Gin Is Defined by Aroma, Not by Raw Material — A Spirit That Translates a Land’s Plants into a Bottle

We have looked at four drinks so far. Every one of them could name itself by its raw material.

Sake is a drink of rice. Shochu, of sweet potato, barley, or rice. Whisky, of barley. Umeshu, of ume. — So what is gin a drink of?

There is no answer. Gin has no fixed raw material.

Make it from grain, if you like. Or rice, sweet potato, grapes, molasses. Whatever the base alcohol, gin can still be gin.

— But here we must add something honestly. Gin is not the only spirit free in its material. Vodka, which appeared in the shochu chapter, also chooses no raw material: grain, sweet potato, grapes — any of them can become vodka.

So what separates two spirits that are equally free in material? They declare themselves in opposite directions.

Vodka, as we saw in the shochu chapter, went the way of distilling again and again to erase the raw material’s character. It becomes itself by subtracting.

Gin goes the other way. It becomes itself by adding one single aroma. Whatever the base, if that scent stands, it is gin. It becomes itself by adding.

Equally free in their foundation, one names itself by erasing and the other by adding. What decides gin is the aroma of a single berry.

One berry decides it: juniper

That berry is the juniper berry. That crisp, faintly forest-like scent of a conifer’s fruit. If it stands as the lead, it is gin.

Free in material, fixed in aroma — this design gave gin a distinctive property. Gin can be made anywhere. And wherever it is made, it may freely add plants beyond juniper.

So gin can be described another way: a spirit that translates a land’s plant catalogue into a single bottle.

What Japan’s gins added

List the plants Japanese craft gin has chosen, and a Japanese landscape rises on its own.

Yuzu — winter citrus, its peel unlike lemon or lime. Sanshō — the Japanese pepper that leaves a tingle. Green tea — layers of astringency and umami. Sakura — the scent of spring in leaf and blossom. Hinoki — the cypress of bathhouses and shrines. Ginger, shiso, and more.

Some makers choose rice for the base. Pair a rice spirit with juniper and Japanese botanicals, and a gin that is Japanese from raw material to botanical is born.

Here lies the charm of gin. A French gin wears a French face; a Japanese gin wears a Japanese one. Under one name, it can speak the memory of entirely different lands. Precisely because the raw material is free, the place steps forward.

Where did umeshu and gin part ways?

Now something we read earlier comes into play.

Umeshu and gin are both drinks that steep. Umeshu steeps ume; gin steeps juniper and botanicals. Sink an ingredient in alcohol and move its aroma across — thus far, they are identical.

So why is umeshu an infused drink and gin a distilled one? The fork lies after the steeping.

Umeshu ends with the steeping. The fruit’s colour, tartness, sweetness, and aroma all remain in the liquid. That is why it is amber, viscous, and tastes of ume.

Gin steeps, then distils again. The steeped liquid goes into the still, and only the aroma is lifted as vapour. Colour is left behind; the weight of flavour does not follow. That is why gin is clear and light, with aroma alone standing out.

From the same act of steeping, the families divide at whether or not you distil. This is the border between the map’s three families — umeshu to the house of infused drinks, gin to the house of distilled ones.

(In the shochu chapter, we said that for honkaku shochu, distillation is a technique for choosing what to keep, not for erasing. A gin maker makes a parallel choice — to carry only the plants’ aroma across, and leave the colour and the weight behind.)

There is more than one way to bring botanicals across

How the aroma is moved has its own schools.

• Steep, then distil — botanicals are steeped in alcohol and distilled whole. The most common approach, giving firm aroma.
• Pass the vapour through — botanicals sit in a basket while only the alcohol vapour passes among them. A way of gently carrying delicate aromas that heat would break. Said to suit fragile scents such as yuzu or tea.
• Add aroma without distilling — some are finished by adding flavour without a distillation step. It takes less labour and allows large, consistent production.

None of these is the correct one. Which school suits depends on the botanical. For an aroma as heat-fugitive as yuzu peel, the path of vapour; for the firm core of a root or berry, the path of steeping; and where volume and style call for it, the path without distillation — makers choose a door to suit the plant and the spirit they are aiming for.

For readers in Thailand — if you made gin in Thailand

Imagine something for a moment.

Gin is a spirit that can be made anywhere. Its material is free, and it may add the plants of its own land.

So if you made gin in Thailand, what would you put in it? Lemongrass. Kaffir lime leaf. Galangal. Thai basil. Pandan. — Think of the richness of aroma in a Thai market, and it is a pleasure simply to imagine what face that bottle would wear.

Just as Japan’s gins speak of Japanese landscapes, a Thai gin would speak of Thailand. That is what kind of spirit gin is.

Common misconceptions:

• “Gin is a grain spirit.” → The base material is free — rice, sweet potato, grapes all qualify. Juniper’s aroma defines gin, not its raw material.
• “Gin is an English drink.” → Its origin is genever, from the Netherlands; England took it up and developed its own styles. And its free-material design means it can be made in any land — hence craft gin arising worldwide today.
• “More botanicals, better gin.” → Not a matter of number. It is a design of what you bring across, and how — more does not necessarily mean more complex.

All you need to remember

1. Gin is decided by aroma, not by raw material. Where vodka becomes itself by subtracting, gin becomes itself by adding. One thing decides it: the aroma of juniper. So it can be made in any land.
2. Umeshu and gin both steep. The fork is whether you distil afterward. Umeshu keeps everything; gin takes only the aroma.
3. Japan’s gin is a Japanese plant catalogue. Yuzu, sanshō, green tea, sakura — because the material is free, the place steps forward.

— With this, we have walked all three families on the map: sake among the fermented; shochu, whisky, and gin among the distilled; umeshu and Japanese liqueurs among the infused. You now hold the whole picture of Japanese alcohol.

From here, roads lead deeper into each family. Why is rice polished? What changes between sweet potato and barley? What does a cask hand over? What do yuzu and sanshō add to a single bottle? — Whichever door you enter, you should not lose your way again.

Read next: What Are Umeshu & Liqueurs? (available now) / The Map of Japanese Alcohol (available now) / Pairing Basics (available now) / Glossary of Japanese Drinks (available now)