It's the weekend, let's grab a few drinks at The Pub.
Perfume Tree gin
I've been wanting to buy a bottle of gin for a while and was waiting for next time when I go through duty free at the airport to pick up a cheap bottle. Then a few weeks ago I was at a lunar new year market and saw a gin created by a team in Hong Kong, my second home.
It's called Perfume Tree, I've heard of it before because it's the first crafted gin from Hong Kong. It has a beautiful calligraphy logo on the back of the bottle, created by a local artist, and it lists all the botanicals used to craft the gin.
One of the main ingredient is white champaca, a flower local to Hong Kong. It has a beautiful, fragrant scent. When I was a young child, my grandmother used to buy them and place them on a small dish with some water at home to release its fragrance. Sometimes she'd clip them on her tied up hair and leave a beautiful whiff as she walked past. The scent brings back a very nostalgic memory. The flowers are usually sold by grannies on the street, 3 or 4 in a small plastic bag. Now I see from this image from the internet, they wrap them up in banana leaves and look even fresher and very eco friendly.
The gin is distilled in the Netherlands, I didn't manage to find out why because I was busy studying the bottle when hubby was chatting to the guy. I've had a few gin and tonic since we bought the bottle. It doesn't have a strong white champaca floral note I was expecting, but then I think it would be too pungent if it did. Some things are nice to smell but not to taste. Overall, the gin has quite a woody and complex taste, quite a lot to experience for a G&T.
Harcourt lager
We picked up some craft beer at the market as well. They are also brewed by some Hong Kong people. Around 200k of them have immigrated to UK in recent years due to the political crackdown in Hong Kong since 2019. It's great to see many have started to build up businesses in their new home here. This particular business runs a gastro pub in Manchester and brew their own beer called Harcourt. Harcourt is the name of one of the main roads in Hong Kong and was occupied by peaceful protesters for over 2 months in 2014, bringing much of the city to a standstill. The 2014 protest ultimately led to the 2019 political crackdown and an exodus.
Their main product is the 4.5ABV lager called Harcourt hoppy lager. I'm not much of a beer drinker and can't really comment on it, other than it tasted good 😊 Hubby said it was nice but on the expensive side, I think it was around £6 per can. Normally we wouldn't buy them at this price range, but we wanted to support businesses run by the Hong Kongers.
Hong Kong roots. British soil.
The other one we bought is a pale ale, they brewed in collaboration with another brewery. It's a special limited edition for the Year of the Horse. Horse racing, or rather gambling on horses, is a big thing in Hong Kong, but not allowed in China. When Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997, all things were supposed to remain unchanged, and horse racing was used by the general public as a sign of continuity and stability. Hence keep calm and race on. Sadly the continuity and stability didn't materialise. That said, it is still fitting to launch this in the year of the horse.
This is a 4% citrus ale brewed with kalamansi, a citrus similar to kumquat. This has a good head when poured and a lighter colour compared to the Harcourt lager. It was also a tad more expensive as well.
All these are niche products which was nice to try, not to mention that we're both keen to support businesses run by people from our second home Hong Kong.
