Brass Lion Distillery in Singapore has made history for its home country by releasing its first ever single malt whisky.
The Brass Lion Single Malt, launching on 9 September, is a single cask release with only 427 bottles being made available. Of those bottles, 70 have been drawn at cask strength.
To create its whisky, the Brass Lion team – led by the distillery's founder, Jamie Koh – worked with the General Brewing Co. in Singapore on a tailor-made wash that would stand up to processing and ageing in the country's humid, equatorial climate.
The mash was created from Maris Otter malt and fermented at ambient temperature with top-fermenting ale yeasts that could withstand the heat. The resulting wash was double distilled and matured in a bourbon barrel for more than three years, with the warm, humid conditions creating an accelerated ageing effect.
Brass Lion has paid homage to Singapore on the whisky's packaging, with the topographic lines of the area around the distillery, in Alexandra Terrace, used as a motif.
Jamie Koh said: "Experimentation is at the heart of everything we do. Whether it’s through flavours or technique, we always try to push the boundaries of what local distilleries can do. We had the resources to create a whisky, so why not? It was a challenge but being the first always is."
Customers who have signed up for first access to the whisky will be sent a link when bottles are available for purchase. Those who take part in the Making History: A Brass Lion Whisky Experience at the distillery will also have the chance to bag a bottle, and the distillery tasting room will also be serving drams of the single malt from 23 September until mid-October (subject to availability).
A limited number of bottles of the Brass Lion Single Malt will be made available each day from 9 September at brassliondistillery.com.
