INGREDIENTS
EXPLORE
11 BOTANICALS, 6 ELEMENTS
We spent six months selecting the finest suppliers and botanicals for the production of KI NO BI Kyoto Dry Gin, many of them sourced locally from Kyoto Prefecture. In all we test-distilled over 100 botanicals before deciding upon a final recipe using just 11 of them.
We divide these 11 botanicals into 6 Elements by flavour and aroma – Base, Citrus, Herbal, Spice, Green Tea and Fruity & Floral – then distil these Elements separately before blending them together with water from a Fushimi sake brewery.
Our painstaking work to create a delicious dry gin aims to do justice to the culture of craftsmanship for which Kyoto has been famed for more than 1,000 years.
ELEMENTS
base
KI NO BI uses juniper, orris and akamatsu as its base ingredients. These constitute our gin’s basic flavour structure, and account for more than half of the botanicals used.
citrus
KI NO BI includes yuzu and lemon among its botanicals.
Yuzu is a Japanese citrus fruit, giving our gin a distinctive flavour when distilled.
herbal
Sanshō pepper and kinome give KI NO BI an oriental and spicy aroma, which mainly features on the finish.
spice
Ginger gives a sharp and juicy mouthfeel, adding complexity to our gin.
TEA
The green tea laces through the other distillates during the blending process and helps to bring them all together in harmony.
FRUITY & FLORAL
Bamboo leaves and shiso add a fruity and floral essence to the underlying flavour of KI NO BI.
BOTANICALS
JUNIPER BERRY
At The Kyoto Distillery, we use juniper berries from Macedonia in our gin. We worked with a local importer and tasted juniper from several locations, but decided that the wonderful dark blue berries from Macedonia were the perfect choice for KI NO BI.
AKAMATSU
The Akamatsu tree, or Red Pine, is particularly fragrant – thanks to its high resin content – and perfectly complements our Juniper. The scent is bright, spicy and coniferous with initial notes of crisp pine and citrus followed by warming undertones of camphor, woodland, moss and lavender.
SANSHO
Sanshō delivers an oily and heavy distillate, rich in flavour and wildly aromatic, with strong citric notes of kaffir lime and lemongrass, as well as warming, peppery spice.
GINGER
Ginger gives a sharp and juicy mouthfeel, adding complexity to our gin.
GREEN TEA
On its own, the gyokuro we use provides the same delicate, grassy and floral aromas in the gin that you would find in a well-prepared cup of green tea in a traditional machiya, but with the added bonus of sweet white chocolate and lightly roasted biscuit coming through during distillation.
YUZU
Yuzu is a Japanese fruit which gives our gin distinctive citrus notes, reminiscent of tart mandarin, orange blossom and sweet Amalfi lemon. We source our organic yuzu from Hokuto Nouen in Ayabe, in the northwest part of Kyoto Prefecture.
LEMON
Lemon peel provides our gin with incredibly pure notes of sweetened and lightly floral fresh lemon, with undertones of sherbet and boiled lemon sweets. We source our lemons from Kisshoin, in Kyoto, and from Hiroshima.
ORRIS ROOT
BAMBOO LEAF
SANSHŌ LEAF (KINOME)
The Japanese peppercorn grows on a small, spiny shrub belonging to the citrus and rue families, and can be found in many parts of Japan. We use both in KI NO BI alongside the peppercorns for a more complex flavour.
SHISO