Samai
“Our poets are not rum drinkers; poets arrive much later to recast the scene. It is the rum drinkers who are the risk takers, the romantics, the revolutionaries, the pirates who ride the high seas!”
In a tiny lane off a busy street in Phnom Penh, you will come to a small, rather unexceptional building, made up of exposed steel beams, bare concrete, and distressed timber —a structure that looks like it could be an old foundry; sort of Jacques Derrida meets old Chinese godown. However, do not let looks deceive you, for there is something quite remarkable going on inside these four walls. An urban nemeton, an apothecary of sorts, a place of druids and alchemists, where they use fire and ice in old alembic crucibles, to create liquid gold!
“The spirit world in Cambodia has many unexpected tales.”
Samai, Phnom Penh’s urban rum distillery, was founded in 2014 by Antonio Lopez and Daniel Pacheco. They saw it as combining a love of their adopted country with an intrinsic yearning for the national spirit that, as Venezuelans, is their birthright.
In the indigenous language of the Quechua, the descendants of the ancient Inca of South America, the word Samai (samay) has a complex and deeply spiritual connotation; it means to breathe deeply and find inner peace for one’s body, mind, and soul.
In Cambodia’s Khmer language, the term samai is derived from Pāli and Sanskrit ‘samaya’ and conveys the meaning of a new time or era, a modern generation, and a brighter future.
“Sugar and spice and all things nice.”
Cambodia’s Koh Kong province, in the south-west of the country, produces sugarcane of the highest quality, which is converted into the high-grade molasses that forms the basis of Samai’s rums. There are two small-batch, traditional pot stills and a newer copper column still.
After selection to be a member of Diageo’s distillery ‘incubation’ programme, their añejo rums have gone on to find international success and global distribution. Samai rums have won numerous medals and accolades, including awards at prestigious events such as the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, the London International Spirits Challenge, the Singapore World Spirits Competition, and the Miami International Rum Conference.
Whilst it can be hard to find, I recently served their Samai PX Rum Liqueur at a very exclusive dinner in the Presidential suite of Raffles Le Royal Hotel, where an esteemed group of guests were in raptures.
Samai PX Rum Liqueur
A dark, opaque rum the colour of Turkish coffee, it’s like staring into a Nietzschean abyss, or perhaps it’s the rabbit hole of Lewis Carroll’s wonderland. I hesitate momentarily, briefly glance down the long dining table to my left, to my right, and then I dive right in.
Pedro Ximénez is a Spanish grape variety grown predominantly in the Montilla-Moriles region, where it is used to make an intensely sweet, chestnut coloured, dessert-style sherry.
The Samai ‘PX’ rum has been matured in old Pedro Ximénez Sherry oak casks for four to five years, with a good dollop of sweet, dark sherry left inside (the amount is a closely guarded secret).
Aromas are both enticing and intriguing in equal measure, including figs, dates, currants, dark chocolate, hazelnuts, baking spices, coffee grounds, and the sort of Christmas pudding only your grandmother could make.
On the palate, the intense, sweet, nutty, dried, and candied fruit notes flood into the mouth —bold, rich, and complex. It dances confidently across the palate like a fouetté to an adoring audience; there are wild honey, caramel, pecan, and treacle notes, giving the rum composure, before subtle spice, and the embracing warmth of alcohol sweeps across the back of the palate. The finish is clean, lingering, inviting you back for more.
This is more than a rum, located deep in the maze of lanes and alleyways of Phnom Penh; it is something incredibly special, unique. Something to be located, discovered and cherished, just like finding buried treasure —PX marks the spot!
Darren Gall
