The Art of Craft Distillation at Tankyu | 丹丘蒸留所的蒸餾工藝

The Art of Craft Distillation at Tankyu Distillery

At Tankyu Distillery (丹丘蒸留所), housed within The Mills in Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong, the art of spirit-making is a meticulous craft that honours tradition while embracing innovation. As a Hong Kong-born craft spirits brand, Tankyu has developed a distinctive approach to creating exceptional spirits that stand apart in the global craft spirits landscape. While some products like Perfume Trees Gin are now distilled in the Netherlands, Tankyu's creative vision and botanical expertise remain rooted in Hong Kong.

The Distillation Process

Craft gin production uses copper pot stills — the gold standard in spirit production. Copper is essential because it removes unwanted sulphur compounds during distillation, resulting in a cleaner, smoother spirit. Equipment is carefully selected and configured to produce small-batch spirits of exceptional quality.

The process begins with a neutral grain spirit base, which is then redistilled with carefully chosen botanicals. Each botanical is prepared differently depending on its characteristics: some are macerated (soaked) in the base spirit for hours to extract deep, rich flavours, while more delicate ingredients undergo vapour infusion, where the rising alcohol vapour passes through a botanical basket, gently capturing volatile aromatic compounds.

Botanical Selection and Preparation

What makes Tankyu's spirits truly unique is the botanical palette. Perfume Trees Gin features white champaca flowers (白蘭花), a bloom deeply tied to Hong Kong's cultural heritage. Yuki no Mado Dry Gin incorporates Hokkaido botanicals like Furano lavender and yuzu. Pale Ink uses lightly roasted oolong tea and aged tangerine peel (陳皮). Each botanical is sourced with care and selected by the team in Hong Kong.

The team at Tankyu understand that timing is everything. Different botanicals release their essential oils at different rates, so the maceration and infusion times are precisely controlled. This multi-stage approach allows the team to layer flavours with remarkable precision.

Quality Control and the Distiller's Cut

During distillation, the spirit emerges in three stages: the heads, the hearts, and the tails. Only the hearts — the middle portion of the distillation run — are collected for bottling. This is known as the distiller's cut, and it represents the purest, most flavourful part of the spirit. The heads and tails, which contain harsher compounds, are separated and redistilled or discarded.

Every batch undergoes rigorous tasting and quality checks before bottling. The master distiller evaluates aroma, flavour balance, mouthfeel, and finish to ensure consistency across every bottle.

Small-Batch Philosophy

Tankyu's commitment to small-batch production means that each run yields a limited number of bottles. This allows for greater attention to detail and ensures that every bottle reflects the brand's exacting standards. It also means that seasonal or limited-edition releases — like special botanical blends — can be produced in response to inspiration and the availability of fresh ingredients.

Visit and Experience

Visitors to Tankyu Distillery at The Mills can learn about botanical selection, explore the creative process behind each spirit, and taste the full range including Perfume Trees Gin, Yuki no Mado, Pale Ink, and the thence. Honeyed Elixir range.

Discover more at perfumetreesgin.com and order craft spirits for delivery across Hong Kong.

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丹丘蒸留所的蒸餾工藝

在位於香港荃灣南豐紗廠的丹丘蒸留所（Tankyu Distillery），烈酒的製作是一門精心設計的工藝，既尊重傳統又擁抱創新。作為源自香港的手工烈酒品牌，丹丘發展出獨特的方法來創造卓越的烈酒，使其在全球手工烈酒市場中脫穎而出。雖然部分產品如白蘭樹下琴酒現於荷蘭蒸餾，但丹丘的創意願景和植物學專業知識仍根植於香港。

蒸餾過程

手工琴酒生產使用銅製壺式蒸餾器——烈酒生產的黃金標準。銅在蒸餾過程中能去除不需要的硫化物，使烈酒更加純淨順滑。設備經過精心挑選和配置，以生產品質卓越的小批量烈酒。

製作過程從中性穀物基酒開始，然後與精選植物原料一起重新蒸餾。每種植物原料根據其特性以不同方式處理：部分原料在基酒中浸泡數小時以萃取濃郁風味，而較為細緻的原料則採用蒸氣浸潤法——上升的酒精蒸氣穿過植物籃，輕柔地捕捉揮發性芳香化合物。

植物原料的選擇與準備

丹丘烈酒的獨特之處在於其植物原料配方。白蘭樹下琴酒（Perfume Trees Gin）以白蘭花為特色——這種花朵與香港文化遺產密切相關。雪の窓琴酒（Yuki no Mado Dry Gin）融入北海道植物如富良野薰衣草和柚子。淡墨（Pale Ink）則使用輕焙烏龍茶和陳皮。每種植物原料都經過精心採購，由香港團隊精心挑選。

丹丘的團隊深知時機的重要性。不同植物原料釋放精油的速率各異，因此浸泡和蒸氣浸潤的時間都經過精確控制。這種多階段方法使團隊能夠以驚人的精確度層疊風味。

品質控制與蒸餾師精選

蒸餾過程中，烈酒分為三個階段產出：酒頭、酒心和酒尾。只有酒心——蒸餾過程的中段——才會被收集用於裝瓶。這被稱為蒸餾師精選（distiller's cut），代表著烈酒中最純淨、風味最豐富的部分。酒頭和酒尾含有較粗糙的化合物，會被分離後重新蒸餾或丟棄。

每個批次在裝瓶前都要經過嚴格的品嚐和品質檢查。首席蒸餾師會評估香氣、風味平衡、口感和餘韻，確保每一瓶都保持一致的高品質。

小批量生產理念

丹丘對小批量生產的堅持意味著每次蒸餾只產出有限數量的瓶數。這使得每個細節都能獲得更多關注，確保每一瓶都體現品牌的嚴格標準。這也意味著季節性或限量版產品——如特別植物配方——可以根據靈感和新鮮原料的供應情況而生產。

參觀與體驗

訪客可以前往南豐紗廠的丹丘蒸留所了解植物原料的選擇、探索每款烈酒背後的創意過程，並品嚐全系列烈酒，包括白蘭樹下琴酒、雪の窓、淡墨以及thence.蜂蜜甜酒系列。

歡迎瀏覽 perfumetreesgin.com 了解更多，並訂購手工烈酒，享受香港送貨服務。