Ginspiration At Teens Of Thailand

A day for everyone (who’s over drinking age, of course) to celebrate and enjoy gin. Whether you’re already a fan of the juniper spirit or looking for an intro, World Gin Day is the perfect opportunity to get involved. It falls on the second Saturday in June, which means you get the Sunday to recover. So, where to?

Through a pair of heavy wooden doors, a near-crumbling shop-house is dimly lit and papered with old Hong Kong movie posters. This is Teens of Thailand and we sat down for a chat with co-owner Gunn, to talk about Bangkok’s first bar to specialise in gin. #tot #เท่ไม่มีจะแดก #เปิดแม่งทุกวัน

Are you making anything special for World Gin Day?

For us, every day is Gin Day!

What’s the story behind Teens of Thailand?

Let me start with this area, this road: Soi Nana. More than 10 years ago, I used to hang out with my visual art pals at About Cafe at the end of the street. That has now become a foundation that offers much needed support to children and teenagers, so though the area hasn’t always been “cool”, it’s always been a community. While I’m not a big gin consumer (my co-owner Niks is the expert), I love to drink. Niks and I used to run a small bar and restaurant in Ari, Barka. With a little encouragement from K’Ant at Tep Bar, we shut down Barka in favour of a shophouse here and became part of the Soi Nana community.

What’s the inspiration behind the name “Teens of Thailand”

It was once the name of an exhibition organised by party promoters Dudesweet, and we asked if we could use it.

Why gin​?

The simplicity: gin is for everyone. Also, at that time in Bangkok, no-one was specialising in it, so we saw the opportunity to do something different.

Anything else you’d like to share with us?

Before we opened our business here, this area was quite messy and unorganised. There wasn’t much awareness about the environment, dumping trash, or waste separation. We tried to support and encourage the community to get into better habits. At the back of our bar, we devoted a space for waste dumping and some disposal containers that the community can use, and now things are much tidier around here. Also, we don’t use plastic straws and we turn leftover cocktail ingredients into fertiliser and pipe cleaner. We have a small farm to process them at Nik’s house.

Thanks to our chat with Gunn, we’re ready for World Gin Day. From the more than 70 options at Teens of Thailand, our top three gins, as recommended by friendly bartender Sebastian, are Xoriguer Gin-Mahon, Gin Lane 1751 and Sacred-Juniper Gin. As for the cocktails, we pick Gin Tonic Chrysanthemum and Bee’s knees.

Go celebrate at Teens of Thailand, on 76 Soi Nana (Rammaitree). And while you’re there, why not make a night of it with a bar hop to their sibling spot, Asia Today, which claims to be better than Teens of Thailand.