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Về Để Đi : Vietnam’s entry into New World whisky
“I had always wanted to make whisky and ended up in Vietnam, and realised there wasn’t a whisky distillery here,” Dr Michael Rosen, co-founder of Hanoi-based distillery Về Để Đi, told Drinks International.
Founded in 2020, Về Để Đi is Vietnam’s first whisky distillery, and is helmed by master distiller Edward Tiege, previously of Copalli Rum in Belize. With a name meaning 'to return in order to go', the distillery is known domestically for its Vietnamese gin, made with local botanicals, and its creme de cacao, made with local cacao nibs. Về Để Đi’s mission was to launch the first full-scale whisky distillery in Southeast Asia, producing single malt and indigenous corn whiskies. The distillery is situated on the outskirts of Vietnam’s capital and is equipped with a 3,000-litre copper pot wash still, 2,000-litre copper pot spirit still, 4,000-litre mash tun, and six 3,000-litre fermentation tanks.
On choosing Vietnam as the home for the distillery, co-founder Mikey Brenker added one reason is due to the ageing period, as the maturation is accelerated due to the heat. “The heat in the summer, and also the cold and damp in the winter, to have the really hot and really cold, we find it produces a more interesting maturation.
“Michael has this great tea metaphor that you can’t make tea in cold water, even if it sits and soaks, it doesn’t release all the flavours of the tea leaves. It gets to 44 or more degrees celsius in our distillery and that releases more interesting flavours from the barrels. Vietnam is not a quiet place, it’s a place of excitement and energy and that’s reflected in the whisky we produce”, Brenker added.
Về Để Đi recently introduced its distillers’ choice, an imported single malt brought into Vietnam and re-aged. The expression starts as an ex-Bourbon, and is then added to new american oak and sherry barrels and combined. The distillery also produces new make single malt, using barley imported from Australia or Germany. “We have two sides of the same message. With the distillers’ choice, we’re talking about the power of ageing in Vietnam and how you can get really interesting flavours from the wood that you wouldn’t otherwise get, and with the pale ale new make we’re saying if you start with the best ingredients, put them into barrels for interesting maturation, you’ll end up with the world’s best whisky,” Brenker added.
Despite the benefits of ageing in Vietnam, the country’s climate comes with challenges. The distillery recently began dabbling in growing its own barley, however this crop was damaged by a typhoon.
“The first crop of barley was wiped out,” said Rosen. “We’re working with one particular village and one family and are supporting them to grow. It’s not necessarily the challenge of growing as Vietnam is very fertile, but the typhoon took out our first crop so now we’re replanting. It’s for fun to see what happens. I don’t think we could ever grow enough in Vietnam for our production.
“Corn whisky is interesting and we want to make it, but barley is what I would call the queen of grains as it’s such a fantastic grain that carries so much flavour, and it can dance with wood. You have depths of flavours in single malts, that you don’t, to me at least, have in other spirits, or it’s harder to achieve. We’re not purists, we just love a single malt,” Rosen continued.
Brenker adds the distillery is “not trying to be a Scottish or Japanese whisky distillery, we are joining and hopefully leading the fore of New World distilleries, developing new ideas and new waves of whisky for the rest of the world. We also think by focusing on the new make that goes into the barrel, it’s another way to elevate not just hot climate maturation, but great product going into the barrel.
“We also want to own Vietnam, we’re not a brand for another country specifically. We want people to be drinking our whisky and to recognise that Vietnam makes really good whisky. People are travelling here more, it’s an exciting destination, nothing in Vietnam is easy, but the results are worth it,” Brenker continued.
So far, the whisky is only available domestically in Vietnam, however Về Để Đi is looking for European distribution, and also sells barrels of founder’s casks which are still available for purchase.
