Alembic Gin: The hottest craft gin makers from abroad!
We take a closer look at the Alembic Ohno Distillery from Kanazawa.<Part 1>

Since its launch in the summer of 2022, it has won a string of global awards!This month, we feature Alembic Ohno Distillery, which is being hailed as a windfall for craft gin in Japan.

writer：Ryoko Kuraishi

Founder Toshihiko Nakagawa.

IWSC (International Wine & Spirits Competition) 2023 Gold Outstanding; Trophy for Best Contemporary Gin; SFWSC (San Francisco World Spirits Competition) 2023 Gold Outstanding.Double Gold) ......

A fledgling distillery is winning accolades across the board at global competitions!...... is the Alembic Ono Distillery in Ono, Kanazawa, which has become the talk of the town.

Ono, near the port of Kanazawa, is a town that retains a strong atmosphere from the days when Kitamae ships used to come and go.

It is a town of fermentation, where more than 60 soy sauce and miso warehouses used to stand side by side.

Kanazawa's first craft gin distillery was established here in 2019.

Alembic Ohno Distillery was founded by Toshihiko Nakagawa, who moved to Kanazawa from Tokyo in 2018.

It was established in Ono, where soy sauce warehouses stand side by side and where you can feel the history of the Kitamae ship traffic.The large red door is a landmark.

The aim was to create a 'drinkable' gin, a gin that makes you want a second helping.

Nakagawa originally wanted to make craft beer and gained experience at breweries in Yokohama and Yokosuka.However, ...... .

'I had always hoped to one day make craft gin from beer ingredients, but after witnessing the craft spirits movement overseas, I was drawn to the freedom of craft spirits.

The reason I switched from other industries to the food and beverage industry was because I wanted to 'create something that enhances the dining experience', and I felt that gin had more potential as a food drink than beer."

Craft beer is somewhat heavy to pair with food.

In this respect, gin, which can change its expression depending on how it is drunk, has a high affinity with food and seems to have potential as a food drink.

'I was worried because I had a strong passion for beer, but I decided to focus on 'food' and turned my attention to craft gin.'

Alembic Gin HACHIBAN Barreled 2023 will be released next spring.Alembic Gin HACHIBAN will be bottled after six months in Madeira wine barrels from Portugal.Enjoy this barrel-aged gin, which is not yet popular in Japan.8,800 yen (estimate).

The aim was to create a craft gin that was much more food-friendly, so that people could drink it while eating and not get tired of it.

He started developing the recipe by reading and studying literature on gin and botanicals from overseas.

Through an acquaintance, he met Hideaki Kito, a famous blender at the former Fuji Gotemba Distillery (now known as Gotō Tsubaki Distillery), and became his apprentice.

'When I compared craft gins in Japan, I found that each one was made in a way that expressed the individuality of the brewer, such as using local ingredients as key botanicals.

That is interesting in its own right, but when I thought about 'matching it with food', I thought it would be good to have a well-balanced overall taste and aroma with less sharpness."

Test distillations were conducted based on the 25 recipes created in this way, and the results were used to create the 8 recipes that were suitable for Nakagawa-san's glasses.After conducting test distillations based on 25 different recipes, the one that met Mr Nakagawa's expectations was recipe No. 8.

The HACHIBAN in the product name Alembic Gin HACHIBAN comes from the number of the trial recipe.

HACHIBAN, with its fresh citrus aroma reminiscent of grapefruit, is composed of eight botanicals: juniper berries, coriander seeds, cocoa nibs, lemon peel, orange peel, chromophyll, angelica root and cassia.It is made up of botanicals.

This is then brewed with Hakusan subsoil water, which is also used by neighbouring soy sauce breweries for brewing.

Gin to go with myoga?

Recommended drinking styles include on the rocks, with soda and lukewarm.

There is another way to drink heated sake, called 'kan-karimashi', where the sake is cooled, but Nakagawa recommends this 'kan-karimashi' method.Nakagawa recommends this method, which he says accentuates the aroma of the botanicals.

'For the garnish, a single dry orange slice.With lime, the citrus is too strong.

If you want to match it with food, use Japanese condiments.It enhances the clean aroma of myoga and shiso leaves.

As a craft gin from Kanazawa, a rice-producing region, they plan to try their hand at making their own original base spirit using sake lees from a local brewery.

They also want to make flavoured drums and non-alcoholic spirits using the botanicals used in gin.

In the centre is the standard Alembic Gin HACHIBAN.On the left is Alembic Gin HACHIBAN Gunsei Strength.Limited edition of 800 bottles, ¥6,500.

What is OPENSAUCE, the food community that supports Alembic's manufacturing?

Here is a profile of Ms Nakagawa.

Ms Nakagawa has had a unique career, moving from the apparel industry to a film production company, and after spending a long time in the creative industry, she stepped into the food industry.

He says: "Influenced by my father, who was a skilled Western-style chef, I had a yearning for the world of food, even though I went into a different industry.

It was the Scottish pub Helmsdale in Minami Aoyama (at the time; now operating in Shibuya and Karuizawa) that inspired me to enter the world of alcohol.I was introduced to the culture and world of Western-style drinking through my immersion in this pub, and then to the world of sake as a food experience.

It was here that I came into contact with the culture and world view of Western liquor and became interested in sake as a food experience.

My entrance into the food and beverage industry was craft beer, which was in its infancy at the time.He joined a beer company in Yokohama that handled everything from production to beer pub management, and while working in the service department, he made time for training in production in the brewing department on holidays and other occasions.

He then moved to another brewery and began preparing to set up his own business.

'Just as I was preparing to open a small brewpub of around 300 litres in the Oiso area where I lived at the time, an old acquaintance who had moved to Kanazawa said, "I want to do something that is possible in this day and age, combining food and farming with cutting-edge technology.He started a company called OPENSAUCE.

Kanazawa has a history and unique culture of food, and is rich in nature surrounding foodstuffs.

Furthermore, food creators such as toji (master brewers), farmers, breweries and chefs have gathered around 'OPENSAUCE', and it hit me that this was the perfect place to start a new manufacturing business.

RecommendationsHe intuitively decided to move to Kanazawa, where he established a distillery in 2019 and started production in August 2022.

In the second part, we report on OPENSAUCE, the edgy food community behind Alembic Ohno Distillery!


Continued in Part 2.