Kanegasaki's Japanese Herbal Liqueurs

The producer is K.S.P Co., Ltd., operating as Kanegasaki Yakusou Shuzo in Kanegasaki, Iwate Prefecture. WAKA is presented as four Japanese herbal liqueurs built around herbs the producer grows itself, blended with fruit and vegetables, each one imagined around a season of the Japanese year. BG carries the version of this series the producer calls "High proof" — all four are liqueurs, 500ml, at 24% alcohol by volume. The four bottles are WAKA HAJIME Japanese Aperitif, WAKA ITSUKI Japanese Aperitif, WAKA MINORI Japanese Aperitif, and WAKA SHIORI Japanese Aperitif.

1 | The Two Where the Fruit Becomes the Name — Hajime and Shiori

Hajime and Shiori are the two bottles where the fruit itself shows up in the name. The producer describes Hajime as "a Japanese herbal liqueur of strawberry and sansho pepper, built around the image of a Japanese winter," and Shiori as "a Japanese herbal liqueur of ume plum and shiso, built around the image of a Japanese summer."

Look at the ingredient labels, and Hajime lists "strawberry (Iwate-grown), green tea, sansho pepper, chili pepper, herbs, spices, beet sugar, and others." Shiori lists "ume plum (Iwate-grown), grapefruit peel, cucumber, shiso, aromatic herbs, beet sugar, and others." Winter's name is strawberry, summer's name is ume plum — in both bottles, the base fruit becomes the name outright. Hajime layers on green tea and chili pepper; Shiori layers on grapefruit peel and cucumber.

2 | The Apple That Doesn't Appear in the Name — Itsuki and Minori

Itsuki and Minori, by contrast, carry no fruit in their names at all. Look at the producer's official website, and Itsuki and Minori read identically, word for word: "apple (Iwate-grown), brewed alcohol, aromatic herbs, beet sugar, and others."

But look further, to the ingredient declaration printed on the label itself, and that shared "aromatic herbs" turns out to hide two different things: yuzu for Itsuki, raspberry and hojicha for Minori. Two bottles the official website describes in identical words are, underneath, layering different herbs onto the same apple base.

What separates these two bottles that share the same base isn't the ingredient label — it's the phrase the producer attaches to each. Itsuki is "a Japanese herbal liqueur of hinoki cypress and yuzu, built around the image of a Japanese spring"; Minori is "a Japanese herbal liqueur of red shiso and hojicha, built around the image of a Japanese autumn." The base apple appears in neither the name nor this phrase. What divides the seasons, it turns out, is not the fruit itself but the words layered on top of it.

3 | Four Colors, and the Core of Each Aroma

The producer's tasting notes give each of the four bottles a description of color and aroma. What follows is presented as the producer's own description.

Hajime is yamabuki-yellow and clear, with the earthiness of chili pepper and the aroma of sansho pepper standing out. Itsuki is golden and clear, its aroma moving from yuzu citrus toward hinoki cypress. Minori is reddish-orange, with the roasted note of shiso and hojicha layered with lavender. Shiori, a purplish amber and clear, carries an ume aroma reminiscent of apricot, joined by shiso and lavender.

Line up the four colors — yamabuki-yellow, gold, reddish-orange, amber — and each season shows its own distinct tone.