuang Soon
Chan Wen How
“I’ve always wanted to come up with my own formulation, using local fruits, or spices, and such; and because I enjoy drinking, I figured this would be a good avenue,” shares How. “It takes quite a lot of R&D, with many trials and errors, and of course a lot of tastings,” he adds with a laugh. The other three describe How as the ‘artist’ behind Raksasa Gin, and he is glad to be given the creative freedom to concoct his creations.
But of course, this isn’t just a passion project, it’s a business too. This is also where Mah’s specialty comes in handy, being in the alcohol distribution business. On top of that, the idea to craft a nutmeg-infused gin also stemmed from him. “I suggested [that] we should use nutmeg, which is a flavour that Southeast Asians would be familiar with. Even the citrus gin that we’re coming up with will be a local citrus variant,” Mah says.
Meanwhile, Ong, is a UK-trained accountant who only got into alcohol after meeting Mah, despite his family business producing rice wine. “When Mah approached me with the idea, I was quite excited. To have our own gin with a rice wine base, as well as incorporating the use of local ingredients seemed like a way forward,” Ong recalls.
KS, who handles the branding and design for Raksasa Gin, chimes in, “It’s true, when Mah shared his idea with me, I thought, ‘It’s fantastic!’ And being the creative person that I am, I was thrilled to be part of the business. Plus, I did some research and realised there are not many producers using rice wine as their alcohol base, which makes us even more intriguing.”
“I know the inner content is sorted and of good quality, so now I have to dress up the exterior to make it more appealing for consumers,” he adds. “I went with a black and white design to represent the positive and negative, and through my research, I realised that transparent bottles rarely make an impact. I went with porcelain because it also is an ode to the traditional rice wine bottle, which serves as the base of Raksasa Gin.”
Why Raksasa though? “When the project was being conceptualised, it was all mainly imaginative, no one truly knew if it was going to come true. And so, we decided to name it after something that’s typically a figment of our imagination, but if you keep thinking about it for too long, it does eventually become real to you. Plus, the use of the Malay word also represents our locality, and we also incorporated the Chinese element of the nian or monster and we thought it was pretty cool – so we stuck with it,” KS shares.
In fact, as the quadruple went around telling others about their plans, they were also met with some negativity and naysayers who didn’t think their idea would come to fruition. Thankfully for us, they proved the haters wrong.
However, with their focus on quality and use of only natural ingredients in making Raksasa Gin, supply can be limited. Their first production run saw 100 cases of the original flavoured gin produced; meanwhile, the nutmeg gin they produced was only half of that volume. “Because we insist on using only natural ingredients, we can’t guarantee the production volume, but that’s not a problem yet for us,” How shares.
How also shares that the process of creating the gin takes at least about three weeks, once all the ingredients and procured – from the mashing to the distilling and blending. For now, they are still doing further R&D to keep developing the product, and one can expect to see more Raksasa varietals to come. Since the launch of the Original and Nutmeg gins, the founders have been busy perfecting and crafting more. Soon, two other gins (hibiscus and citrus) will be added, as well as other alcohol products, such as rum and ginger wine.
We even got to try the gin and liked both variants. With a slightly more viscous mouthfeel than most other gins, it allows for gin lovers to enjoy it on its own, over ice, or topped with tonic water. For now, Raksasa Gin can be found in Monster and Beer outlets, and if you’re ever in the Seapark, PJ store, be sure to try the stellar cocktails made by their bartender, which can be savoured any time of the day – and makes for a great first drink to start the night, or a light nightcap.
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Images: Khairul Imran