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An all-Asian house of fine spirits.

Origins Vodka                  ABV 40% 700ml                                                                                                                                                                             

Something to savour, potato, longan honey and Tibetan barley, composed for texture and grace. A vodka of assemblage — three distillates composed for depth, texture and elegance, without surrendering purity.

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Gunpowder Gin               ABV 40% 700ml                                                                                                                                                                           

Tea at the centre of twenty-three botanicals — conducted, not blended, across two registers. A modern gin with robust botanicals distilled for structure, delicate ones drawn under vacuum for lift, with tea as the defining voice.

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An evolving assemblage of mature Asian malt whiskies, brought into dialogue. The house style is the constant. Mature malts of Japan, India and Taiwan in dialogue, finished in Oloroso-seasoned oak.

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Dragon Whisky                   ABV 43% 700ml                                                                                                                                                                                 

An all-Asian blended rum — tropically aged column-still rums for softness and maturity, Batavia arrack for weight and aromatic depth. Sourced from Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia, it delivers a rich, layered character with a clean, refined finish.

Imperial Rum  ABV 43% 700ml                                                                                                                                                                           

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An all-Asian house of fine spirits.

Origins Vodka                                              

ABV 43% 700ml

Something to savour, potato, longan honey and Tibetan barley, composed for texture and grace. A vodka of assemblage — three distillates composed for depth, texture and elegance, without surrendering purity.

M‍ore

‍

Gunpowder Gin                                

ABV 40% 700ml

‍

Tea at the centre of twenty-three botanicals — conducted, not blended, across two registers. A modern gin with robust botanicals distilled for structure, delicate ones drawn under vacuum for lift, with tea as the defining voice.

‍ More

Dragon Whisky                                 

ABV 40% 700ml ‍

‍ ‍

An all-Asian blended rum — tropically aged column-still rums for softness and maturity, Batavia arrack for weight and aromatic depth. Sourced from Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia, it delivers a rich, layered character with a clean, refined finish.

More ‍

Imperial Solera 23Rum ‍

ABV 43% 700ml

An evolving assemblage of mature Asian malt whiskies, brought into dialogue. The house style is the constant. Mature malts of Japan, India and Taiwan in dialogue, finished in Oloroso-seasoned oak.

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Asia, distilled.

Perspectives

Explore the cultures, craft, journeys and ideas shaping the world of spirits through considered stories and first-hand reflections.

Explore Perspectives
 

CULTURE

Nobody is Explaining Anymore

14 AUG 2026

 
 

DRINK

Money You Can Drink

20 AUG 2026

 
 

FOOD

Fifty Cents a Bunch

20 AUG 2026

 

DRINK

The flavours have changed.
The classics haven’t.

20 AUG 2026

 
 
 
 

DRINK

What are You Supposed to Drink with all This?

20 AUG 2026

 

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The Orientalist began in the mountains of Shangri-La, where a lifetime spent travelling, creating and working across Asia led Michel Lu to a simple question: what could a house of Asian spirits be? 

Drawing on more than three decades in hospitality and an increasingly personal sense of Asian identity, he conceived a house that could explore the region through flavour, provenance and craft, bringing distinct parts of Asia together in spirits with a point of view of their own.

MICHEL LU

Orientalist Spirits, Founder

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The Orientalist began in the mountains of Shangri-La, where a lifetime spent travelling, creating and working across Asia led Michel Lu to a simple question: what could a house of Asian spirits be? 

Drawing on more than three decades in hospitality and an increasingly personal sense of Asian identity, he conceived a house that could explore the region through flavour, provenance and craft, bringing distinct parts of Asia together in spirits with a point of view of their own.

MICHEL LU

Orientalist Spirits, Founder

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Discover our latest serves and encounters from around the world from
the house of the @orientalistspirits.

THE LIGHT KNOWS WHERE TO LINGER. A Whisky Highball, held close. Amber lifted by fine bubbles, its gold catching against black. The grain of the image. The weight of the silence. One unwavering gaze. Bright at the rim.
Deeper beneath. A classic fo
THE INNER LIFE OF CITRUS. Oil. Pith. Flesh. Bitter at the edge.
Bright at the centre. A cold, golden pour catches every register. Fine bubbles carry them through the glass, one precise line at a time. Texture, made luminous. Citrus, seen from wi
THE NIGHT SPEAKS IN RED. The glass catches what the room leaves behind. A turn of the wrist. The briefest glint along the rim. Light moving across skin, crystal and shadow. No name.
No story imposed.
Only presence. Some moments become more vivid
THE SHAPE OF TIME. A measured pour into cut crystal. Amber moves through every facet. One sphere of ice holds the centre. As the surface turns, Dragon Whisky opens slowly. Dried fruit.
Dark chocolate.
Sherry warmth.
A trace of smoke. Twelve year
THE COLOUR OF TENSION. A ribbon of scarlet enters the cold. Tiny bubbles gather at the rim. Light passes through the glass, then disappears into depth. Clean lines.
Saturated colour.
A composition balanced on its finest edge. First, the pour. The
AMBER AFTER DARK. Dragon Whisky in Baccarat crystal. A single sphere of ice turns slowly through the light. Amber burns against violet shadow. The rest is left unrevealed. Twelve years, drawn into one composition. Whiskies from Japan, Taiwan and I
FIVE FLAVOURS, HELD IN GOLD. Gunpowder Gin gives the composition its centre. Omija vinegar draws the fruit taut. Sakura vermouth opens into blossom. Pine needle syrup leaves a cool, resinous trace. Tea. Berry. Flower. Forest. Strained slowly.
Ser
THE ARCHITECTURE OF COLD. Liquid falls.
Air rises.
Ice holds. A slow ribbon into cold glass. Bubbles suspended between movement and stillness. Blocks of ice catching light at the edge of melting. Within the clarity: gunpowder tea, citrus, pepper,
LOW LIGHT. SLOW FIRE. Dragon Whisky in Baccarat crystal. Amber glows against the dark. Dried fruit. Dark chocolate. Sherry warmth. Smoke trailing at the edges. Twelve years of patience. One slow moment of release. Nothing hurried.
Nothing fully
BEFORE THE SPIRIT, THERE WAS A PLACE. Shangri-La is the spiritual birthplace of The Orientalist. But no place is made by mountains alone. It is made by people. The black-clay potter, turning earth into vessels. The monks, carrying ritual and memo
CITRUS, WITH A MEMORY. Preserved mandarin peel brings depth. Fresh yuzu brings light. Mandarin peel vinegar draws a clean line through Campari, orange bitters and soda. At the centre, The Orientalist Origins Vodka: silken, aromatic, precise. Brig
TWENTY-THREE BOTANICALS. ONE CENTRE OF GRAVITY. Gunpowder tea leads. Around it, Kampot peppercorn, omija, osmanthus, Siberian ginseng and dried tangerine peel move in precise orbit. Traditional distillation gives structure. Low-temperature vacuum
BITTERSWEET, DEEPENED. Orientalist Imperial Rum brings warmth and depth. Umeshu lends ripe plum. Marendry Bitter Amarena Fabbri folds sour cherry into the bitter line. Cynar draws it earthward. Sweet vermouth binds the edges. Dark fruit. Burnished
TIME, HELD IN LIGHT. Twelve years gathered into amber. Whiskies from Japan, Taiwan and India, double-wood matured and finished in oloroso sherry casks. The sphere turns the light.
The cold opens the liquid slowly. Dried fruit. Dark chocolate. She
WHERE MOUNTAIN BECOMES MYTH. Huangshan 黄山 rises through pine and cloud, its granite peaks suspended between earth and sky. Legend bound these mountains to the Yellow Emperor and his search for the elixir of immortality. This is not where gunpowder
THE GIN & TONIC, REWIRED. Gunpowder Gin infused with sansho peppercorn. Pink gari ginger. Sushizu. Indian tonic water and soda. The sansho hums.
The ginger flashes.
The sushizu draws a bright, savoury line through the bubbles. Tea remains at t
WHERE ORIGIN BECOMES RITUAL. Cold glass. A slow, silken pour. The spirit gathers at the lip, stretches, then falls with the same measured weight it carries across the palate. Creamy in texture. Herbaceous in character. Quietly aromatic. Origins V
WHERE THE RIVER CHANGED COURSE. At Shigu, the Yangtze turns from south to northeast, gathering between mountain and stone before beginning its long passage east. Across this highland world, the ancient Tea Horse Road carried tea towards the Tibetan