Though it still seems like something we’ve just started seeing around Bangkok, Chalong Bay, a boutique sugarcane spirit from Phuket, has actually been around for five years. We recently had a chance to meet with co-founder Thibault Spithakis and learn that his roots with drink production go back much further than five years — he actually comes from a French winemaking family.
“Alcohol is in my DNA,” he told Coconuts. His grandfather founded a winery in France in the ’50s and Spithakis grew up growing grapes. It seemed natural to move into the professional spirit-making world himself. He and partner Marine Lucchini now export their Chalong Bay rum to 20 countries and produce 25-30,000 bottles per year.
The company sources the sugarcane used for their spirit-making in nearby mainland Phang Nga, and in a nod to the founders’ French heritage, distills the rum using an imported French Armagnac copper still and direct fire heat.
Chalong Bay doesn’t taste like the Caribbean rums you might be used to; instead, the clear libation has an earthy, almost dank, scent and goes down easily despite its 40 percent strength.
We tried the original recipe and four flavors: cinnamon, lemongrass, Thai sweet basil, and lime. The winner, for us, was the lemongrass, which tasted fresh and super Thai. Unlike many commercially produced rums, which seem like they simply have scent added to them as an afterthought, the Chalong Bay flavored varieties are vapor-infused and the flavors can be tasted much more than they can be smelled.
This distinctly Thai tipple can be picked up in grocery and liquor stores around Bangkok as well as at certain Bangkok bars such as Sathorn’s Bunker, where we recently sampled it.
