JAPANESE GINS

Japan’s gin makers are bringing their own twists to the juniper spirit category

Jacopo meets pioneers of the modern Nipponic gin movement

First distilled in 1936 by what was then known as Kotobukiya – today’s Suntory – Hermes Dry Gin still populates Japanese online forums and auction sites. Its launch marked Japan’s pioneering attempt to venture into gin making, but the spirit took several decades to conquer the heart of the Japanese public.

“We started importing small Japanese whisky producers in 2005,” says British spirits industry veteran – and Kyoto Distillery co-founder – Marcin Miller of his Number One Drinks Company. “Ten years later, the landscape had changed significantly and we thought it was time for a fresh challenge…

I called David Croll, who had been living in Japan for several decades already, and said, ‘I have an idea: gin!’.”

Making the most of Croll and his wife Noriko’s independent drinks distribution businesses in Japan, they co-founded Kyoto Distillery and launched the first modern Japanese gin in 2016, Ki No Bi. Miller and Croll’s Nipponic venture kickstarted a gin revolution in the country: a year later, Beam Suntory and Nikka unveiled their Roku and Coffey Gin respectively, and a growing number of Japanese gins has followed.