Champagne and orange (mimosa) and Champagne with pink grapefruit juice.

Negroni made with Roku gin, sweet vermouth and Campari.

After the really tasty Gunpowder Gin from Ireland, made a swing to the other end of the world – Japan – to continue with the “tea” theme. Roku Gin – made in the Suntory distillery right outside Osaka – is a rather recent introduction to the international market. Meaning, it has been made available just this year.

My first reaction was marveling at the bottle. This is a very beautiful bottle which is hexagon in shape. The relevance of the hexagon shape was completely lost on me till I learnt what “Roku” means in Japanese. It means “six”.

In keeping with that theme of “six”, Roku gin has six strong local influences in the herbs and botanicals that defines the gin – two types of team – sencha (green tea) and gyokuro (refined green tea), two local cherry influences – the sakura blossoms and sakura leaves as well as sanshō pepper, and yuzu. This is on top of the eight herbals that are fairly standard in all gins: juniper, coriander, angelica root, angelica seed, cardamom seeds, cinnamon, bitter orange peel and lemon peel.

The starting point is a neutral grain spirit, but the distinctive feature of the production process is that the different herbals are taken thru different distillation processes e.g. vacuum distillation, vapor distillation and the standard distillation in copper stills.

I did not try the gin neat today. I had it with some tonic water. First off, the flowery nose can be immediately sensed as you start sipping. The palette was a more on the tighter and bitter side (the gin itself has some tones of bitterness and then the quinine adds to that). The tea makes it presence felt rather quickly. It leaves a creamy or buttery sense as it leaves the mouth. The finish clearly had the strong markings of juniper and citrus.

I am not sure pure tonic water is the best way to take this gin. Further research points to suggestions that a little ginger makes the G&T far better. I will try that tomorrow.

You are probably wondering how come I am off gin cocktails. Well, Sharmila and I went to a Cheesecake Factory to wait for Nikita who was spending some time with her friend in the mall next door. This was my first time to a Cheesecake Factory. I was not expecting much at the bar but I was pleasantly surprised.

Of course, first thing I checked was their Gin collection and once I realized they had Hendricks, I was a little more comforted 🙂 It was cold and I wanted to start with a stiffer cocktail. So, I asked for a “Bourbon and Honey” from their menu. Imagine my surprise when the drink came in a martini glass. First time I can recollect having a Bourbon cocktail in a martini glass.

But it tasted pretty good. The bourbon and the bitters were distinctly recognizable but the taste was much softer and mellower. So, I asked the bartender for his secret. She mentioned that it is the house lemon sour.

Next day, I made myself some fresh lemon sour at home. Using her instructions, I boiled water and sugar and stirred till the sugar dissolved. Squeezed a full fresh lemon and half a lime and mixed it in the sugary water. Threw in a couple of ice cubes and stirred till the ice melted.

Some bourbon (Four Roses), honey liqueur (Barenjager) and bitters (Peychaud’s) later, I was able to recreate the “Bourbon and Honey”. Was very enjoyable. Try it sometime at home. If you do, see if you can slap thyme on as a garnish. I did not have any thyme at home.