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Sombai

Cambodian rice wine manufacturer

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Sombai (from Khmer: សុំបាយ, "some rice, please") is a liqueur manufacturer in Siem Reap founded in 2012. Its beverages have become a national drink of Cambodia and symbolic of Siem Reap. Sombai is one of the most popular brands in Cambodia.

01Products

The Sombai liqueurs were created in 2012 initially from rice wine by Lionel Maitrepierre drawing inspiration from the Cambodian traditional infused rice wine sraa tram (Khmer: ស្រាត្រាំ). The Sombai bottles are hand-painted. There are 10 different flavours which are always a combination of 2 fruits or spices.

It is usually consumed either neat or on the rocks. Sombai infused rice wines is also an ingredient in several Cambodian cocktails such as Asana Sling, Lemon Lemongrass Tini, Sombai Blue, Sombai Fizz, Siem Reap Monsoon, and Sombai Sour. Several leading establishments in Siem Reap sell Sombai rice wine and its cocktails and use it in their cooking, such as Chef Pola Siv at Mie Café and the Park Hyatt, and chef Pol Kimsan at Embassy. It can also bought as a gift at Raffles Angkor.

Bottles of Sombai liqueur with hand-painted images of Angkor temples
Bottles of Sombai liqueur with hand-painted images of Angkor temples

02Production workshop

In 2014, a Sombai workshop and tasting parlour was set up in the artist Leang Seckon's house, and has become a tourist attraction in town. After 2022, Sombai relocated closer to the city centre and set up their workshop in a traditional wooden house in the Wat Damnak area.

Watch videos about SombaiExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Sombai, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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