In true Hong Kong spirit, Jeremy and Li and Nic Law founded N.I.P. to impart Hong Kong flavours in a beloved spirit enjoyed globally.
For friends and business partners Jeremy Li and Nic Law, one night of drinking in 2017 bonding over laborious work schedules and a love for gin bore fruit to change Hong Kong’s local alcohol space.
One can find bottles of Hendrick’s, Bombay Sapphire, or Beefeater at any bar in Hong Kong, but a gin product that spoke to the local flavours and aromas of the city was rare, if not non-existent.
“We originally had the idea to open a bar,” Nic tells Foodie, as many entrepreneurial Hong Kongers dream of, but abundant competition already around the city brought the pair to another idea. “Wouldn’t it be really cool to own your own bottle,” Jeremy follows up.
Multiple craft breweries and coffee roasteries exist in Hong Kong, driving storytelling for local beer and coffee products, but only five alcohol distilleries operate in Hong Kong, one of them being N.I.P., one of the city’s first gin distilleries.
To venture into creating their Hong Kong twist on gin, Nic began earnestly travelling to Australia and Scotland to study from master distillers and complete a diploma of distilling from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling.
Before their N.I.P. Rare Dry Gin came to market in 2020, which featured Hong Kong and Chinese-inspired botanicals such as pine flavoured juniper berries, aged tangerine peels, osmanthus, goji berries, and Longjing and Shoumei tea, the pair wanted to make their gin a real Hong Kong product created in Hong Kong. Then came creating their distillery.
What involved discussions with multiple governmental departments to construct and legalise their distillery, N.I.P. officially launched in December 2019. Rather than employing an industrial space in Kowloon Bay, Fo Tan, or Ap Lei Chau, Jeremy and Nic were drawn to Quarry Bay where visitors could join for tours and masterclasses.
Their distillery uses a German-made copper distillation system produced by Christian Carl, a renowned still manufacturer, with a 220-litre capacity pot to infuse locally sourced juniper berries and botanicals within their raw product to create a quality Hong Kong finish to the gin.
Tours at their Quarry Bay space involve showcasing their shiny machinery producing their gins, and explaining the effort required to produce the liquor from start to finish, history of gin making, and the concept and meaning of their gin and N.I.P as a brand.
With their roots in Hong Kong, the pair uses a tea as a main anchor ingredient for the flavour of the gin, matching the flavour profile of various types of these teas with local flavours, as well as locally-grown produce, including perfume lemons sourced from farmers in the north of the city.
Both their English and Cantonese names (無名氏) mean ‘nobody,’ or not important person, reflecting their belief that “you don’t need to be a V.I.P. or have any status and background to pursue something that you’re passionate about.”
“When we came up with this brand, we wanted to break that inevitability that many have to conform to society. Our theory was that as long as you take that leap of faith, you can still do something that you’re passionate about, even in Hong Kong. From our liquor manufacturing perspective, we are doing something rare with N.I.P.”
“We also wanted to tell the world that Hong Kong can make good quality spirits and, in doing so, we hope to bring Hong Kong flavours to an international stage.”
Beyond just taste, their gin bottle features a warm Hong Kong touch. The most prominent feature on each of the labels, being the Chinese calligraphy, was designed and written by the famous calligrapher Wah Gor, who gained recognition for crafting the iconography of hundreds of Hong Kong’s films.
Sat at the foot of the glass bottle, a victory emblem is imprinted to reflect a familiar dai pai dong style of drinking, where bowls of beer are decorated with a lucky symbol to reflect joy and prosperity, regularly filled to celebrate good food and life. “This is how we could Hong Kongify our product,” Jeremy adds.
In 2023 and 2024, N.I.P. won multiple medals in the World Gin Awards and San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Locally, their success has come in the form of endorsements from local bars and bartenders. Customers have enjoyed their telling of a true Hong Kong story.
Order a bottle of N.I.P. Rare Dry Gin today and taste the true Hong Kong spirit.
