Discover the emerging Cambodian spirits scene: rums, gins, craft distilleries, and local ingredients that reveal a new face of Cambodia.
When Cambodia is mentioned, the first images that often come to mind are those of Angkor temples, the Mekong River, rice fields, or the famous Kampot pepper. Spirits are rarely cited.
Yet, in recent years, a new scene has been emerging.
In Phnom Penh, independent distilleries are exploring the region's resources and creating rums, gins, and other craft spirits deeply inspired by Cambodia and Southeast Asia.
Cambodian sugarcane, Kampot pepper, pandan, Khmer basil, tropical citrus, lemongrass, and cardamom: these ingredients are becoming a new way to tell the country's story.
Still relatively unknown in Europe, Cambodian spirits reflect a new generation of producers who blend expertise, creativity, and international influences.
Welcome to a scene that is still young, but particularly promising.
Cambodian Spirits: A Recent History
Unlike some major rum or gin-producing countries, Cambodia does not yet have a widely known international craft spirits industry.
This is precisely what makes its development interesting.
The current scene has largely been built around independent houses that have chosen to produce in Cambodia while developing their own identity.
One of the turning points came in 2014 with Samai, which undertook to create in Phnom Penh what the house presents as Cambodia's first premium rum distillery. Its project is notably based on a locally available raw material: Cambodian sugarcane and the molasses derived from it.
Other projects followed with very different approaches, particularly around gin and botanical ingredients.
More than a fixed tradition to simply reproduce, contemporary Cambodian spirits are thus the result of a new creative dynamic.
Why does Cambodia have an interesting terroir for spirits?
The development of Cambodian spirits is not just a story of distillation.
It begins in the land itself.
The tropical climate and agricultural diversity of Cambodia and more broadly the Mekong basin offer distillers a particularly rich palette of raw materials and aromatic ingredients.
Sugarcane is naturally one of the most important for rum. Samai explains that it selects molasses from sugarcane grown in Cambodia to produce its various expressions.
For gin, the field of exploration becomes even wider.
Seekers, for example, works with ingredients from the Mekong basin and also cultivates a botanical garden next to its Phnom Penh distillery. Pandan, Khmer basil, lemongrass, calamansi, galangal, and many other plants illustrate the aromatic richness of the region.
Mawsim, on the other hand, explores other facets of this biodiversity by working notably with fresh pepper, wild cardamom, and tropical citrus fruits.
Distillers are not simply looking to produce in Cambodia. They are gradually using Cambodia as a source of inspiration.
From sugarcane to Kampot pepper: ingredients that tell a story of a land
Among the country's emblematic ingredients, it's impossible not to mention Kampot pepper.
Cultivated in a defined geographical area in southern Cambodia, it benefits from a Protected Geographical Indication recognized in the European Union.
Its use in spirits perfectly illustrates the encounter between agricultural heritage and contemporary creation.
Samai has notably placed it at the heart of its Kampot Pepper Rum, thus combining rum with one of the most internationally recognized Cambodian agricultural products.
But Cambodia's aromatic potential goes much further.
Citrus fruits from Battambang, pandan, Khmer basil, lemongrass, galangal, cardamom, tropical fruits, and aromatic plants offer countless possibilities for producers.
In Seekers Mekong Dry Gin, for example, the house particularly highlights pandan, Asian lime leaves, green oranges from Battambang, and Khmer basil. Its gin is based on a set of thirteen botanical ingredients and a base alcohol derived from cassava root.
This richness of ingredients is probably one of the most exciting aspects of the young Cambodian scene.
Samai: Paving the Way for Cambodian Rum
In this recent history, Samai holds a special place.
Founded in Phnom Penh in 2014, the house was born from the convergence of rum production traditions from Latin America and a Cambodian heritage.
Its founders wanted to demonstrate that it was possible to produce a premium rum in Cambodia capable of carrying its own identity. The distillery has surrounded itself with a local team including Moang Darachampich, presented by Samai as the Kingdom's first female master rum distiller.
The name itself reflects this ambition.
According to the house, "Samai" in Khmer evokes modernity, a new generation, and a forward-looking perspective.
A philosophy that ultimately goes beyond Samai's specific case and summarizes quite well the current dynamic of Cambodian spirits.
Rum is not seen as the reproduction of a foreign tradition, but as a canvas to express the country's raw materials and identity in a new way.
Seekers: Distilling the Flavors of the Mekong
With Seekers Spirits, the journey takes another direction.
The house summarizes its approach with one idea: to capture "the spirit of the Mekong" and distill it into a bottle.
Located in Phnom Penh, Seekers develops spirits inspired not only by Cambodia, but more broadly by the territories traversed by the Mekong. It works with producers in the region to seek out citrus fruits, flowers, spices, and aromatic plants that can be integrated into its creations.
Its Mekong Dry Gin is probably the most representative example.
Alongside the juniper essential to gin's identity, pandan, lemongrass, Khmer basil, jasmine, pomelo, galangal, and green orange from Battambang notably appear.
Seekers also has an educational botanical garden at its Spirit House in Phnom Penh, designed around a "garden-to-glass" approach. Some of the plants are grown there, while others come from partnerships with small producers in Cambodia and the Mekong basin.
The result is a contemporary interpretation of gin where the territory is no longer simply the place of production: it becomes one of the components of the product.
Mawsim: When Experimentation and Environment Meet Gin
Mawsim tells yet another story.
The project notably finds its origins in research around water hyacinth, an invasive aquatic plant present on the Tonlé Sap, and the possibility of using this biomass to produce bioethanol.
This reflection on ethanol and resource valorization gradually opened another path: that of craft spirits.
For its gin, Mawsim explains that it uses a base alcohol derived from unused biomass before redistilling in very small quantities with carefully selected local ingredients. Among them are notably fresh pepper, wild cardamom, and tropical citrus fruits.
A unique approach that shows how the young Cambodian scene can take very different paths.
At Samai, the starting point is rum and sugarcane.
At Seekers, the Mekong and its botanical diversity.
At Mawsim, the environment, experimentation, and tropical ingredients.
Three different stories that are gradually building a new identity for Cambodian spirits.
Rum and Gin: The Two Current Faces of Cambodian Spirits
Today, two major families particularly well represent this emerging scene: Cambodian rum and Cambodian gin.
The former naturally finds its identity around sugarcane, fermentation, distillation, and aging. The tropical climate and the possible use of local ingredients then offer producers different avenues of expression.
Gin allows for a different approach.
Because it is based on the combination of juniper with other botanical ingredients, it offers a formidable ground for experimentation to explore the aromatic biodiversity of Cambodia and the Mekong.
At Seekers, this approach results in profiles where herbaceous notes, citrus, spices, and flowers meet. The distillery, for example, crafts its Mekong Dry Gin with thirteen botanical ingredients, while its Mekong Gold takes this base before a finishing process in wood.
Two very different categories, but the same question: what can a spirit be like when it truly seeks to express its place of creation?
Phnom Penh, Laboratory for New Cambodian Spirits
Another common thread connects several of these houses: Phnom Penh.
The Cambodian capital is not only the place where these bottles are produced. It is gradually becoming a space for experimentation around distillation, mixology, and local ingredients.
Seekers, for example, has its Spirit House there, where distillery, botanical garden, tastings, and experiences around gin creation coexist.
Samai has also established its distillery there and has been developing its rums since 2014.
This concentration of projects contributes to making Phnom Penh a particularly interesting observation point for following the evolution of Cambodian craft spirits.
Nevertheless, it would be premature to present Cambodia as a great historical nation of rum or gin.
Its strength lies elsewhere: everything is still to be written.
Cambodian Spirits Beginning to Travel
This young scene is no longer confined solely to Cambodia.
Some creations are now distributed abroad, and several distilleries have begun to win awards in international competitions.
Seekers' Mekong Dry Gin, for example, received a gold medal at the Hong Kong World Gin Masters Competition in 2018 and then a silver medal at the Singapore World Spirits Competition in 2019.
This recognition obviously does not mean that Cambodian spirits are already widely known to the European public.
Quite the contrary.
For many enthusiasts, discovering that there are now rums and gins produced in Cambodia is still a surprise.
This is precisely what makes this scene interesting to follow.
A New Way to Discover Cambodia
Discovering Cambodian spirits is ultimately discovering the country through a different gateway.
One bottle can tell the story of sugarcane grown in Cambodia.
Another, Kampot pepper.
Yet another, pandan, Battambang citrus, or the aromatic plants that grow along the Mekong.
Behind these ingredients also appear producers, distillers, farmers, and a new generation of entrepreneurs who seek to develop contemporary creations while valuing their land.
The scene is still young. There are still few houses, and much remains to be built.
But it is precisely this moment that is exciting.
Cambodia may not yet have a long contemporary history of craft spirits. Today, it is writing it.
And at TEVOA Spirits, it is this story that we wish to follow, tell, and introduce.
More than spirits. Another way to discover Cambodia.