{"id":3818,"date":"2025-06-02T12:39:25","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T05:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8080\/?p=3818"},"modified":"2025-06-04T11:55:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T04:55:07","slug":"ve-de-di-vietnams-entry-into-new-world-whisky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ve-de-di.com\/en\/ve-de-di-vietnams-entry-into-new-world-whisky\/","title":{"rendered":"V\u1ec1 \u0110\u1ec3 \u0110i : Vietnam\u2019s entry into New World whisky"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cI had always wanted to make whisky and ended up in Vietnam, and realised there wasn\u2019t a whisky distillery here,\u201d Dr Michael Rosen, co-founder of Hanoi-based distillery V\u1ec1 \u0110\u1ec3 \u0110i, told\u00a0Drinks International<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Founded in 2020, V\u1ec1 \u0110\u1ec3 \u0110i is Vietnam\u2019s 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. V\u1ec1 \u0110\u1ec3 \u0110i\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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. \u201cThe 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cMichael has this great tea metaphor that you can\u2019t make tea in cold water, even if it sits and soaks, it doesn\u2019t 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\u2019s a place of excitement and energy and that\u2019s reflected in the whisky we produce\u201d, Brenker added.<\/p>\n

V\u1ec1 \u0110\u1ec3 \u0110i recently introduced its distillers\u2019 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. \u201cWe have two sides of the same message. With the distillers\u2019 choice, we\u2019re talking about the power of ageing in Vietnam and how you can get really interesting flavours from the wood that you wouldn\u2019t otherwise get, and with the pale ale new make we\u2019re saying if you start with the best ingredients, put them into barrels for interesting maturation, you\u2019ll end up with the world\u2019s best whisky,\u201d Brenker added.<\/p>\n

Despite the benefits of ageing in Vietnam, the country\u2019s climate comes with challenges. The distillery recently began dabbling in growing its own barley, however this crop was damaged by a typhoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first crop of barley was wiped out,\u201d said Rosen. \u201cWe\u2019re working with one particular village and one family and are supporting them to grow. It\u2019s not necessarily the challenge of growing as Vietnam is very fertile, but the typhoon took out our first crop so now we\u2019re replanting. It\u2019s for fun to see what happens. I don\u2019t think we could ever grow enough in Vietnam for our production.<\/p>\n

\u201cCorn whisky is interesting and we want to make it, but barley is what I would call the queen of grains as it\u2019s 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\u2019t, to me at least, have in other spirits, or it\u2019s harder to achieve. We\u2019re not purists, we just love a single malt,\u201d Rosen continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brenker adds the distillery is \u201cnot 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\u2019s another way to elevate not just hot climate maturation, but great product going into the barrel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also want to own Vietnam, we\u2019re 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\u2019s an exciting destination, nothing in Vietnam is easy, but the results are worth it,\u201d Brenker continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So far, the whisky is only available domestically in Vietnam, however V\u1ec1 \u0110\u1ec3 \u0110i is looking for European distribution, and also sells barrels of founder\u2019s casks which are still available for purchase.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI had always wanted to make whisky and ended up in Vietnam, and realised there wasn\u2019t a whisky distillery here,\u201d Dr Michael Rosen, co-founder of Hanoi-based distillery V\u1ec1 \u0110\u1ec3 \u0110i, told\u00a0Drinks International. Founded in 2020, V\u1ec1 \u0110\u1ec3 \u0110i is Vietnam\u2019s first whisky distillery, and is helmed by master distiller Edward Tiege, previously of Copalli Rum […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":3828,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[120],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ve-de-di.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3818"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ve-de-di.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ve-de-di.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ve-de-di.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ve-de-di.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3818"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/ve-de-di.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3833,"href":"https:\/\/ve-de-di.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3818\/revisions\/3833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ve-de-di.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ve-de-di.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ve-de-di.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ve-de-di.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}