Roku Sakura Bloom Edition

Sakura appears twice in this bottle, once as flower and once as leaf, and the two do different work. The flower carries the perfume; the leaf brings a faint savoury, almost saline edge that keeps the whole thing from drifting towards confectionery. Around them Suntory leaves the Roku framework intact - sencha and gyokuro teas, yuzu peel, sansho pepper - and adds the classical side: juniper, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, angelica root and bitter orange peel. This limited release is bottled at 43% ABV.

Citrus · Limited Edition · Spicy · Floral

Cherry blossom is a fragile aroma and easily lost, but here it sits right at the front, floral and lightly powdery, framed by the citrus of the yuzu peelYuzuA Japanese citrus with an intense scent between mandarin, grapefruit and lemon, and very little juice.Glossary. The teas come in underneath, sencha grassy, gyokuro deeper and sweeter, and they are what stops the flowers feeling thin. Cardamom and cinnamon warm the middle without tipping into a spiced gin, coriander and angelica keep the base recognisably dry, and sansho leaves its tingling pepper trace on the finish, next to that faint salinity from the leaf. At 43% there is enough weight to hold a floral character that a lower strength would soften too far.

Suntory's own suggestion keeps things simple, and simple is correct here. Fill 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 with ice, pour 50 ml, add 150 ml East Imperial Yuzu Tonic Water, stir gently, and finish with a fresh cherry and a few edible cherry blossoms. The yuzu tonic works because it repeats the citrus peel already in the gin and stays dry enough to leave the blossom audible. Serve it genuinely cold: the floral notes are at their peak in a properly chilled glass and fade noticeably as it warms. Suntory ties the pairing to hanami, the cherry blossom season, and the drink suits that setting: light, cold and aromatic rather than contemplative.