Ikusei Kyoto Distillery: The first distillery in Japan specialising in non-alcoholic beverages in a 140-year-old machiya house. - Part 1 -

In December 2022, Hiroaki Oda, who runs the herbal wine bar Kusazake Ikusei in Gion, Kyoto, launched Japan's first specialised non-alcoholic distillery, Ikusei Kyoto Distillery. In the first part of this article, we first visit Ikusei Kyoto Distillery to have a non-alcoholic cocktail made with homemade aromatic distilled water. ......

writer：Drink Planet　撮影：Takuya Oshima

To the first distillery in the country specialising in non-alcoholic beverages.

About 15 minutes' walk from JR Kyoto Station.

The area on the south side of Gojo Street, between the Kamo and Takase Rivers, was once a brothel area called Gojo Rakuen.

The area, lined with century-old Kyoto machiya houses, has been renovated in recent years and is attracting attention as an up-coming area dotted with guesthouses for foreigners and unique restaurants.

In April 2022, the Marufukuro hotel, which was renovated from Nintendo's former headquarters building, will open, and in October 2023, a new campus of Kyoto City University of Arts is scheduled to open in the neighbourhood.

As the Corona disaster settles down and tourists return, the area is expected to attract more and more foot traffic in the future.

In a corner of the area, a little further down the alley through which the Takase River flows, the first distillery in Japan specialising in non-alcoholic spirits, Ikusei Kyoto Distillery, will open in December 2022.