Exquisite: making botanical gin with Asian spicebush

We could not have a cheerful New Year’s Party this year … COVID-19, yeah. But, we are still able to savor alcohol. April last year when PM Abe issued the state of emergency nation-wide, he asked people to stay home, and pubs and bars to stop serving alcohol at 19:00. The consumption of beers et al plunged at drinking venues. But people bought 6 packs and hard liquors in supermarket. They drunk them home without bothering time to go home. Some insisted, in straight face, drinking hard liquor can sanitize our body that could fend off the COVID-19 … Because of this, or not, there is a sort of murmur in drinking community in Metropolis Tokyo. “The next big thing is hard liquor, especially gin.”

The newest addition to Japanese Kawaii, with COVID.
 We can strangely sympathize with
 this cutie kitten’s (called Sounyan, FYI) frustration.

Weeeeel, for such voices bubbling up here and there in pandemic-affected cities, it could really be possible sanitizing power of distilled hard liquor ... In spring last year, we had a severe shortage for supply of sanitizing alcohol. At that time, ordinary households could do with frequent hand washing with good ol’ soaps. But clinics and hospitals had hard time. Japanese government gave OK for brewers of drinking alcohol to provide distilled 98% alcohol as possible alternative for medical sanitizer. I’ve heard clinics bought them in gallons and diluted it to 70% with distilled water for regular sanitizing, to cope with the crisis. Gin may also be a good emergency alternative … On December 10th, last year, Yokohama Bay Brewing Co., a brewery of craft beer in Yokohama, opened a distillery of gin where we can have their craft beer and gin brewed on site … I haven’t been there yet after opening … From today, Yokohama is again under the State of Emergency ... In summer 2020, Suntory debuted Japanese gin, called Sui, that’s in a reasonable price level for stay-home crowd to savor, or sanitize … Er, I honestly doubt this “disinfecting” effect. Rather, I suspect the talk of gin is simply a kind of fashion import from the UK … They say now in locked-down London, people are flavoring Beefeater by adding spices and herbs to make homemade “botanical gin.” Botanical? It clicked my curiosity.

Distillery of Yokohama Bay Brewing Co.
 in Koganecho, Yokohama.
 I took this photo last November.

Actually, it’s nothing new in Japan flavoring spirits with botanical bounty. The most common alcohol drink of this genre is Umesh (; my post on June 28, 2019) made of hard white liquor and Japanese apricot. Ditto for Japanese bayberry (; my post on August 18, 2017). Come to think of it, they are larger fruits than juniper berries. The fruits can dominate the entire drink. I checked ginfoundry.com, and surmised when Brits say “botanical gin,” it’s more emphasis on pure flavor added to hard liquor. Hmmmmmmmmmmm ... Is it something to do with the size of fruits or berries? How about small berries we can find in autumn forests in Yokohama?

One of my homemade umesh bottle.
 I decided to let them age …
In 30 years’ time, they’ll be heavenly …

I first turned to linden arrowwood (Viburnum dilatatum) that bears small red berries in October. They can be eaten fresh, but very sour. When we gather lots of them, we can make good jam from it, but it’s another matter for today’s topic. I hesitated a bit about making “botanical gin” with Viburnum dilatatum as its distinctively sourness in sweet juicy meat. The list in Gin Foundry for making botanical gin does not contain such edible fruit, but more of herbs and spices … In the end I made alcohol drink of linden arrowwood in the same way for Japanese bayberry. In a glass jar, I put red berries and rock candy by the same amount and poured hard liquor of 35°+ just enough to cover the berries and sugar … Result? Waited for 3 months for the sugar to be dissolved completely, the jar has a bright red liquid. The taste of it is … er, yeah, it’s sweet, just like umesh or bayberry drink. But not much dryness of gin …

Linden arrowwood berries in Yokohama’s forest

Berries, rock sugars, and 35+ hard liquor

3 moths later. Pretty ruby red liquor 😋

Another approach I’ve taken this year is, to search intentionally for berries that are not much juicy, but smells nice, just like juniper. The plant also must be safe for human consumption. Small round berries of Asian spicebush (Lindera glauca) have passed these conditions. The fresh leaves of this tree smell very nice, or I would say, noble. I’ve heard we can dry these leaves to make powder and mix it for rice cakes to enjoy its flavor. i.e., we can use the plant as Japanese spice or herb. Lindera glauca is common deciduous tree in Japanese forest. It turns the color of their leaves into yellowish red in autumn, though they do not shed their colored leaves until fresh new green leaves come out in spring. Their way of shedding leaves makes it easy to find them in winter. I found several trees of spicebush in previous winters in Yokohama. This year I waited until they bear fruits in autumn. Their flowers do not stand out at all, and their berries are small black ball with thin fresh. They are not that fecund as linden arrowwood or bayberries. In total, modest plant. I collected a bit of their fruits to put them in a tiny glass bottle, about for 100cc, filled with gin.

Lindera glauca in summer

They becomes like this in late autumn

Berries of Asian spicebush

Now, about a month later, the small bottle of gin with spicebush berries has a pale amber liquid. The contents smell gracious! Its flavor is of hard liquor with soothing and gallant tang. I am seriously lamenting the small amount available of my botanical gin. Maybe, that’s the amount Mother Nature allows us to savor from her jewel. *Sigh*

My gin with Asian spicebush.
 It tastes Ex-qui-si-te 😍

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