Singapore craft beer designers Specific Gravity Beverage Co. (SGBC) have teamed up with local bean-to-bar craft chocolatiers Lemuel to create a Bow & Arrow Ale that hits the spot with tempered chocolate tones. Bean-to-bar chocolates are unique, handcrafted chocolates that are made from specially selected cocoa beans. Thus, Lemuel Chocolate carefully chooses beans that have full flavour and unique characteristics that will leave you wanting more. At Glitz, we bring you firsthand insight into this amazing collaboration.
Behind The Scenes
SGBC was founded in 2021 by Devin Kimble and Kim Wong. Devin is the founder of Brewerkz, Singapore’s pioneering craft brewery, where Kim was the brewery manager for over 20 years. Therefore, the two craft pioneers combined after recognising a shared opportunity for a unique collaboration.
“At Lemuel Chocolate, we source and import quality cacao beans from cacao farmers and reputable cacao agents around the world,” said Lemuel co-founder Ronald Ng, who met business partner and Japanese national Hideki Sakanishito to ignite a life-long love and passion for chocolate.
“Specific Gravity got in touch with us and we recognized there was an opportunity to create something really special.”
However, craft beer outfit Specific Gravity are no newbies to collaboration on innovative flavours. The company has been racking up accolades, including a gold medal in the English-style IPA category at the Asia Beer Championships in Singapore and a bronze in the same category at Melbourne’s Australia International Beer Awards, one of the world’s largest beer-related competitions.
Bow & Arrow Chocolate Ale
Before you even crack open a bottle of Bow & Arrow Chocolate Ale, you may want to take a close look at the packaging. It is based on a Peranakan tile motif as are all of the SGBC labels. Thus, they all have their particular characteristics.
The judges at the Australian International Beer Awards thought so much of SGBC’s packaging they awarded it a gold medal and best in show plaque for their labels and 4-pack design. The packaging of the Lemuel chocolate bars is similarly unique. Each one is hand-wrapped with eco-friendly paper made from the leaves and pulp of the mango and banana trees.
Bow & Arrow Chocolate Ale is brewed at a small facility in Singapore with cacao beans from Ecuador, roasted and processed locally by the artisans at Lemuel Chocolate. Furthermore, the ingredients include a hint of ginger, giving a spiciness to balance out the flavour profile.
Most chocolate beers are made in a Porter or Stout style. Thus, this is where a lot of the chocolate flavour comes from the base of roasted malts. Bow & Arrow on the other hand is a tempting amber colour that displays the character of the chocolate and lets it shine through. It is surprisingly easy drinking.
Where To Buy
What you should know is that gift packs and the beer by themselves are very limited in quantity. Furthermore, you can find them exclusively at www.sgbevco.com. Inside the gift packs are two Specific Gravity’s 330ml glasses, featuring a Vanda Miss Joaquim Orchid motif; a keychain bottle opener; some coasters with their lucky logo, which was based on a traditional Bagua like the Singapore dollar coin; and two bars of delicious single-origin chocolate.
Gift packs retail at $55.55. However, beer only packs retail for $32 for a 4-pack.
This Specific Gravity x Lemuel Chocolate Bow & Arrow offering is a labour of love created as a collaboration by one of Singapore’s most respected and award-winning brewers and beans-to-bar craft chocolatiers Lemuel for a limited edition offering.
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