last week, i had the honour of meeting Calvin and Ryan from Sing Sing Whisky, who had reached out to me on Instagram to ask if i would be interested in trying their whisky.
i was curious as it was the first time i was hearing of the brand, and so it was that over an informal drinks session that wednesday evening, we made significant inroads into a full-sized bottle of their 10-year-old single malt whisky, and i also had the opportunity to try a few drams of their other whiskies not yet available for retail.
in addition to insisting that i bring home the remainder of the 700ml bottle at the end of the evening, they also generously gave me a set of their Sing Sing Whisky branded coasters, a couple of glencairn glasses with their logo on them, and two sample-sized mini bottles of their whisky - all in all, it made for a good photoshoot and was a nice way to remember the evening.
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Sing Sing Whisky, a relatively new entrant to the whisky scene, is pretty unique in that it has crafted its branding to be centred around Singapore. according to their website, its name (translated as "new star" from Mandarin) is inspired by Singapore's history and is also intended to represent the city-state's history and progression. the brand also holds itself out as being "the first ever Singapore whisky brand", citing the basis that they sell whisky that is "conceptualised, designed and marketed in Singapore".
however, their claim of being "the first ever Singapore whisky brand" is not without controversy, considering that they do state that their whisky is "distilled, aged and bottled in Taiwan" in partnership with a private distillery there. also, local companies Brass Lion Distillery and The General Brewing Co. had not too long ago made the news for teaming up to distill the first whisky in Singapore (which is currently maturing in a cask on local soil).
in taking such an angle that is perceived as trying to market a whisky that is representative of Singapore, it's not entirely unexpected that Sing Sing Whisky would end up being the subject of scrutiny by the local whisky community. so against this backdrop, it's clear that this whisky has a considerable weight of expectation to live up to and the more important question is, can it deliver?
i had the privilege of sampling the neck pour of the 10-year-old single malt, which turned out to be a surprisingly light whisky, with a de minimis alcohol by volume of 40%. on the nose, this is predominantly light florals though after a short while in the glass, there's an additional contrasting note reminiscent of dusty tomes on high-ceilinged wooden shelves, a smell that's a strangely familiar throwback to my days as a librarian and (at least to me) not too unpleasant.
on the palate, this is a pretty straightforward whisky - there's a moderate taste of leather that's amplified by the dusty books and tempered by a mild red fruit that falls short of evoking a sherry influence. it's relatively consistent throughout until the finish, which is brief and doesn't change too much from the initial taste.
that said, time is a surprisingly harsh mistress to this whisky. this evening, i tried another dram from the remnants of the bottle to get a second sense check before finalising this review, and the combination of dusty tomes and wood had taken on a rougher character which threatens to overwhelm the florals from the neck pour. from my experience, this is definitely a whisky that needs to be finished pretty quickly after its opening, and is difficult to linger over for a long period of time.
so back to the important question - honestly, is the Sing Sing 10-year-old single malt a decent whisky?
if i had to look at this in a vacuum, i would have to say that while it has its shortcomings, it's not completely bad either and i can see this appealing to particular niche tastes. for me personally, i wouldn't consider this a daily dram in line with my own preferences (which recently have tended more towards the peatier side of things), though that said i don't think i would find it a chore to finish the rest of the bottle on my own either.
i think though that given how strongly Sing Sing Whisky has pitched this in its marketing, as the "first ever Singapore whisky brand", there inevitably comes with it a certain level of expectation that this has to be a good whisky, one that is of a standard putting the little red dot on par with the global whisky community - and it is ultimately against this backdrop that unfortunately the 10-year-old single malt struggles to find its footing.
perhaps i'm suffering from a touch of overzealous patriotism here, but at the level of branding that Sing Sing has elevated the 10-year-old single malt to, i would have expected it to deliver much more; i think that this whisky has a niche of its own though it would probably be much better received if it was free of the weight of such expectations.
postscript: so after this post was published on 28 october, Sing Sing Whisky reached out to me to let me know that they've made the decision to relook their branding and have revised this accordingly on their website.
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this review involves products that were given to me for free for review purposes; however, i didn’t receive any incentives for writing this. i’m not affiliated with Sing Sing Whisky, and as always, all opinions remain my own.
all information correct at time of publishing.
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