VIDEO DESCRIPTION:
What exactly is samsu? And why was it so difficult for me to find in Melaka?
I first discovered samsu at the Customs Museum in Melaka, where I came across a collection of illegal stills seized from unlicensed distilleries. I became curious about this mysterious Malaysian drink and decided to go looking for some myself.
My search takes me through the old streets along the Melaka River, to Chinese shops and liquor stores, and eventually to one of Melaka’s historic bars. Along the way I discover that even the meaning of the word samsu isn’t quite as straightforward as I expected.
And then, after a long and increasingly frustrating search, I get incredibly lucky: I find a bottle of the old Samsu Melaka — and there is apparently just one shot left of the 53% version.
So what does traditional samsu actually taste like?
Come along with me as I hunt down one of Melaka’s most mysterious traditional drinks.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
A few days ago, I dropped by the Customs Museum here in Melaka. I did a tour of the museum and I shot a video about what I saw here. It’s really quite an interesting place, particularly for someone with my interests. And this exhibit behind me really caught my eye and it puzzled me at first. And it puzzled me for two reasons. At first I had no idea what it was. I was looking at it and I didn’t have a clue. So I read this sign here and it told me that this equipment was seized by the Royal Malaysian Customs Department, the RMCD from unlicensed premises and it’s used in the manufacturing process of samsu. And I had never heard of samsu before, but it is a type of rice wine. The main ingredients in making samsu are rice, sugar, water, and yeast. The illegal samsu is mixed with other prohibited substances to produce samsu with higher levels of alcohol content. So, that solved one of the mysteries for me, like what is this? And it turns out it’s the local version of like a backyard distillery for making moonshine for making samsu. But the next thing that puzzled me is why is it in a customs museum? Because all the other exhibits that I’ve seen have been about things coming into the country like crossing an international border. So when goods and products come across the border, you pay duty on them, import duty, right? Customs. That’s how we think about it. You go through the airport, they look in your luggage and if you have things in there that fall under the rules of customs and you bring it into the country, well, you have to pay import taxes. And of course, there are some things that are completely illegal. And customs also looks for illegal things being brought into the country or taken out of the country. But this is entirely inside the country. So people inside Malaya, the Federation of Malaya, well Malaysia today, would be brewing their own alcohol for sale inside Malaysia. So it’s not crossing a border. So why is this exhibit in a customs museum? And then I did some research. I did some reading and of course the answer is quite obvious and that is customs is only one part of their job. In fact the full name is probably customs and excise. So a import duty is applied to something that comes into the country but there is another type of duty excise duty and excise duty is applied to things that are made inside the country and sold inside the country. And once I learned about that ah everything fell into place and I understood it. And this this kind of excise duty is applied to only certain products. So you’re thinking of things like alcohol cigarettes for example. And here in this display this is all about making samsu but there is another type of alcohol made locally called tuak. and then a third one called toddy. So here they’re talking about samsu tuak and toddy. And in order to brew these alcohols in the country, you have to have a license from the government, you have to have a permit and you have to pay excise duty on everything that you make and sell. So all this was seized from people who were brewing samsu in secret. They didn’t have a license and they were not paying any duty any excise duty on the samsu that they were selling and that is why they seized this equipment and that is why it is here in the customs museum. I learned some interesting things along the way as I was reading about this. And one thing I learned is that this excise duty, this excise tax is often called a sin tax. A sin duty. And that’s because things like alcohol and cigarettes are considered a type of vice. So it is a like a sinful behavior to drink and get drunk. So any sort of activity that can be considered a little bit illicit, a little bit sinful, it gets put into this net of excise duty, a sin tax. And there was also this idea that things like alcohol and cigarettes, it causes a cost to society as a whole. Like when you think about it, think of the things that can happen because of alcohol. people become alcoholics. It damages their health. So now you’re dealing with society having to pay for health care for everyone who suffered ill effects because of smoking or because of drinking too much alcohol. So they can justify this idea of a sin tax by saying to the people, well, okay, you can drink alcohol and you can smoke cigarettes, but you have to pay a tax that goes into the government chest of money so that it covers some of the cost of the extra health care that comes along with heavy drinking and heavy cigarettes, smoking, things like that. So it’s basically a sin tax. Another justification for this sin tax, this excise duty is that it gives the government a way to control and monitor the production of alcohol and make sure that it is done safely. So anyone who is making samsu and selling it legally because you have to you have to be clear that there are two versions of this drink. There is samsu that you can buy in the stores. You can drink it in bars and it is produced legally by reputable companies who have licenses and they’re monitored and there’s inspections and they pay taxes on it. It’s safe to drink that samsu. But the samsu produced by moonshiners in their backyard is completely unregulated. And if they do it badly, then people who drink it can suffer from methanol poisoning because through the distillation process, if you don’t do it correctly, you end up with something called methanol mixed in with the drink. And methanol is extremely toxic. It attacks. Well, the way it works, from what I understand, methanol itself is poisonous, but the real damage is caused when you drink methanol from impure samsu and your liver converts the methanol to formaldehyde and formic acid. And this attacks the optic nerves and your brain and the rest of your body. And it can lead very quickly to blindness and death. And I think that’s where the expression blind drunk comes from. Like if you get really really drunk and someone says, “Oh, he was blind drunk, that comes from methanol poisoning where people who drink excessively end up going blind because of the methanol.” And yeah, this is a very serious problem in Malaysia and in other countries. There was a story back in 2018, I think, where there were in a very short amount of time, I think in one in a very short amount of time, I think in September 2018, there were 100 cases of reported methanol poisoning. And out of those 100, 48 people died and the majority of them were migrant workers from Indonesia, Bangladesh, countries like that. And you see stories of methanol poisoning popping up from time to time in the worldwide media because quite a few backpackers, young backpackers traveling around Asia, die from methanol poisoning. There have been a number of like high-profile cases lately over the last few years in Laos. There was a case where a local hostel that was very popular, like an inexpensive place for young people to stay, backpackers, and they had a bar built into the hostel. And the young people that were staying there were drinking some very inexpensive alcohol supplied by the hostel. and a number of them from Australia and different places died from methanol poisoning because it was an illegal product. So as I said that’s another reason the government controls the production of alcohol with licenses and applies duty. It gives them another mechanism to monitor alcohol production and make sure that it’s done safely. The word samsu, by the way, is a Chinese word and it basically means, I think, three burnt three times essentially because to make samsu, they actually distill three separate times. And every time you do another distillation, the alcohol content rises and rises and rises, which is another reason samsu is so heavily controlled because when you make it with the full three distillation process, it has a very very high percentage of alcohol in the drink. So that’s where samsu comes from like three times three distillations and it makes a very potent very powerful alcohol and then when they the proper makers of samsu as far as I understand it they also follow the three distillation process. So by distilling it three times, they pull out a lot of the impurities and make the flavor smoother so it doesn’t like burn your throat going down. But when they distill it three times, the alcohol content goes up very very high, higher than most people want to drink. So then once they have the pure samsu, then they water it down. And now that I’ve told, you know, a bit of the story of samsu and toddy and tuak, what I want to do is go out into Melaka and I’m going to try to find a place that sells legal samsu. Proper healthy samsu and I just want to see where I can buy it and give it a taste test. I’m very curious myself what what samsu tastes like. And I have learned about one place in the historic core of Melaka that is famous for it’s it’s a company that’s been around for a long time making good legal safe samsu and other alcoholic drinks and I think they have quite a history and they make a good product. So I’m going to head in that direction, see if I can find this company and sample some samsu for myself. This is the customs museum. By the way, if you were ever in Melaka and you wanted to see that samsu display, the distiller, the distillation equipment that was seized by customs, it’s right here. Everyone knows about that famous ship, the Flor de la Mar. So, if you look for that ship, you’re right beside the customs museum. In fact, over here, I don’t think I showed this on my original video, they have a really colorful mural on this side of the building all about the customs museum. It’s a much bigger place than I expected and a lot bigger place, I think, than most people are expecting. So right here if you see this giant mural that in fact is the customs museum Jabatan Kastam Diraja Malaysia and then they have that colorful display of all the different customs personnel Royal Malaysian Customs Department right beside the Flor de la Mar the reproduction of a Portuguese treasure ship.
So, the place where I want to go to see if I can find track down some samsu is off alongside the river, maybe about a kilometer away. So, I’m just going to walk along the river to get there. And I don’t know anything about this place other than the name Tay Miang Guan and Company, something like that. And I’m sure I’m not pronouncing it properly, but I’ll put a little Google Maps pin up on the video screen for you. And I know that if it’s open and if it’s still located in the same place, I think I can buy a bottle of pure high quality samsu there, the original samsu. And then they also make flavored samsu for sort of a younger generation. you know, coconut flavored, pandan flavored, different bottles like that. I don’t know how much it costs. I don’t know how you drink it. Do you just drink it straight? Do you pour it over ice? Do you mix it with anything? I have no idea. This is all brand new to me. So, I’m going to go find all of this out. I don’t know whether you can drink it in this place or not. Like, I don’t know if you just buy a bottle and take it with you or whether you can also sit down and sample some while you’re there. I have no idea. So, this is going to be a new experience for me and hopefully for you. I can’t believe how busy Melaka is these days. Today is Thursday, a weekday, midweek, and yet it’s quite a bustling place. And the river cruise boats right here. They got a big lineup of people waiting to hop on one of the cruise boats. And the customs museum is right beside the main point for the river cruises where you get on and off the boats as well. I’ve noticed that the river is quite brown today. Very very brown. And there’s a lot of sediment, a lot of leaves and branches and and garbage in the river today. And I think that’s because we’ve had some seriously heavy rains lately. So there’s been some heavy heavy downpours. And when that happens, all the water comes rushing down in the hills, clearing out all of the creeks and ditches and places like that. And then everything, sediment, mud, dirt, is all flowing into the rivers and now coming downstream and heading to the ocean. So I think that’s why the water is so dirty right now, just because of the heavy rains we’ve been having. It’s been clearing out the countryside and all the water from the fields and the ditches and the hills is all pouring into the river.
So I already mentioned one problem with the illegal samsu and that is the risk of methanol poisoning. And one of the big issues with methanol poisoning is that the early stages of methanol poisoning can be easily mistaken for a hangover. So, if someone has had a heavy night of drinking and they wake up the next morning and they don’t feel great and they have all these symptoms, they just think it’s because they drank too much and they have a hangover. And what they don’t realize is that their alcohol was tainted with methanol and what they are experiencing is not a hangover but the early stages of methanol poisoning. So you have to be very careful with that and as I said can lead very very quickly to blindness and and death. So that’s one dark side one very very dark side to illegal samsu. But there’s another dark aspect to samsu and toddy and tuak and to find that you have to go back a little bit in history. And this dark side that I’m hinting at, I don’t know a whole lot about it to be honest. Only what I’ve uncovered through casual reading is that this drink samsu being very very potent and being very cheap was popular amongst laborers in the Federation of Malaya. So the British in particular in the British colonial days they brought thousands and thousands of indentured workers into the country and they were here on a contract to work and they brought them from India, from China, from other countries and these were the people doing all the labor in the country working on rubber plantations oil palm here in Melaka in particular which is why I’m interested in the story. All the ships going in and out of Melaka, all the ports, and then you need people to load and unload the ships. All of this heavy labor, the people doing the work of Malaysia, well, they’re not getting paid a lot of money. And at the end of a long hard day of work, they like to meet up with their friends and have a drink and relax. And their drink of choice would be toddy or samsu because it carried a kick and it was cheap. And a lot of these indentured laborers like working on the rubber plantations, they would be living right there as well. And the rubber plantation owners, the British administrators would actually create a bar where they could buy samsu or toddy places, things like that. And a lot of these indentured laborers would end up in a debt trap because there was so much easy availability of this alcohol and they would drink too much, spend all their money on toddy on samsu because it was right there and they would go further and further into debt and not be able to get out from under the contract, the labor contract they were on. And of course a lot of this samsu as I talked about may not have been made properly and there would be methanol poisoning amongst the rubber plantations, tin mining, people working in the tin mines. It affected all of the laborers across the Federation of Malaya. You can think of these bars and stores on these plantations near the tin mines oil palm plantations. You can think of them as their equivalent of the company store, which is a very famous concept that I grew up with in North America, where when you’re hired by a company and then your only option to buy food and drinks and clothing is from the store supplied by the company that you’re working for. And they charge you high prices and they keep you in debt and just keep you working there all the time. Your only option is to buy from the company store. And then here in Malaysia, they were getting their cheap alcohol from the company. And there was this dark side as well that I was reading about that this would be encouraged by the plantation owners, by the British administrators because it kept their workers docile, kept them basically drunk and happy. and they just supplied them as much cheap alcohol as they possibly could just to keep them under control. It was a control measure. Personally, I don’t know how much I believe in that. That feels like a very cynical view, but I read that in very many articles like documented academic research talking about this as a as an actual strategy on behalf of the plantation owners and the British administrators to supply as much cheap alcohol, samsu and toddy as possible. And it would just keep their workers drunk, happy, docile. And they used alcohol as a way to control them. So, that is another dark side to samsu. I’m making it sound pretty awful, but as I said, when it’s brewed properly and just sold by a reputable company that is monitored and is paying the proper taxes, it is just a very good drink along, you know, scotch, rum, vodka, gin, and now samsu. I’m going to add an experience of drinking samsu to my life. Still down by the river. I’ve just reached the Jambatan Bridge and I can use this bridge to cross over to the other side of the river and then I will be able to walk along here and this store that I’m heading towards is up here in that direction. And that’s another interesting aspect to Melaka because this area some of these streets that we’re looking at right now like this one up here, these small laneways were famous back in the day for opium dens and bars selling this cheap alcohol. And then back in the heyday when Melaka was a bustling international port with thousands of workers working the docks, there would be in these alleyways opium dens and speakeasys. Basically, the Malaysian version of a speakeasy. And I think there’s one still functioning today. It might even be down that street right there. I may check it out today as well. that still functions as a bar and it has a long history as one of these speakeasys for the dock workers, the porters, everyone working the docks. But now they’re still in operation, but they’re there for the tourist trade. And we can go there and have a drink of classic samsu. But first, I want to find this retail store.
I just cannot get over the weather we’ve been having in Melaka. It’s just such a beautiful place. The weather has absolutely been stunning. Look at that. Every day when I go out walking and exploring, this is yeah, this is the world that I’ve been living in for a while. Very, very pleasant.
I’m getting close to this place where I hope to buy some samsu, if not sample some. And just to give some context, I can show you where I am. I just noticed that building across the way. I’d seen it before, but I’d never really noticed it, if you know what I mean. But it looks like an old warehouse, but it’s not being used for anything right now. I wonder what it used to be and what the plans are for it in the future. But this is where I am. And I think this store is just up here. I have to turn left so you can see how close it is to the river. Again, that association between the river and dock workers and the sale and consumption of samsu. And one interesting thing I learned recently, and it makes sense when you think about it, is that all of these shophouses facing the river in modern times, we sort of think of this as the front, particularly down like more towards the center over here. There’s like an entire row of restaurants and bars that are all facing the river. And of course, we think of that as the front of the bar because it’s got the tables set out along the river, the door, the entrance into the river. So, we think of that as the front of the building. But in reality, when all of these shophouses were built, this the river was the backyard. This was the loading dock in and out of the shop, the business, whatever it was. and any kind of garbage that they were getting rid of, it came out the back door and was thrown into the river. So, you have to think in modern times, this is made as beautiful as possible. They’re painting it bright colors. They put out little tables and chairs for tourists to sit in, watch the boats go by. They’re putting planters here. So you you tend to think of this as the front of the building, but in fact, this is the rear of the building. We’re essentially looking at the backyard, which is I’d never thought of that until quite recently.
This is kind of appropriate cuz I I feel like I’m living back a century ago, looking for a speakeasy where I can get some samsu. And I found this little alleyway right here leading you leading off from the river because it’s pretty much a solid row of shophouses. And but I found this opening so I can go down this alleyway which is going to lead me to the street and this will be the like the front of the shophouses. This is how the building was designed that this would be the front right like an entrance into the business. And then on this side, this would be the entrance meant for the public to see. And everything down by the river was originally designed to be hidden from view cuz that was the backyard.
And just up ahead, I believe it’s on the corner right there is Tay Miang Guan and Company. And that is where we’re heading today. I’m going to cross over to the other side so we can get a look at it from across the street and take in the history. Look at these buildings. Aren’t they incredible? So, as I said, this would these are the front of all of these businesses. And you can see it was designed that way to look like the front little coffee shop there.
Another cafe.
And just as I come around the corner,
I’m not sure if I am in luck. So, Planet Doug, you know, this is how things work on Planet Doug after this huge buildup. There it is. Tay Miang Guan and Company. And it’s closed. Or is it ever open? It’s listed on Google Maps as a functioning business. Maybe there’s another Maybe the main entrance is around the corner or Okay, maybe this is the Okay. Yeah, hopefully I’m lucky. And that it is actually open. That looks like some bottles of liquor over there.
Okay. Well, wish me luck. I was a bit worried there that it was closed, but I think this might be the entrance here.
Hello. Are you Tay Miang Guan? You have a samsu is here. Okay.
So, yeah, I think I saw something online about them moving. So, they might actually be in the middle of moving.
Let’s see what we have here.
Is it samsu blanc? Samsu blancil.
White stag. Oh, so there’s the name of the store. Tay Miang Guan. White stag barn. Do you have like this samsu Melaka? It’s a good no more. No more. Oh, no.
Oh, this says samsu.
Oh, okay. But it’s Oh, empty. Okay.
H. All right. Well, thank you. Thank you. Yeah. So something is going on here that I don’t understand. Like when you look at this place on Google Maps, it looks completely different. So this used to be the store and there according to the pictures on Google maps, there are like lots of information and history of samsu like covering the walls, but it’s all torn apart. So I think they are moving to a new location, but we’re I’m dealing with a major language even using Google Translate. I I can’t understand what’s going on. And these are what they have for sale. And then when I ask the man for samsu, he keeps pointing to these bottles, but I don’t see anything on them that looks like samsu. I don’t know what it is. It’s a rousa puty meum arch. I don’t know what any of that means. and I showed him bottles of their own company’s samsu, but he says, “No, we don’t make that anymore.” And I found I finally found this bottle down here. I was pretty excited cuz I thought, “Oh, there there’s some samsu.” But it’s an empty bottle. So, my hunt for samsu continues. It’s not here. the luck of Planet Doug. I got here just in time when they basically are they’re closing as far as I can tell. And it’s actually a a good example of something I always end up talking about where when you’re you make sort of a a video for YouTube where you’re in another country and you’re trying to find something, go shopping, trying to get something done and you’re having difficulty and then in the YouTube video comments a lot of people will offer you helpful suggestions and one of them will be, well, hey, why don’t you just ask the local people? ask somebody. But, you know, there’s a man there. He obviously works there or he or he’s part of the family that owns it, but talking to him, I I get zero information. Like, there’s just nothing we can do. And people will say, “Well, just use Google Translate.” And I did. I tried to use Google Translate with him and nothing. like whatever I write in English, whatever it’s translated into Chinese, to me they’re very very simple questions. Is this samsu? He has no idea what I’m asking. So we we went around and around and around. But basically, I guess what I’m saying is, yeah, this idea of just talk to the local people, use Google Translate, most of the time it gets you nowhere. There’s there’s like a barrier. It’s not just a language barrier. It’s a cultural barrier where somehow my needs and wants don’t coincide with their understanding of what’s going on and we just we just cannot get over that barrier. So yeah, I stayed there for a long time chatting with that guy trying to and nothing. I have no idea what’s going on because I I wanted I asked him like, “Okay, it looks like you’re closing and moving to a new location. Like, where is the new location? Can I go there?” And he’s like, he has no idea what I’m talking about. And yeah, we just hit a dead end. And I I really don’t know what to do next. According to what I read, you can buy this drink in Chinese shops. and they say, “Oh, just go to any local Chinese shop and or an herbal medicine place and they will have bottles of samsu on the shelves.” So, I guess that’s that’s what I’m going to try next. But, I I don’t know what a typical Chinese shop looks like. So, I’m going to wander around and see what I can track down. This is turning into an interesting little journey. because I feel like I’m in the heart of tourist the tourist district right of Melaka because it’s just jammed with tourists and little cafes and things. But as soon as I start looking for samsu, of course I’m looking in these shops. Like I just went into this one. There was another one beside it. And you might as well be in like Malaysia from a hundred years ago. like you step in the atmosphere, the products they’re selling, the fact that nobody speaks a word of English, you might as well be in Melaka from a hundred years ago. It’s really like a time capsule, which is kind of incredible. Tourism Melaka side by side, old Melaka, the Chinese population anyway, is is still here exactly as it’s been probably for hundreds of years, which is kind of interesting. But yeah, no luck except one man who spoke a bit of English. He told me there’s two places I can buy samsu on the same street on the left. And he was telling me it was at a bomb, like bomb, a bomb shop, bomb. And we went back and forth for a very long time. And what he meant, he eventually got me to understand because he pointed to a watch and he’s like, “Oh, pawn shop. So, I’m looking for a pawn shop. And then beside it is supposed to be a place that sells samsu. I don’t know. Look at this. Lots of bottles of liquor in there.
Hello.
Yeah. Do you sell samsu? No. No. No.
Oh, this this one. You mean the first one? Well, anyway, they’re all the same, right? Samsu is the type of drink. It’s an alcoholic drink. Yeah. Actually, this this brand is on the corner shop, right? They’re they’re closing. It’s empty now. They discontinued the product already. I have this I have this
Oops. For drink. Yeah. I’m I’m doing like a history study. Oh yeah. Of samsu. But but but normally we use this for That’s for cooking. Okay. Normally we use this for cooking. Okay. Oh. Ah. No other types. Just this one.
Depends on which you’re looking for. Well, I was I went to the like museums here and they were talking about this drink samsu. They used to drink it on the rubber plantations, oil palm. The workers would drink samsu. Okay. So, I was looking for the same drink that they had. Okay.
So you are doing a research of yes the the estate worker. Yeah. They they the thing they took last time normally they took this type of medicated liquor.
Yeah. The name Iraq. Where does that come from? What does that mean? Iraq. Let me just liquor in LA. And oh that’s the same. Yeah, this is a big size. But would this be samsu? Like actually what you’re talking about the estate worker majority are from Indian right? They are Indian. So samsu is a Malay word of alcohol. Oh okay. So they just simply they can call any any kind of alcohol any kind of alcohol drink as samsu. I see. Normally for us refer samsu is refer to the rice wine. Rice wine. Yeah. Okay. But normally they don’t they wouldn’t drink rice wine because the can we say is tasteless? M only the taste of alcohol. But even samsu it’s a Chinese word though right like three times like sam is three no it’s like triple distillation if you want to say that then there’s another story as I say rice wine in China they they have differentiate into swang and sanen are talking about the the samsu hobi come from the word sen which means the the third distillation from the rice right. Yeah, because the to to distill the rice wine we have first distillation we we call it toen the first first which is the best one. Then the second one will be swangen means the second second distillation then the lowest is sanen. So if you you say that samsu from is a word from Chinese I think this is my best explanation. Okay. No that that makes sense. That makes sense. All right. That’s why I say normally samsu we are refer referring to rice wine only not this type of medicated wine. Right. Okay. H All right. Thank you very much. I will keep keep looking and trying to figure this out. It feels like I’m missing something. Some piece of the puzzle I I’m missing because here in the corner the the store that used to be there, they sold they call it samsu. It’s right on the bottle. Yeah. It seems like a specific drink like rum, gin, scotch. Samsu is like a type of drink. No. No. to to us drum scotch or brandy are category as hot liquor right yeah is it’s not samsu mhm yeah samsu normally referring to the cheapest alcohol drink right which is rice wine all right thank you no problem thank you very much okay thanks you from I’m from Canada I see yeah Canada. Yeah. You sell a lot of different are you retail or wholesale? Wholesale. Wholesale. Wholesale. Come retail. We also do some retail. Okay.
But since alcohol is have quite a lot of restriction in this country. So officially you can’t get more much information especially from the government site. All right. Okay. All right. Thank you. Okay. Welcome. But by the way the the shop they have a they open a museum can take a look. Do you know where it is? But it I have I saw some pictures.
You find Yeah. Yeah. This is the one they have it. Okay. Actually, they they they have their own distillery. Oh, I see. Now, they turned this distillery into a tourist spot. And this is connected with that company on the corner. Yes. Oh, okay. This So, this is where they went. Yeah. Ah, that’s probably what I’m looking for. Okay, I can take this. Yes. All right. Thank you very much. Okay. That’ll That’ll help me out a lot. Okay.
Well, that was interesting. I don’t know. I still don’t know what’s going on. As far as I understand what that man was telling me, he was saying there is no such thing as samsu. It doesn’t exist. I think he was telling me that samsu is just a local word for alcohol and it can be like rice wine or any it just means alcohol. And I I’m still trying to drill down on this idea that samsu itself, yeah, it’s a type of rice wine, but it’s not really. It’s it’s more of a hard liquor. Like wine is like 10% alcohol by volume, but samsu is more like 27% the things that you can buy. So I I still think I’m right. There is such a thing called samsu. In fact, there is even a as I said, there’s a a bar here, a modern bar that I believe sells samsu and has all the history and everything. So, I’m going to go there next. But the problem with that place, based on what I read online, they don’t allow any kind of photography on the inside. No video, no photos. But I’m going to go there anyway and see what happens. But this is quite funny. when I you know the the man there he said no the his daughter a woman there started saying oh that store on the corner that’s closed they now have a museum you could go to the museum I was like what yeah they have a museum now and they gave me the brochure so this actually it’s the same company exactly the same the Tay Miang Guan company that owns that shop on the corner they have a distillery museum museum where you can go on a tour and they teach you all about rice wine and I assume samsu. So it’s like so like the man who works there I’m I’m I’m talking with him using Google translate for a long time. You think at some point he would say oh by the here and he would give me the brochure to their museum. But again there’s that that cultural barrier that exists. But here no I got a lot of good information. So, I’m going to go into a couple of more stores. Like this place here. It feels like, you know, they could have a bottle of samsu in the back. For all I know, this place could have it. I have no idea. I have no idea what I’m doing. So, let’s continue the search.
Mhm.
Hello. Hello. Do you sell samsu? No, nothing like that. Okay. Thank you.
Hello.
I don’t think so. Do you have a samsu? No. No. Here. No. Okay. You want? Yeah. For drinking. Yeah. But can’t find it. Anyway, thank you.
Hello. Afternoon. Good afternoon. Yeah. Looking for anything? Yeah, I hope so. Uh-uh. I’m doing a little bit of research into Melaka samsu. Oh, this Melaka samsu we don’t have. Do you have any kind of samsu? Like from Tong Tong A is a famous distillery I think. Okay, this one is the samsu, but I can recommend to you if you want, but not the this brand. Okay, you have a different brand. Different brand. Like this. Something like this.
This is from our American rice wine. Something like sake. Yeah. But isn’t rice wine different from samsu? Like rice wine is about 10 12% alcohol, but samsu is more like distilled liquor like 27% or like this is you know 53% alcohol. It’s much stronger. Yeah. Yeah. I think it’s a different drink. Yeah. Yeah. Because you see this one is a 70%. Okay. This is a 22%. And then this is the higher one is 52%. Ah. Uh-uh. We call it is samsu potato. Okay. In Malay is samsu. For our is rice wine. Rice wine. So you think samsu the samsu. Thatlay the flavor is a samsu. And the same thing as rice wine. Yeah. The same thing. They distill from the rice wine. Yeah. Okay. But yeah, it does say you know alcohol samsu. Yeah. Yeah. And you said this one is what? 52%. 52%. Yes. That’s very strong. Yeah. Very very strong. It’s like more than 100 proofs. And Okay. Yeah, they’re 52%. Are any do any of these have a connection to Melaka? This all also from Melaka, but this we bottling here. Oh, I see. Yeah. Okay.
Maybe you have to go to the Kong Hulu there. One old lady some maybe they have maybe they have a you can go over there. Okay. They got one place to sit down and then you can buy a pack also. Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. Welcome. Thank you.
I feel like I’m close. Maybe I just don’t know what I’m talking about. This whole idea of samsu as a particular type of drink. People are not connecting with that. I went back to the internet and I did some research and I did some more you know searching out here in the in the brutal hot sun and everything I find online it says no rice wine and samsu are not the same thing. Like every all the websites I go to, no samsu. Sam samsu is something very specific. It isn’t the same as rice wine. But everyone here is telling me there is no such thing as samsu. There’s only rice wine. But they were selling some rice wine that was 52% alcohol by volume. So I mean that’s crazy strong. That’s more than scotch, you know. So very very strong alcohol. then maybe that is exactly the same thing as a samsu. But what I’m going to do is track down this bar that I heard about. And I think hopefully the bar will clear things up for me. It’s on the other side of the river, very near here. And then it’s quite expensive, I think, to sit in there and have a drink of samsu. And I think you can buy bottles there as well. So maybe even though I can’t shoot any video on the inside, maybe I can just get a tiny little bit of video without making a big deal out of it and then try some samsu there, which I know for sure is the historic drink that I’m trying to track down. But anyway, I’m certainly enjoying my my walk, seeing a lot of interesting things along the way.
little interesting alleyway right on the other side of the bridge that I just crossed earlier.
Yeah, a lot of nice boutiquey style restaurants and cafes all through all through this street. Yeah, very nice.
So, we have to cross over the bridge, turn to the right, and we can find this bar.
I just crossed over the bridge down on the other side. And I think I turned right down here and this speakeasy, the historic speakeasy should be just down here on the right hand side. And as I said, it was a place traditionally where yeah, the dock workers would go and have a drink at the end of a long hard day. But now it’s designed for tourists. Let’s see if I can track it down. And here we are. Wow. A bit of luck on Planet Doug. It exists. There it is. there called Sin Hiap Hin. And it looks like they have a bar set up. So, I’m going to go in and try my luck.
Yes. Mommy, thank you so much. How are you? Yeah, fine. Oh, and you said I think I am in the right place. I am look I’m looking for a drink like this. This one tree. This one like sake. No Melaka samsu. This one cannot get anymore. Which one do you want to buy or you want to drink? Both. Both. If I could have a drink here and then buy a bottle. This one you buy cannot cannot get. Do you What kind do you have? I have this one.
This one also. This one is Melaka. Suck it. But the one is very good. But the one they stop already. I see. I then wait. I have little bit more. Wait. I see. Wait. I see. Oh, it’s the same company. I have little bit Tay Miang Guan.
Oops.
You take the picture. This one I have still had little bit more. And which one is the Oh, look at that. But I know more already. Yeah, it’s the company doesn’t make it anymore. Yes. Yes. So there it is. The famous Samsu Melaka. Yeah. Samsu Melaka. Melaka rice wine. This one. Yeah. This one. The second one. And that’s the second one. So can I try a drink of this one? This one. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Wait. I think this one. This one. This one. I think this one. 53. Very strong. Yeah. Yeah. Really strong.
And in history, do they drink it just like this or do they they put in ice or mix it or no? Ice eye watery, right? Water. No good. Okay. Some they want ice little bit can. Don’t put too many. M. Okay. Without ice also good. Without ice better. I can the aroma. I can smell it already. I tell you the truth. I want I want to let you here. Wow. The oldest one. The oldest bar. Yeah. I heard you’re very old this place. Yes. How old? From what year? What year? Do you know? My father-in-law. Maybe one 940. Oh. From the 19 of the license. Oh, okay. Yeah. You still have the original license. Before we take the license, now it’s Malaysia license. Now it’s government. Oh, okay. No, now it’s custom. Customs. Malaysia. Malaysia customs. Yeah. Not Malaysia. Custom one. Yeah. The aroma is very strong. Very strong. Very strong. This one the second one. That’s the second one. Well, let let me try a little drink. Yeah. Actually depend for you. M. Very. I like it. Oh, that’s nice. That is really nice. Very, very smooth. Yeah, very smooth. I’m surprised. Yes. Wait, I got another one. Wait, I show you. This also good. But they never make anymore. Ah, this one. This one. Oh, another one. Samsu Cap Unicorn. Ah, unicorn. Oh, the same company again. Tay Miang Guan. This one the maybe this one the second this one third. Okay. And the yellow color. Ah the percent low 20. This one 30 percent 30. Oh 30 alcohol. And this one is 40. 40. And this one is 53. No more already. So this one is made by the same company. Same company. Tay Miang Guan. Tay Miang Guan. Yeah. It’s Samsu Cap Unicorn. But it is the one 53. The first one. This one second. And this one third and the third 40%. Ah 40%. So it’s 53. 53 40. Yeah. So this one is 40%. Yes. Oh yeah. This one can cook with chicken. There it is. Oh, you can cook with that one. Yep. Cook with chicken and put the ginger. Okay. This one my mother-in-law cook nice to eat. I know they cook. Give us it. That not sweet one. This rice one not sweet. No. No sweet. Mhm. They never put every sugar with rock sugar. You You drink a sweet try. I think I see.
Mhm. It’s also good. I can tell. Not Not as strong. No, not strong, huh? But it’s good. I like it, too. Not strong.
Maybe I like this one better. You like this better? Yeah. Yeah. Just a little bit. Just a little bit. Cap unicorn.
You are cash only. Ah, cash only. Have you cash? Of course. Okay. Normally I use touch and go. No, we won’t accept. No touch and go. Ah, no, we won’t accept. I bet we accept cash. Cash. Cash is king. Yep. I still have some cash.
You’re old-fashioned like history. Cash. Cash only. Yes. No credit. We the oldest bar. No. Yeah. The oldest bar. Ah. Have you heard? No. I didn’t know. You don’t know? No. Hello. Going to try some drink. Just passing by. Not today. No. She was saying it’s the oldest bar in Melaka. Melaka. Have you know this is about? Yeah, I’m trying the local samsu local distillery company. Sake. Sake. This one they call sake. Sake. Oh, is that another name? Sake. Sake. Yeah, it’s very good. Very strong.
Where are you from? Singapore. Where? Singapore. Singapore. Okay. Nice to meet you. Cool. Canada. Canada. Long way to Yeah. Long way to come here. It’s very famous. Long way. Yeah. This place is very famous actually. Yeah. I think your place is famous. Especially western visitors like me. We all know about this this bar. Yeah. The oldest one. Yeah. The oldest one. On Google Maps. You can see it. Yeah.
Singaporean. Now look, they come here to drink. Oh, from Yeah. Also from Singapore to drink. All right. Enjoy. Thank you. Yeah. I make my sister. Okay. Have a good day. You too. Cheers. Bye. For one big bottle like this. How much does it cost to buy the bottle? You want to buy? Well, I don’t I only want a small bottle. No, you don’t have small. Before they have bottle now, they never make they make a big one. You only need the big one. Large one. Big bottle. Mhm.
My father My father drink this one. He never drink this all. You don’t know. He like one only one. My father drink a lot. He drinks this one. This one herbal. Oh, this also old one old brand. Good for your health. Herbal. Good for health. Chan Lee Chan. Good for blood circulation. Blood circulation. For blood circulation. 34%. Yes. H. Before is Hong Kong one. No, this one. Hong Kong company. Hong Kong. Now Malaysia. Oh, okay. Mhm. But still good. Can drink. My father want to drink this one. Oh, you drink too many. Too many. When he drunk, he open the small one. Bottle that this small. M slowly drink mix with water. M. Mhm.
Until 74. No more stock. Young young already drink. No the age young no 20 something drink. Okay. They do the business. My father business. So this one they don’t make anymore. This this Oh, they still make that one. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Mhm. Can get this one. Ch
peg. Does it say? Oh, one per. Ah, okay. One peg P peg is PG. What does that mean? Peg. P EG. This one like that. Oh, okay. I don’t know. They say one peg. One peg. Measurement. Measurement. foreign foreign people they say shot, right? One shot. One shot. Exactly. Yeah. One ounce. One shot. one, one shot, right? Yeah. Oh, they say sometimes. I think shot is better. One shot. One shot. Yeah. So I had House is different now, huh? Yeah, maybe it’s different. Yeah, different. So I had one shot of 53% and one shot of 53 and then 40%. Oh, I had one shot.
Yeah, very nice place. I like it here. Thank you. Quiet, huh? Very quiet. Quiet.
There you have it. A rare, very rare burst of good luck on Planet Doug. I’m standing outside of this bar. Kind of a bar and shop, I guess. Sin Hiap Hin right there. So, there’s the location. If you don’t remember what it looks like, it’s this this place right here. Very you know, not a very dramatic entrance. You would wouldn’t even notice it if you were walking by, but it’s quite a well-known place, particularly among foreigners. I think just now as I was standing here, I noticed a local guide came down here with two foreigners and brought them in. So I think it’s well known as a place to bring foreign guests like if you’re a local tour guide learn about a little bit about the history of Melaka and I say that I was lucky because I was interested in that particular samsu from that particular company and I was interested in this in this bar right behind me and they’re open. I could find it. They were open and they sold I not not only did they sell the samsu from that company I was interested in which I knew was genuine historic samsu, they had one shot left over in an old bottle underneath the counter. So I got the very last shot from this company that apparently went out of business. And then she had three bottles from the same company, three different strengths. So the one I had where they only had one shot left was the very strong 53%. Powerful aroma, like really, really strong. And it really got into your nasal passages and into your throat. You could really feel what you were drinking. So, I can imagine a dock worker, a rubber plantation worker, a tin miner at the end of the day ordering a bottle of that and you feel like you’re getting your money’s worth because you you throw down a shot of that, it would hit you like a cannonball. Yeah. It it would be very very strong. Yeah. I could really smell it, feel it. I could feel it in my nasal passages, in my throat. And then she got out two other bottles from the exact same company. I I have so much trouble remembering the names, but Tay Miang Guan I think Tay Miang Guan company. I had the 53% and then she and she said that was the best certainly the strongest. And then she brought out two more bottles from the same company. One was the unicorn and that was 40% and then the third bottle was 30%. So I had the shot of the 53%. That was my first drink and then I had one shot of the 40%. And I actually liked the 40% better. It was a bit smoother. It didn’t really get into my throat and into my nose as much as the 53%. So that was the one I liked the best was the unicorn brand. So the number two quality was the one that I like the best. Yeah, that was kind of interesting. And then the third one I’d had like this is the middle of the day. You don’t want to be drinking all day long. So I just had the two drinks and that was it. I didn’t sample the third one. Maybe I would have except it’s a bit expensive. I did wonder whether they had cornered the market when it comes to foreigners because as I said just as I was leaving a local tour guide showed up with a couple, a western couple, two tourists and he was bringing them directly to that bar and showing it to them as you know a hidden gem of Melaka, someplace that nobody else knows about, a real part of Melakan history. So I think a lot of foreigners go to that place and they’ve come to depend on that on those customers. So I think they can raise their prices. So each shot that I had was 26 ringgit for like one drink. So I had two which comes to 52 ringgit. It’s a lot of money when you just pop into a place for a quick drink. So when it came to the third bottle, maybe I would have tried it just so I could have the complete set, highest quality, second quality, third quality. All right, 1 2 3. But I didn’t have the third one just because, you know, I mean, that would have raised my bill up until, you know, above 70 ringgit, which is a bit much for that sort of experience. So I just contented myself with two shots of historic samsu. Yeah, it was a great experience. Unfortunately, I struggled with my GoPro as I always do. I was recording our conversation and me having the drinks and then it overheated and shut down. My poor GoPro overheated again and again and again and I eventually gave up. But I did get, you know, a couple of minutes of my interactions with the woman. She’s a very friendly woman. She’s known for being very chatty, very welcoming to foreign visitors like me. And she did have signs up everywhere saying no photography and she knew my GoPro was recording. She kind of she knows what’s going on. She’s had foreigners show up there before. She kind of looked at my GoPro like you’re recording, right? Yeah. It’s okay. It’s okay. But then as soon as my GoPro shuts down, you know, beep beep beep and it shuts down. She’s like, “Hey, what happened?” H my camera overheated and shut down. You cannot be filming in secret in Asia when you’re using a GoPro because it will just shut down on you all the time. It’s kind of funny. I think you could sit there for a couple of hours talking with her and you would never run out of stories because she had a lot to talk about, a lot of life experiences. And she was telling me that during COVID all the shops up and down that laneway, this whole neighborhood, everything shut down for 2 years. And then after COVID and businesses were allowed to open again, she said a lot of the businesses on her streets just stayed closed because in the time that they were closed down, I guess they just got used to it being closed, like the local family that owned it and ran it. And she said they tended to be older people running these businesses and during COVID they stopped running them and then when COVID ended they basically went h why bother opening again let’s just retire and all of their children who might normally be expected to take over the business well they’re now all working in Kuala Lumpur and places like that and yeah so now all those businesses that closed down during COVID She said a lot a lot of them a high percentage of them just never reopened because the family just doesn’t have anyone in their family to continue the business which is yeah kind of interesting.
So I’m getting to the end of my samsu experience. I’m aiming my GoPro down at the river again. Yeah, just to show you what I was talking about that because of the heavy rainfall, we’ve got a lot of debris, a lot of sediment flowing into the river right now. The water is very brown, filled with coconuts, things like that. Coming to the end of my video about my experiences with samsu. That all came together very nicely. I was joking here and there about the luck of Planet Doug, how everywhere I go seems to be closed or doesn’t exist or disappeared or something like that. And that was true at the beginning, but hey, can’t complain. I went to the museum, the customs museum to see the illegal samsu distilleries that they seized. And the museum was opened and I got to see everything there. and they don’t mind if you’re in there taking video, taking pictures. So, that worked out really well. And then I did track down the shop where they sold the samsu. I found it. Two of the doors were closed, but one of them was open. And I did see some bottles on the shelf. And I got to chat with the man that was there. We ran into the language barrier completely and we were not able to communicate at all. But hey, I got that experience and then I found a couple of liquor stores where I don’t know, I was still struggling to understand this distinction between samsu and rice wine. I still don’t get it. But then I managed to find the bar that was still open and yeah, I managed to have a couple of shots of traditional samsu. Not just traditional samsu, but the samsu from that company. The very last shot of the premium samsu from that company probably in all of Melaka. She just happened to have one shot left in a bottle hiding under the counter. So, how amazing is that? That worked out so well. Yeah, really, really good day. And as always, shout out to the Planet Doug Crunch Club out there. You made it all the way to this point in the video, all the way to the end. Congratulate yourself and put CC in the comments to let me know. CCE, Crunch Club Elite, if you watch the whole video, are subscribed to Planet Doug, and you like the video, that puts you in the elite level of the Crunch Club. Who knew? So yeah, shout out to all the Crunch Club members out there. And of course, shout out to everybody continuing to support Planet Doug Video Productions. Without you, videos like this would not exist. People supporting me through Malaysia’s Touch ‘n Go e-wallet, through Buy Me a Coffee, through PayPal, and who have joined the Planet Doug Patreon. Shout out to all of you guys. Yeah, you keep Planet Doug spinning in orbit as I say. So, that is it shutting down and I’ll see you next time.