THE Philippines, with its stunning landscapes, hospitable people and rich culture, is a country that is not difficult to love. Husband-and-wife team Matthew and Laurie Westfall’s love for the Pearl of the Orient Seas resulted in co-founding a passion project named Full Circle Craft Distillers Co., the country’s first authentic craft distillery. The brand aims to place the country on the global spirits map, proving to be a game changer in the craft spirits industry.
The inspiration for this entrepreneurial start-up project can be traced back to Matthew’s grandfather, a Russified German who first arrived in Manila in 1918 to work at a brewery in the country.
Why gin, some ask? According to Matthew: “It’s a startling statistic: The Philippines consumes 46 percent of global gin production, or 22 million cases per annum. But within this $3 billion global gin market, the Philippines constitutes just three percent, which means our countrymen are drinking some pretty cheap stuff. A lot of it is compounded and flavored, with not a juniper berry in sight.”
Full Circle Distillers Co. also aims to shift this narrative by educating and uplifting the state of the local spirits industry through the promotion of true craft and artisanal processes.
Its one-of-a-kind, state-of-the-art distillery is located on the foothills of Mount Makiling in the lush, tropical province of Laguna. It houses an automated 450-liter still made by CARL in Germany, which allows for a slow distilling process, carefully managed over an eight-hour run. Few craft distilleries enjoy this level of control and quality, which they achieve through state-of-the-art automation, a custom-designed copper whiskey helmet and seven controllable copper plates in the column.
The 5,000-square-meter distillery complex, slated to open to the public in August, will be the first distillery in the Philippines to proudly share its distilling processes and techniques in a fully transparent and honest way.
Full Circle Craft Distillers Co. spent over four years perfecting its gin recipe, working closely with Europe’s leading master distiller, Dr. Klaus Hagmann, the creative genius behind some of the world’s best craft gin brands.
Initially working together at his distillery outside Stuttgart, Germany, Matthew would carry in luggage of fresh Philippine botanicals and they would concoct variations of the brand’s gin recipe — pulling out the flavor of our citrus, like pomelo, calamansi and dalandan, refining the aroma of cinnamon, ensuring the all-important juniper came through, to make it a balanced gin in terms of nose, mouthfeel and finish. Matthew would then hand-carry these bottles home to Manila and hold tastings with trusted friends and family to gain their candid feedback.
The team worked through some 35 variations of their flagship gin recipe, with a year of test distilling, until they achieved near perfection. They then scaled the recipe up to the newly commissioned CARL still, and the results were incredible — achieving all the flavor and aroma notes they hoped to hit, and then some..
Then, its flagship spirit, ARC Botanical Gin, was born. From the beginning, the idea behind the brand was to use its flagship store to promote and highlight the beauty of the Philippines and its wondrous array of botanicals, from citrus to mango to exotic flowers.
ARC Botanical Gin is handcrafted from a rare and wonderful blend of 28 exotic botanicals, 22 of which are locally sourced and foraged from across the Philippine archipelago. It presents a luxurious citrus-forward spirit that is a taste of the islands, illustrating the incredible beauty of the Philippines — from pomelos from Davao to freshly–foraged Benguet pine buds from Sagada, to dalandan oranges from Quezon Province. It also contains the country’s national flower sampaguita, ylang-ylang and kamia flowers. Full Circle also uses fresh mango in their recipe, sourced from its family farm in Dasol, Pangasinan.
Each native botanical sourced from a different province in the Philippines has a story to tell. In a sense, ARC Botanical Gin tells the story of the Philippines and with each refreshing sip, one enjoys an exquisite taste of the archipelago.
Shortly after its initial launch, ARC Botanical Gin and its sister spirits, ARC Barrel Reserve Gin and ARC Lava Rock Vodka, garnered international recognition and medals, including two Gold medals at the prestigious World Gin Awards in London in January 2019, two Gold medals at the SIP Awards in March 2019 in California, USA and two Silvers at the highly-competitive World Spirits Awards in Austria, the first Philippine entrant in the event’s history.
These industry accolades come on the heels of Full Circle Distillers Co., being recognized as “Philippines Distillery of the Year” at the Hong Kong International Spirits Competition in 2018 and Silver medals bestowed by the Cathay Pacific International Wine & Spirit Competition.
In Cebu, Full Circle Distillery’s artisanal spirits are exclusively distributed and available at SunStar Best of Cebu’s Best Wine Selection, D+B Wine Shop, owned by Dondi Joseph and Corinne Joseph.