Wasabi and sakaki in the same botanical bill is not a combination many distillers would attempt, and at Kishu-Kumano Distillery in Wakayama they are only two entries out of nineteen. The Kii peninsula supplies most of the rest: unshu mikan, sudachi, jabara and yuzu for the citrus spine, fig and ume for weight, sansho pepper and ginger for heat, persimmon leaf and Yoshino cedar for the green, resinous edge. Bottled at 53% ABV, it has the strength to carry all of it without thinning out.

Juniper opens, but it does not stay alone for long. The four citrus fruits unfold above it, each pulling in a slightly different direction - mikan round and sweet-edged, sudachi sharp and green, jabara bitter, yuzu perfumed. Underneath, fig and ume lay down a dried-fruit depth that stops the whole thing reading as merely bright. Sansho lands late, with the tingling quality that pepper is known for rather than a simple burn, ginger warming behind it. Yoshino cedar and persimmon leaf leave a dry, woody-green finish, and the wasabi registers less as heat than as a brief clean sharpness. At 53% the mouthfeel stays thick and oily, and the length is considerable.

A gin carrying this much needs a mixer that brings no further ideas of its own. Pour 5 cl over a large ice sphere in a highball and top with 15 cl of East Imperial Yuzu Tonic: the yuzu in the tonic doubles the citrus already in play instead of competing with it, and the sphere slows dilution enough that the 53% never collapses. A thin slice of fresh yuzu is garnish enough. Fever-Tree Mediterranean or Le Tribute both work if you want the pepper and the cedar further forward. Neat, in a small pour, it rewards patience - the sansho and the cedar are easiest to read with no tonic at all.