Sakurao Japanese Craft Dry Gin Limited (700 ml)

Sakurao Distillery was established in 2018 on the Hiroshima coastline at Hatsukaichi, the same site where Chugoku Jozo has produced spirits since 1918 — a century of local grain distillation informing the base spirit before a single botanical is added. The distillery sits metres from the Seto Inland Sea, where mild, humidity-moderated air and access to soft, low-mineral Chugoku mountain water shape a notably clean, light-bodied neutral base.

The Limited expression uses Setouchi-grown citrus — including locally harvested yuzu, lemon, and navel orange peel — alongside cherry blossom (sakura) and oyster leaf, a coastal botanical native to the Hiroshima shoreline. Juniper anchors the structure but is deliberately subordinated to this regional botanical signature. Bottled at 47% ABV, the gin is produced in small batches on a copper pot still, with botanicals macerated before distillation rather than vapour-infused.

The use of oyster leaf — a plant that genuinely carries a saline, sea-mineral character — is the single most unusual move here: it encodes the Seto Inland Sea's coastal identity directly into the botanical bill rather than as a marketing narrative.