18/02/2026
Here’s a new one: Vietnamese rice w**e! True, it’s been woven deeply into Vietnam’s culture for millennia, but it’s finding a renewed rhythm at Sông Cái Distillery in Hanoi.
Sông Cái is the brainchild of Californian-born biological engineer Daniel Nguyen, who landed in Vietnam along with the US advisory team for sustainable development in the Mekong Delta. Moved by a decline in indigenous crops and farms chasing yield over value, he decided to work more closely with foragers and ethnic groups to better understand and preserve heirloom produce. At Sông Cái, those interests and aims spring to life.
The Hanoi-based business is Vietnam’s first fully Vietnamese-owned distillery, w**ery and fermentation lab, bottling everything from gin and amaro to rice w**e and tonics, sodas, miso, soy sauce, vinegar and more. What makes these stand tall is the pinpoint focus on fermentation in play – native yeast cultures, locally sourced bacteria, endemic microbes, all proper wild stuff.
We’ll be damned if these aren’t some of the most untamed, outside-the-box and truly charismatic drinks we’ve ever sold – and we’re pleased as punch to have five cuvées at our disposal for you.
These wondrous drinks will be available for you to taste *FREE OF CHARGE* in our Newtown courtyard this Friday, 20 February between 5.30-7.30pm with importer Hamish Williams here to answer any questions and unlock the magic. Tell your friends, tell your neighbours, come and get it!
