East Imperial stages the Grand Finale for 2018’s Gin Jubilee in Singapore
The region’s biggest and best celebration of the Gin & Tonic returns home from November 30 to December 8.

Singapore, 18 October 2018 – Following a five-city tour of the region in 2018, the East Imperial Gin Jubilee will be swooping in to Singapore with a packed calendar of masterclasses and sipping events with some of the best gin brands available in the city.

First launched in Singapore in 2013, this sixth year promises to build on the success of the East Imperial Gin Jubilee’s mission in furthering the Gin & Tonic’s appreciation, education and enjoyment in Asia. This year, the festival’s programme will feature even better G&Ts by the growing calibre of bars found around the city, new gin brands coming on board to celebrate the occasion, the regional launch of a brand new East Imperial tonic water, and of course, yet another Gin Lane party to gather consumers around its gin-loving cause. Here’s a preview of what guests can expect from this year’s East Imperial Gin Jubilee:

Festival Highlights
The festivities kick off with an opening party at The Fullerton Hotel Post Bar and East Garden on November 30, from 5 PM until late. Over the East Imperial Gin Jubilee’s nine-day takeover of the city, the festival’s partner gin brands and bars will also be offering consumers new ways to deepen their appreciation of their favourite cocktail. East Imperial’s own newly appointed Brand Ambassador for Asia, Jamie He, will be flying into town just for the Gin Jubilee. A Beijing-based bartender and former Bar Manager at the Chinese capital’s top-rated Janes + Hooch (three-time Asia’s 50 Best Bars honouree), she will be displaying her expertise using East Imperial’s distinctively Asian mixers at a series of guest shifts around town.

Singapore will also be the first in the region to discover and savour East Imperial’s newest addition to its line-up. The Royal Botanic Tonic, created in collaboration with The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London, honours the Gardens’ historic role in exporting cinchona seedlings from South America to India. This use of this vital medicinal plant eventually led to the greatest cocktail of all time, the humble G&T. The elderflower, ruby red grapefruit and quinine tonic water will be celebrated at a launch event during the festival.

Best Gin & Tonic in Singapore, and Beyond
During the week, consumers are encouraged to chart bar hops to sample the G&Ts made especially by this year’s participating bars for the festival (list to date in Appendix), and vote for their favourites. To vote, punters should upload a photo of their favourite Gin Jubilee G&T on Instagram with the #GinJubilee2018 hashtag and the bar’s location. These, combined with scores awarded by an expert panel of judges in the city will determine the Best Gin & Tonic in Singapore winner.

This Grand Finale of the East Imperial Gin Jubilee will also see the crowning of Asia’s Best Gin & Tonic. Best Gin & Tonic winners from Kuala Lumpur, China and Hong Kong will join Singapore’s victor in competing for Asia’s Best Gin & Tonic title at a showdown on December 8. This year’s grand prize winning bartender will be given the option to score a three day, two night trip for the kick off to 2019’s East Imperial Gin Jubilee in Auckland, or visit the plantation in Java where East Imperial’s cinchona is sourced for its superior tonic waters.

Gins Galore
Tonic isn’t much fun without gin, and the East Imperial Gin Jubilee has signed on an impressive roster of gin brands to power this year’s experience. Brands on board so far include award-winning crowd-favourites such as St. George Spirits, Hendrick’s Gin, Citadelle, Roku Gin, Monkey 47, Fords Gin, Four Pillars and The Botanist.

The East Imperial Gin Jubilee’s also managed to enlist a few new brands to introduce new flavours to this year’s attendees. They include Rock Rose and Porter’s gins from Scotland, Hawthorn’s London Dry Gin and Cotswolds Dry Gin from England, with more to come as we approach this year’s East Imperial Gin Jubilee. These brands will be paired up with this year’s participating bars for new interpretations of the gin and East Imperial tonic, with the pairings announced at a later date.

Gin Lane goes Green
This year’s Gin Lane aims to best 2017’s record of 5,500-and-some G&Ts served – but with an aim to minimise the waste it’ll produce. Held at 30 Maxwell Road on the evening of December 8, bartenders from the participating bars will be presenting their G&Ts at this garden soiree style event for drinkers to savour.

Gin Lane will uniquely feature drink- and dining-ware produced using the eco packaging technology by Singapore outfit TRIA. Their Bio24 food waste recycling programme, which will be activated during Gin Lane, will convert food and cocktail garnish scraps, cups and cutlery collected on the night into rich organic fertiliser that can be put back into the earth.

This all adds up to a programme of better drinking and drinks education for attendees of East Imperial Gin Jubilee’s Grand Finale in Singapore in 2018. With over a month to go before it all kicks off, the team and its partners are working on plenty more experiences to enhance this year’s calendars. More updates to follow.

For more information on this year’s East Imperial Gin Jubilee, see https://www.facebook.com/ginjubilee/.
About East Imperial
As the distinctively Asian premium mixer, Singapore brand East Imperial was established in 2012 in Singapore to reclaim the heritage, tradition and authenticity of tonic waters to the region, where a mixture of cinchona, water and sweetener was invented and enjoyed as a restorative elixir. Working off of founder Kevin Law-Smith’s ancestors’ own recipes from 1903, this ultimate companion to the world’s best craft spirits is made using all-natural and sustainably sourced Asian ingredients and bottled at its water’s source. The eight label-strong range of tonic waters, ginger beers and ales, and soda water is currently available in over 35 markets worldwide and continues to grow in its influence in the world’s best cocktail cities in this Golden Age of gin. In 2018, the brand was named number 3 in the Best Selling Brands, and number 2 in Top Trending Brands lists in Drinks International’s Brands Report on Tonic Water, which surveyed 106 top bars from around the world.

About the East Imperial Gin Jubilee
Asia’s biggest and best festival for Gin & Tonic has been growing from strength to strength since its first fledging street party in Singapore in 2013. Featuring G&Ts by some of the city’s best bars and bartenders, as well as a series of sipping events, masterclasses and the festival’s signature Gin Lane party, the Gin Jubilee strives to be the definitive event that helps consumers cut through the noise in this Golden Age of gin. Each city’s packed calendar of events is made possible with the collective efforts of its best bars, gin brands and distributors. 2018 is the brand’s sixth year organising the festival across Asia. The festival will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Singapore in 2018.

APPENDIX

Participating Bars (to date)
190 Bar
28 Hong Kong Street
Adrift by Davd Myers
Anti:Date
ATLAS
Birds of a Feather
Bob’s Bar – Capella Hotels
Brass Lion Distillery
Bread Street Kitchen by Gordon Ramsay
Chilhuly Lounge at The Ritz-Carlton Millenia
Cin Cin
Drinks & Co.
El Tardeo
Employees Only
Gibson
Guild
Highball
Humpback
IB HQ
Jigger & Pony
Kempinski
L33
Lobby Lounge at the Conrad Centennial, Singapore
Long Bar at Raffles Hotel
Manhattan
Marcello / Publico
MO BAR at Mandarin Oriental, Singapore
Native
Origin
Oxwell & Co.
Potato Head Folk
Secret Mermaid / World is Flat
Skai
Smoke & Mirrors
Sofitel So Singapore
Spago
Spiffy Dapper
Tanjong Beach Club
The Fullerton Hotel Singapore
Tippling Club
W Hotel