Sensei of Place

Gins from and inspired by Japan capture a unique aura of place, culture and agriculture of the country and its distinct regions.

Japanese gin isn’t just for tasting: it’s for smelling, savouring and exploring with all of the senses. Japanese culture reveres ancient tea and incense ceremonies, which cultivate a deep, multi-sensory appreciation of seasonal and regional products. It elevates the fragrant practice of ikebana (flower arranging) to an art form. So it’s only natural that Japanese gins also vividly evoke the country’s seasons and regions, from an onsen soak in a winter forest to a fresh burst of spring’s sakura bloom. Often bottled at slightly higher alcohol by volume (ABV), they’re a characterful choice for Martinis and soda highballs that showcase their unique essences.

Nikka Coffey Gin (47% ABV)

Notes of: Lush citrus and a soft pepper finish, with an exceptionally silky texture.

The corn and malted barley spirit made on Nikka’s Coffey stills evokes the brand’s century-old whisky-making cred and gives this gin, when well chilled, a rich, opulent mouthfeel. Introduced in 2017 and made at Nikka’s Miyagikyo distillery in the east, it’s flavoured with 11 botanicals, including gin’s traditional juniper, coriander seed, angelica and lemon, plus orange. Japanese fruits — yuzu, kabosu, amanatsu, shekwasha — contribute to the luxurious citrus profile.

Nikka started as an apple juice company, and Hokkaido apple is the gin’s botanical wink to brand heritage, while sparky sansho pepper provides balancing bite on the finish.

Kanomori Gin (47% ABV)

Notes of: Woodsy evergreen and incense, hints of fruit and soft anise.

Yomeishu, a herbal health elixir, has been made in Nagano for four centuries. Naturally, its maker has expertise with botanicals. Nineteen of them are distilled, in three groups, to create this gin’s complexity. Kuromoji, an aromatic wood with a sweetly spicy aroma, provides the exotic, cedar-like top note. Juicy mulberry and wolfberry meet a burst of evergreens and herbal rosemary, laurel and sage, plus classic gin root botanicals and a lick of licorice.

The distillery’s location means it sources water from the Japanese Alps, which is naturally soft from granite filtration and valued for its purity.

Ki No Bi Dry Gin (45.7% ABV)

Notes of: Intense citrus, peppery spice and bold evergreen.

The Kyoto Distillery became Japan’s first gin-only distillery when it opened in 2016. The name means “the beauty of the seasons,” a cherished concept in Japanese culture. Eleven botanicals were curated into this punchy blend, including annual Japanese signatures such as yuzu citrus, two types of fine green tea, akamatsu (red pine), sansho pepper, ginger, plus bamboo and red shiso leaves.

Kyoto is known for traditional fabric, pottery and paper, and the botanicals pictured on this bottle come from the oldest karakami (woodblock printing) atelier in Japan. The brand’s Kyoto tasting room is in a traditional machiya wooden house full of local furnishings and textiles.

Roku (43% ABV)

Notes of: Delicate flowers and leaves, with bright citrus and earthy green-tea astringency.

Roku means “six,” the number of Japanese botanicals blooming in this Suntory gin. It embraces the Japanese concept of shun, or appreciating seasonal products harvested at their peak. Spring’s cherry blossoms and leaves meet summer’s harvest of sencha and gyokuro green teas, the sansho pepper that ripens in autumn and yuzu peel from winter citrus crops. Along with eight classic gin botanicals, each flavouring is distilled differently to preserve optimal freshness. (An annual Sakura Bloom edition offers an even bolder spring cherry blossom bouquet.)

Roku’s packaging embodies the Japanese monozukuri philosophy of fine craftmanship: the label boasts washi paper and calligraphy strokes; the six-sided bottle is embossed with botanical shapes.

Masahiro Okinawa Gin (47% ABV)

Notes of: Very ripe tropical fruit, funky lees character and rich, oily texture.

On the southernmost island of Naha, the summer mahae wind carries a lush, tropical aroma that inspired Okinawa’s first craft gin. Roselle (a hibiscus), guava leaves, bitter goya melon and Okinawan shekwasha citrus evoke island flavours, while long pepper delivers tingling mouthfeel. Okinawa is a global Blue Zone of wellness and longevity, with goya and shekwasha both considered among the region’s superfoods.

Ryukyo Awamori from Masahiro Shuzo Brewery forms the foundation for these botanicals. Awamori, Japan’s oldest distilled spirit and the predecessor of shochu, has long been used in religious ceremonies, rituals and celebrations. It’s made of polished long grains, fermented with black koji and distilled both by pot and column. “Since the base awamori is made from rice, the finish is smooth and mellow,” says Masayasu Higa, the distillery’s fifth-generation president.

Turning Japanese

Even gins not made in Japan can highlight the elegant curation of botanicals that honours the Japanese tradition, along with their own unique flair.

Cambridge Japanese Gin (42% ABV)

Notes of: Soft bouquet of florals, bold spice and a creamy, soft texture.

Deeply inspired by nature, this English-made, Japanese-inspired gin uses yuzu, shiso, sansho pepper and toasted white sesame to evoke its cultural muse. Cambridge Distillery tailors the temperature, pressure, timing and other aspects of its approach to each botanical to optimize flavour extraction. The result is a gin with a lingering, savoury finish that’s a celebration of umami, the so-called fifth sense that’s a keystone of Japanese cuisine.

The Cambridge Distillery also makes a luxury bottling called Watenshi (meaning “Japanese angel”), which captures the small amount of so-called angel’s share lost when distilling its Japanese Gin. (The brand estimates that just 15 millilitres, or half an ounce, is captured during each distillation run.) It condenses and bottles the precious, intensely flavoured liquid, with each rare 700 millilitre bottle selling from the distillery for £3,000.

Local Pick: See our article on Sheringham Distillery’s Beacon Gin for a Japanese-inspired botanical profile from Vancouver Island, Canada here.