We speak soda water and home mixology with Daniella Ieong of The Carbonation, Hong Kong’s first craft mixers company.
What inspired you to make mixers and why Hong Kong?
We are both avid drinkers but have always encountered the obstacle of creating that perfect cocktail at home. Our solution was to create our own line of locally-crafted mixers that folks can easily mix with to create a 2-3 ingredient cocktail or highballs at home. Hong Kong was an obvious choice after we both relocated back from the United Kingdom. The fact that we have awesome locally-produced gins, such as NIP and Two Moons, is also a bonus to bounce ideas off as well.
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What have you tried to do differently?
Artisanal has become somewhat a buzzword but there is no better word to describe our production. Carbonation is truly small-batch, with hand prepped ingredients. Our aim is to celebrate the traditional Chinese method of cooking. Rock cane sugar was specifically chosen because it is commonly used to make Chinesedesserts due to its lightness. Locally sourced organic lemons are the heroes of our tonic water and are handpicked on the day of production in the New Territories to ensure freshness.
What was the motivation behind smoking your soda water?
One of our favourite drinks when eating out is a Whisky Highball. Simple, no-frills yet it just delivers every time without fail. This got us thinking, how could we enhance that experience? Born from that was the idea of our Smoked Water, which is carbonated soda water with a hint of smokiness from lychee wood, again an ingredient commonly used in traditional Chinese cooking. It helps the Whiskey Highball mimic the peaty flavour of premium Isaly whiskies but at a fraction of the cost.
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Do you have a background in mixer production?
We are outsiders per se and have no previous experience in producing mixers or soft drinks. We view that as a double-edged sword as it obviously made it much tougher for us to get started, but at the same time, it forced us to know every part of the production, which is important when discussing with experts in the bartending industry.
At present you make tonic and smoked soda water; what’s next?
Classic tonic water and yuzu soda.
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