Julie Lee

Julie Lee has been working in spirits industry for more than 20 years, and is still passionate about every part of it. She doesn’t see whisky as a western commodity, by localizing it in the market, this drink will form a new and characteristic drinking culture in the local market. Julie is the person who has been playing the role until this day. Unlike the conventional role of brand ambassador, Julie considers the crucial element of localizing whisky is “palate”. She is the founder of Asian Palate Association, and the owner of Or Sileis, an independent whisky brand tailor-made for Asian market. She fully elaborates her cultural and professional background to select and produce whisky which Asian consumers can easily connect to their drinking experience and memory of food.

In addition, Julie would like to introduce this Asian palate to western drinkers as well. She became the first Chinese female keeper of the Quaich in Asia in 2013, which is a great milestone of her career. Her profession gains great recognition, and enables her to start being a judge in International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC) London / Hong Kong, and International Spirituosen Wettbewrb (ISW) Germany, and many other international competitions. She is the key influencer of whisky in Asia.

Spirits making is a fine craftsmanship, Julie believes there is science behind the craft. In order to improve her knowledge of spirits making, she took the course of general certificate in distillery which organized by Institute of Brewing & Distillery, and received the qualification eventually. Now she is officially a professional distiller, since she has the full knowledge which contains all the perspectives of the industry. They involve with physics, chemistry, biological technology and distillery management.

Julie still have a great vision and ambition of being a great messenger of spirits, and she will continue playing this role in different forms.