Singapore craft beer designer Specific Gravity Beverage Co. (SGBC) has teamed up with local bean-to-bar craft chocolatier 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. Lemuel Chocolate carefully chooses beans that have full flavour and unique characteristics that will leave you wanting more.
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.
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.”
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.
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, like all SGBC labels, each with its 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. 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 where a lot of the chocolate flavour comes from the base of roasted malts.
Bow & Arrow on the other hand is a tempting amber color that displays the character of the chocolate and lets it shine through. It is surprisingly easy drinking.
Gift packs and the beer by themselves are very limited in quantity and available 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. 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.
Specific Gravity Beverage Co.
SGBC was founded at the end of 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. With 75 years of brewing experience in the region, there isn’t much SGBC has done in craft beer. From its beginnings at a riverside brewpub in Singapore to running a production brewery in Hong Kong, and making beer in England, Malaysia, Cambodia, and The Philippines, the Specific Gravity Beverage Company has grown out of a combined knowledge, experience, and drive to deliver the best quality products possible.
Lemuel Chocolate
Co-founded by Ronald Ng in 2017 along with Hideki Sakanishi, Lemuel grew from their life-long love and passion for chocolate and previous experience with its manufacturing. They focus on quality, flavour, and sustainability of the cocoa beans, which are imported from all over the world. Every batch sees the beans painstakingly sorted by hand, roasted, cracked, winnowed, ground and gently fermented before the chocolate is moulded into individual and uniquely delicious bars.
