Masahiro Okinawa Gin: A Gin Distilled on an Awamori Base

Most gin starts from neutral grain spirit, a blank canvas, deliberately stripped of character so the botanicals can do everything.

Masahiro starts from awamori.

Why That Matters

Masahiro Shuzo is an awamori house first. When they launched this gin in 2017, they didn't buy in a neutral base; they used what they already made.

The awamori is produced by a single distillation in an iron still that's unique in Okinawa. The botanicals are then macerated and the whole thing goes through a second distillation in a column still.

So the base isn't blank. Awamori, Thai long-grain rice, black koji, brings its own slightly grassy, faintly funky character, and the botanicals sit on top of that rather than in a vacuum.

The Botanicals

This is where it stops sounding like any other gin:

• Goya — bitter melon, the vegetable Okinawa is most associated with
• Guava leaves
• Roselle — a hibiscus
• Shikuwasa — the small, sharp green citrus native to Okinawa
• Balinese long pepper
• Juniper, of course

Almost all of it is either Okinawan or from the tropics immediately around it. This is a gin that could only have been made where it was made.

What It Tastes Like

Floral and tropical up front, with clear green notes running through it. That's the goya, and it's the thing people notice and remember.

Bottled at 47%, which gives it the weight to survive being mixed.

How to Drink It

A gin and tonic with a squeeze of lime or, better, shikuwasa if you have it. The bitterness in the goya and the quinine in the tonic agree with each other.

It also makes an unusual and very good gimlet.

Pair It With

Okinawan logic: pork and heat. Pork kakuni, tonsouku, buta kimchi.

The bitter green side is also very good against fried food, takoyaki, karaage, tebasaki.

Try It at Juraku

Masahiro Okinawa Gin is on the gin list at Izakaya Juraku, Lower East Side, near our Zuisen, Chuko, Kumesen and Seifuku awamori. Worth tasting alongside them to see where the base came from.