Despite their corporate backgrounds, American expat couple Simin Kayhan and Rick Ames recently founded Singaporean craft spirit company, Paper Lantern Distilling, to produce spirits made entirely with Asian ingredients. They've just launched a Pozible campaign for their first product, the Sichuan Pepper Gin, a rice-based craft gin distilled at a facility in Chiang Mai.

With the Sichuan pepper as its backbone, Sichuan Pepper Gin also uses ingredients like ginger, galangal, lemongrass, honey and the Thai spice makhwaen. Here we speak to the couple about Paper Lantern Distilling's grand plans, the possibility of distilling in Singapore and how best to enjoy this unusual gin.

The cocktail and spirit scene in Singapore is quite vibrant, and possibly even oversaturated. What do you think Paper Lantern has to contribute?

It is a competitive market, for sure, but I think there is definitely room for something unique. There are a lot of big brands and mass market spirits, but a lot of the selection is the same that you’d find in any city anywhere. When we looked around the local bars and liquor stores we didn’t see the any of the amazing botanicals that you can find across Asia. With Paper Lantern’s Sichuan Pepper Gin we wanted to bring something new, a rice-based gin with Asian botanicals. And I think when you have something really unique that there will always be room behind the bar and on the shelves. 

The Sichuan pepper is not a particularly Singaporean spice. What made you choose is as the backbone of your first product?

With Paper Lantern products we want to celebrate all the unique flavors that are found across Asia, and with Singapore being such a hotspot in terms of cocktail culture that is why we wanted to launch the product here. We chose the Sichuan pepper as it is complex, delicate and aromatic and it went perfectly with its Thai cousin, the Makhwaen, which we chose for its citrus elements that balance out the spicy notes from the ginger and galangal.  

You're distilling at the facilities of the Niikki vodka people in Chiang Mai. There's also Chalong Bay. Southeast Asian spirits seem to be a thing now. How do you plan to keep your products distinct from theirs?

Southeast Asian spirits are just getting started, and we couldn’t be happier about that. Craft distilling is all about giving people something different. There are a lot of choices you have to make when building a new liquor, but we wanted to start with a gin as it is our personal favorite tipple. By distilling with Thai rice, and adding over eight local botanicals, we believe we have created something that is different, and uniquely Southeast Asian.

What's the possibility you'll start distilling in Singapore?

It will happen, that’s for sure. Actually, this was our original intention when we first started out, but we had to consider other options given the start-up capital required. As we move forward and grow, this is definitely something we would be interested in doing ourselves.

Tell us about the best way to drink this gin. 

Because our Sichuan Pepper Gin is so unique, we like to suggest drinking it in a way that allows the beautiful flavors to come through. Instead of the traditional gin and tonic, we just love the gin and soda with a squeeze of lime in a tall glass over ice. If you prefer something a bit sweeter, a gin smash, or as we call it, a Sichuan Smash, is a great choice, simple and easy to make at home. Start with Paper Lantern’s Sichuan Pepper Gin, add in freshly squeezed lemon, simple sugar syrup, and garnish with some Thai basil leaves. Of course our gin also goes well with your favorite tonic water as well. 

You plan to go through Pozible to produce a limited batch of the gin. Tell us about that.

We are launching with a crowdfunding campaign on Pozible for a number or reasons, but the main driver is we have seen that crowdfunding is a great way to build a community. Singapore is the perfect start-up environment for building an engaging customer base. People want to be a part of things they are passionate about, and we want those kinds of people as our founding customers. 

How do you plan to market your product?

We aren’t part of a global conglomerate, so we don’t have a big budget for ads and commercials. We have to trust that we have made something very special that people are going to be happy when the discover us, and they want to share the discovery with their friends and family.   

What will you work on next?

There are so many different kinds of fruits here that we could build into our next product, so we are leaning in that direction. At some point, we would love to put some liquid into barrels and start aging. Aged gin is not unheard of in some parts of the world, and with the ability to age spirits, there is a whole new list of wonderful liquors and liqueurs we could develop. There are some climate challenges we have to figure out how to navigate first, however. Barrel aging alcohol in tropical climates is not something we have come across yet, but we are working on it. 

To order your bottle, support Paper Lantern Distilling's new Pozible campaign by clicking here.