Bandoeng’22 part of the Australian Summer

As Bandoeng’22 is entering the Australian market, we ask Siegfrid Bacani, Founder of 7000 Islands Drinks and our Australian importer & distributor, to introduce himself.

Who is Siegfrid Bacani
“I’m Siegfrid, I founded 7000 Islands to share my love of pairing Asian food with drinks. Being Asian-Aussie is a big part of my story, and this is reflected in the name of my company ~ 7000 Islands.

7000 Islands is the number of islands both Australia (my adopted country) and The Philippines (the country of my birth) both have in common. We might need to make those 17,000 islands, which is the number of islands, the Indonesian Archipelago has!

It’s what both cultures have in common together, like the number of islands or our love of food and drink that we celebrate at 7000 Islands. I’m literally obsessed with finding the perfect harmony of Aussie food & wine with the tropical gastronomy of Southeast Asia.

I’ve always wanted to share with the world the flavors of my upbringing and what you’d find in our household food pantry and found aspects of our cuisine interesting – like how we balance the tastes of ‘Spicy’, ‘Sour’ and ‘Umami’ in our food and how this expresses differently when paired with beverages.

After a professional career in drinks from pushing Jack Daniels whiskey in London, United Kingdom with Bacardi-Brown Forman, to Moët Hennessy the wine & spirits division of LVMH which included great spirits like Hennessy cognac, Belvedere vodka and Glenmorangie whisky… I wanted to pursue my passion for our flavors and started blending wine (story for another day).

Bandoeng’22 and Australia
I was introduced to Fajar Ramadhany of Bandoeng’22 from an industry friend, and immediately we hit it off.

I was attracted to his story of being culturally Indonesian by background and being 100% Dutch living in The Netherlands. So not only did I feel a kinship, but after tasting Bandoeng’22 – I was absolutely floored.

Pandan is part of Filipino cuisine but is more prevalent in Indonesian gastronomy – Bandoeng’22 absolutely nails it and perfectly balances the delicate triangle of smoky (oak), spice notes, subtle sweetness of this Asian vanilla.

What’s even better, is Bandoeng’22 is a celebration of two cultures, Fresh Pandan leaves and Indonesian spices. It’s what we’re about at 7000 Islands.

Together we will make Bandoeng’22 the cocktail drink of the upcoming Australian Summer.”