Wa Bi Gin

Nine botanicals, all of them from Kagoshima. Kumquat, yuzu, lemon, hetsuke daidai bitter orange, green tea, shiso, ginger, shell ginger and Saigon cinnamon leaf - a shopping list that reads like an inventory of the prefecture rather than a distiller's wish list. Hombo Shuzo, better known abroad for Mars Whisky, makes it at its Tsunuki distillery on a rice base, distilled twice. Wa Bi translates as Japanese beauty, and the bottle was part of the wave that introduced Japanese gin to the wider world in 2017.

Citrus · Floral · Herbal

Four different citrus fruits is a lot, and they do not overlap. Kumquat is the one that shows first, sweet-skinned and slightly bitter at once; yuzu gives the perfumed high note; lemon keeps it sharp; and hetsuke daidai adds the pithy bitterness that stops the group turning into squash. Ginger and shell ginger warm the middle from two directions, one sharp and one softer and more floral, while shiso lays a cool herbal line across them. Green tea arrives late, dry and tannic, and cinnamon leaf leaves a thin sweet-spiced trace on the finish rather than the heat the bark would give.

The rice base is what holds this together. It gives a rounder, gentler mouthfeel than grain would, and at 40% ABV the whole thing stays light and precise rather than assertive.

Since citrus is the organising idea, extend it instead of contradicting it. Take a highballHighballA long drink served in a tall, straight glass with plenty of ice: a spirit topped with soda or tonic. The word also names the glass.Glossary, one big cube of clear iceClear iceIce without air bubbles, made by slow, directional freezing. Denser, it melts more slowly and dilutes less.Glossary, 5 cl of gin and 15 cl East Imperial Yuzu Tonic, which reinforces the yuzu and the green tea in a single move. Float a fine round of fresh yuzu on top for the aroma. Fever-Tree Mediterranean pushes the herbal side forward if you would rather follow the shiso, and Thomas Henry Botanical does something similar with more bitterness.