“There is a duty to ensure that sam ching and other local rice wine recipes receive the same respect and enjoyment that other liquors are accorded,” Tay Chong Yoke, the 60-year-old helming Tong Ah Distillery (Tong Ah) with his second cousin Jason Tay, stated.
Sure, there are plenty of old liquor brands available in Malaysia (and the world), but not many can say that they still use traditional Chinese distilling methods.
In fact, Tong Ah’s liquor production process remains faithful to how it was made a century ago.
Its formulation has been fundamentally unchanged in the last 70 years, similar to how it was made by Chong Yoke and Jason’s grandfather, Tay Chek Meng.
So the question of balancing the brand’s heritage while adapting to current trends has never arisen before. “If anything, we’re returning to our founding generation’s practice of innovating and creating new offerings around a selection of high-quality base spirits.”
From China to Malaysia
Before Tong Ah, there was Tay Miang Guan in China’s Shantou city, the liquor brand that started it all. Established in the early 1900s, the business gradually expanded abroad, first into Singapore and then Malaysia (or Malaya, as it was called back then).
Called Tay Miang Huat Liquor Shop, these international outlets produced liquor using the traditional methods and equipment brought from China.
The Tay family used to rent a two-storey shophouse along KL’s High Street (now Jalan Tun HS Lee), where the ground floor was the shop and their grandparents lived upstairs. As business grew, they expanded to another shophouse along Rodger Street (now Kasturi Walk) facing Central Market.
Its liquor was positively received by the area’s migrant Chinese community, especially those in the rubber, fishing, and mining sectors. They served a range of herb-infused alcohol designed to address health concerns, and cooking and praying needs.
Then the Japanese invasion happened during WWII which caused the Tay family to flee and seek shelter in Melaka.
Numerous challenges happened as a result of this such as the loss of Chek Meng’s brother. The family also had to:
- find funds to recapitalise the looted businesses after the war ended
- escort product shipments throughout Peninsular Malaysia during the communist insurgency
- deal with belligerent product counterfeiters
- handle triad members demanding protection money
- survive a kidnap-for-ransom incident
Yet, the Tay family didn’t let these stop them from keeping the heritage business alive and well.
Keeping their heritage alive
By the 70s, there were a few shifts in the business. Tay Miang Huat Liquor Shop was now called Tong Ah Distillery and locals were shifting their labour focus to the manufacturing and white-collar sectors. So the brand went where the people were and changed Tong Ah’s target market.
“[But the] increase in affluence saw traditional Chinese alcohol products lose their appeal among the Chinese communities,” Chong Yoke said. “[Chinese alcohol was] stereotyped as ‘bang for the buck’ cheap alternatives to Western counterparts. Samsu (rice wine) became negatively associated with alcoholism.”
What helped the business overcome this was their incorporation of Western distillery technology while still preserving the use of traditional equipment wherever possible.
Looking back, Chong Yoke credited this openness to trying new ways in improving production consistency and volume for Tong Ah’s longevity.
The foresight of the five founders to formulate a broad range of products addressing different needs also helped the brand stand the test of time all these years. At its peak, the local liquor brand had over 30 formulations of liquor.
Fast forward to 2024, Tong Ah now brews liquor for three categories: drinking, cooking, and medicinal. This includes flavoured rice wine in interesting flavours like coconut, lychee, pandan, and rose. You can get your hands on them either directly online at Tong Ah’s site, or at partner stores around Malaysia.
They’ll occasionally experiment with alternate products too. A fun fact Chong Yoke shared is that Tong Ah co-developed the first commercially sold musang king durian alcohol in Malaysia.
Finding a place in the new generation
As more and more people seek varied experiences, Chong Yoke noted that demand for hard liquor has declined as well.
Liquor is now being used as more of a substance to be mixed into other dishes and beverages. For example, wine and sherry are used to cook because its ethanol draws out flavours of other ingredients.
On that note, he disclosed that Tong Ah actually has permits to ferment and distill its own ethanol. It’s made principally from rice, sugar, and yeast. This gives them a leg up over other brands in the market as most local bottlers have to source ready-made ethanol.
“Although it sounds rather basic, vastly different flavour profiles can be obtained from these three components. Even we feel that we’re only scratching the surface of what can be achieved,” the third-generation successor shared.
Seeing as how there’s growing interest in traditional Asian spirits like tuak again, the family brand is thrilled that they’ve stuck with old traditions.
“We (Chong Yoke and Jason) realised very quickly that changing trends have made traditional liquors chic again! This is especially so for our products as Tong Ah has stayed true to its origins and not doctored any of our products with cheap industrial alcohol.”
With this in mind, despite being in their golden years, the Tay cousins are determined to help Tong Ah find new relevance in this new millennium. But more importantly, a place in the hearts of the next generations, be it in Malaysia or the rest of the world.
- Learn more about Tong Ah Distillery here.
- Read other articles we’ve written about Malaysian startups here.
Featured Image Credit: Tong Ah Distillery
