Japanese Crafts Fruit Cocktails Base Kiwi Sour (720 ml)

Founded in 1868 when seventh-generation head Sojuro consolidated the Kitaoka family's four-century Yoshino trading roots into sake brewing alone, Kitaoka Honten has since extended its botanical instincts — honed through sakura-blossom yeast isolation and cherry-flower liqueur production — into a fruit cocktail base series designed for the home bartender. The brewery sits at the entrance to Yoshino-Kumano National Park in southern Nara, drawing water from Oku-Yoshino Forest Water (奥吉野の森林水), mountain-stream runoff characterised by low iron content and a soft mineral profile that carries botanical infusions without metallic interference. This Kiwi Sour expression follows the house botanical infusion method — fruit steeped in alcohol with sugar syrup — the same technique applied to the brewery's sakura and red shiso liqueurs, here redirected toward the sharp, green-acid character of kiwi. The sour orientation places this firmly outside the sweetened fruit liqueur mainstream: the kiwi's natural tartness is preserved as a structural element rather than smoothed into a dessert profile, making it a functional cocktail ingredient rather than a sipper. As a 720 ml ready-to-mix base, it is sized for repeat bar use, an unusual format among Japanese craft liqueur producers who typically bottle in 500 ml or smaller. Drink as mixed immediately upon opening.