KI NO BI Kyoto Dry Gin, 70 cl with Gift Box

Product Information

Med denne skønne gin, som bl.a. skiller sig ud med noter fra yuzu, grøn te, ingefær og citron, får du en gin med en rigtig wow-faktor! The Base includes juniper, orris, and Hinoki, a kind of Japanese cypress tree whose wood is sweet and earthy.

One of its greatest appeals is its use of local ingredients. The distillery is near Fushimi, a district that boasts rich supplies of underground water that have helped make it famous for sake brewing. The distillery’s flagship label Ki no Bi uses water from venerable Masuda Tokubē Shōten sake brewery, known for the brand Tsuki no Katsura.KI NO BI is a small-batch, artisanal gin with a Japanese heart. Distilled at Japan's first dedicated gin distillery, built in Kyoto in 2014, it is made with obsessive attention to detail, care and precision, from a high-quality rice spirit and Japanese botanicals such as yuzu, lemon, sansho pepper, ginger and gyokuro tea. KI NO BI has been carefully crafted to ensure perfect harmony between its various botanicals and its Kyoto origins. KI NO BI has a recognisable dry gin flavour with a Japanese accent: pure, perfectly balanced with distinctive aromas and a lingering finish of light ginger. The distillery also uses Kyoto-grown botanicals to create a flavor that evokes a feeling of the city itself. The company has further tapped into local tradition with its new mainline dry gin, Ki no Tea , which uses tencha tea from Horii Shichimeien, an Uji tea shop founded in 1879. As Japan’s first gin distillery, The Kyoto Distillery has a lot to live up to. Purposefully located within Japan’s old capital of Kyoto, a historic city known for their centuries of tradition and craftsmanship, the distillery seeks to honour the spirit of the place with their own craft creations.

There is an old saying in Japan that you can learn a lot about a place by drinking the local sake. Today, this no longer applies just to nihonshu. There are now small-scale operations around Japan that are producing outstanding craft beer and gin with local water and ingredients. To produce their gins, they then blend the Elements differently, based on the profile they’re after. It’s an interesting practice perhaps inspired by the whisky making process, where the art of blending is more commonplace. He enjoys exploring new gins, rums and craft beers, as well as settling down in cosy cafes and reading classical literature (the former and the latter generally not in succession!).Kinobi’s distillery is located in the old capital of Kyoto – a fact they pride themselves on. The name itself roughly translates to “the beauty of the seasons”, a testament to the botanicals harvested for use in its distillation. Whilst working as a network engineer during the day, Simon currently co-runs a small rum bar in Kawasaki city (just outside of metropolitan Tokyo) by the name of “Carib”, primarily serving rum, beer and handmade beef jerky, as well as holding gin take over events every Saturday night. The Kyoto Distillery in the Kisshōin Shimanomazumechō neighborhood of Kyoto’s Minami Ward. It is usually closed to the public. Whilst some companies have experimented with the base liquor ( warning: gins made from shochu, will inevitably end up tasting like shochu), and others with the botanicals (the most interesting I’ve heard to date utilised goya (bitter melon)!); in a way akin to the way Australian gins often make use of similar locally sourced botanicals (lemon myrtle, wattleseed, finger limes, river mint – you see where I’m going!), the same steady culprits tend to pop up in many Japanese gins as well. Another of the distillery’s offerings is a dry gin matured in wine barrels from the Amanohashidate winery, located on the Tango peninsula on the north coast of Kyoto Prefecture. It was launched in October of 2022 as a Kyoto-Prefecture only product, providing gin lovers another reason to stop by the House of Ki no Bi or one of Kyoto’s many authentic bars.

The Ki No Tea does wonders in a Martini and a Negroni (with modifications). Both are different beasts, with the Martini allowing the Ki No Tea plenty of room to shine on its own, while in a Negroni, gives the cult classic gratifying green tea potency for added layers of complexity. The full recipes can be found below. The Kyoto Distillery was founded by David Croll—native of gin’s heartland of Britain—his wife Kakuda Noriko, and Marcin Miller. Croll and Kakuda began running an import-export business out of Tokyo focusing on single malt whisky in 1990. They brought several brands to Japan for the first time, among them craft beers and craft gin from Britain. The second floor Tenji no Ma has exhibits explaining the history and varieties of gin and the botanicals that go into the spirit. Kyoto: green tea leaves (gyokuro), yuzu, sansho pepper, hinoki cypress, ginger, bamboo leaves, red perilla Kyoto Distillery helped usher in Japan’s nascent craft gin boom when its dry gin made with local botanicals like gyokuro tea, yuzu, and sanshō (Japanese pepper) hit the market in 2016. The gin’s clean flavor is something even drinkers new to the spirit can enjoy, and its aromas, so evocative of Japan’s old capital of Kyoto, have ushered fans deeper into the world of gin.The botanicals that go into Ki no Bi fall into six categories, what the distillery calls “elements,” which are base, citrus, herbal, spice, tea, and fruity and floral. There are a total of eleven botanicals used, starting with the base of juniper, orris, and akamatsu (Japanese red pine), to which is s added yuzu, lemon, sanshō, kinome (young leaves of the Japanese pepper), ginger, gyokuro, red shiso, and bamboo leaves. With this partnership, Pernod Ricard further expands its portfolio of specialty and prestige brands, composed of small brands with unique and comprehensive value propositions, selected distribution and significant growth potential. Thanks to Pernod Ricard's extensive distribution network, this strategy is yielding positive results as sales of the Group's specialty brands have been growing at a double-digit rate, well above the industry average.