A journey through the four seasons with six botanicals.
Global spirits giant Beam Suntory first announced plans to launch Roku Gin in May 2017. Produced at its Osaka-based distillery, Roku (meaning ‘six’ in Japanese), is based on more than 100 years’ knowledge of distilling. Shinjiro Torii, Founder of Suntory, opened his distillery in 1899, and launched Hermes Gin (Suntory’s first Gin brand) in 1936. Torii’s successors have continued to create world-renowned spirits built on a heritage of distilling.
Roku Gin is a Japanese craft Gin featuring six Japanese botanicals (hence the name); sakura flowers and leaves, sencha and gyokuro teas, sansho pepper and yuzu peel. These special ingredients are harvested at their peak throughout the four seasons, creating a year-round sense of Japan.
These distinctive botanicals are distilled individually (via vacuum distillation or by pot distillation) in order to draw out the best flavor and preserve the individual characteristics. Delicate cherry blossom flavors are drawn out through vacuum distillation in a stainless steel still, whereas more punchy flavors, like the citrus fruit yuzu, are created in a traditional copper pot still.
The six distillates are then combined with eight traditional Gin botanicals (juniper, coriander, angelica seed and root, cinnamon, cardamom, bitter orange and lemon peel) to create a balanced flavor of classic Gin with a Japanese twist. A true taste of East meets West.