Nicolas Legroux – world travel and craft rice liquor
“People in the cocktail scene all over the world are looking for new flavours and new ways of doing things, so I’m confident the Son Tinh brand can be successful everywhere,”
Nicolas Legroux, Ruou Son Tinh International Business Development and Public Relations Manager, is a man who’s been around the world for Son Tinh.
His travels have taken him across land, oceans and continents. From Vietnam to Singapore, France and the US, Nico has seen (and participated in!) many unique drinking cultures.
He noticed an underlying theme that stayed consistent throughout: people just want to have a good drink.
So it was fitting, then, that throughout his travels he was accompanied by the ever-faithful Son Tinh Original Ruou – usually as sample tipples tucked away inside his unique Son Tinh cross-body leather bag.
Evidently, Vietnam’s award-winning craft liquor has left a lasting impression abroad.
“They were totally amazed by the flavours,” says Nico, of those he met in America when he let them taste Son Tinh’s fragrant sticky rice, red sticky rice and apricot flavours, as well as Nhat Da from the herbs and spices range.
“People in the cocktail scene all over the world are looking for new flavours and new ways of doing things, so I’m confident the Son Tinh brand can be successful everywhere,” adds Nico, before explaining the variety of applications Ruou Son Tinh has in food pairing, as aperitifs and digestifs, and importantly for mixologists, as ingredients to replace bitters in innovative cocktails.
HOME: WHERE THE HEART IS
And while interest in Vietnamese F&B picks up globally, Son Tinh has already become a burgeoning force on the frontlines of the home-grown craft scene in Vietnam.
“It’s in most Lotte Mart supermarkets throughout Vietnam, and the goal is to get distribution into more leading stores nationwide,” says Nico.
He’s toured Vietnam in the name of establishing a jewel in the nation’s craft liquor crown, and he’s found that the appeal doesn’t just lie in the distillation process pioneered by founder, Markus Madeja.
It’s in something deeper.
“When people try Son Tinh they’re instantly wowed by its smoothness… The high quality stands out and gives the Vietnamese people more trust in their own products from Vietnam.”
“When people try Son Tinh they’re instantly wowed by its smoothness… The high quality stands out and gives the Vietnamese people more trust in their own products from Vietnam.”
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In a country where cheap bia hoi, low-grade vodkas and toxic moonshine have dominated the market for too long, the winds of change are sweeping through the land.
“Drinking it straight is what makes people understand,” says Nico. “Maybe a lot of people are sceptical – that so many times, you can get bad ruou from Vietnam because people are making it the wrong way.”
MOVING TRADITION ON
Markus and his team have worked tirelessly to go beyond simply preserving the traditional liquor, but to refine it and elevate it beyond the preconceptions that people have against it here in Vietnam.
“What happens after the initial distillation process is key,” quotes Nico, regarding Son Tinh’s distilling process. “To extract the essence of Ruou Son Tinh, we distil our batch twice and only take the heart of the Ruou. It is then diluted with the purest of filtered water and aged for a long time to ensure that our rice liquor is of the highest quality before bottling. Time for ageing is between two and 10 years.” He continues passionately.
“Markus is a master distiller and he has found in Son Tinh the way to get the very best from the basics of the fragrant sticky rice to produce the best quality craft Vietnamese rice liquor that’s safe for everyone.”
We thank Nico for his time at Son Tinh and wish him the best in his future endeavours.
“Markus is a master distiller and he has found in Son Tinh the way to get the very best from the basics of the fragrant sticky rice to produce the best quality craft Vietnamese rice liquor that’s safe for everyone.”
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