Hello. My name is Yamada, and I will be in charge of this diary.
The cherry blossom season is over and the days are pleasantly green and leafy.
How are you all doing? I am a bit nervous because of the approaching GW (Golden Week).

Now, May is the month of pleasant weather, lush greenery, and the gradual emergence of summer.
The key botanical for this month's limited zine is the "Chromoji".

As some of you may know, churomoji is a camphor tree that grows wild in the mountains of Japan and contains terpineol, linalool, cineole, and linneol.
It is often used as a botanical in domestic gin, and an infusion of the root of the black locust is a herbal medicine called "bird camphor" or "tsurinokusu," which is also used in medicinal drinks.
Other products such as "churomoji oil," which is extracted from the fruit and branches and leaves, is used in cosmetics and fragrances, and the branches have long been used as high-grade toothpicks and chopsticks.
In the days when there were no toothbrushes, the branches were used like today's toothbrushes.
The chrysanthemum is used for a variety of purposes, but this time the branches are used in abundance for distillation.
The chromophyll is at the forefront of the fragrance, and it is thought to be an easy scent to sense.

The churomoji used in this project is from the NPO "UNE".
Thank you very much for the many chromojis!
And thank you, Director Umeda, for going to pick it up.

In this distillation, too, the chromophyll and base gin were distilled separately and blended later.
Incidentally, we used a charcoal-filtered base once for both the distillation of the chromophyll alone and the distillation of the gin.
The charcoal filtration process is intended to enhance the elegant and clear aroma of the black locust.
We use raw alcohol that has been charcoal-filtered several times for overseas consumption, but once the charcoal filtration is done, the aroma changes completely and it smells like ink or light-removing liquid.
When I hear the word "de-etching solution," I have an image of a tungsten smell, and I wonder if the fragrance will come out. However, the first part of the distillation (head part) removes the tingling aroma, and the fragrance rides easily.

I won't go into the details of the process, but the clearer base makes the gin more flamboyant because it allows the fragrance to ride on the top, where it can easily disappear and be hidden.

When distilling chloomoji, cut the branches, wash them lightly with water, and soak them before beginning the distillation process.
Among the various methods we tried, this method seemed to be the most effective in eliminating the lye-like taste of the wood and bringing out the good aroma of the black locust.
Incidentally, even though I only lightly rinsed the cut chromojis with water, when I removed the branches, the water was the color of ink... I was quite surprised because I had not imagined it. There was a slight pickle-like element to the distillation when the amount of water was low ...
We started distillation and tasted and smelled it several times, and despite the ever-changing aroma and taste, it was my personal favorite at every stage.
At first, it had a naturally occurring perfume-like aroma, albeit slightly woody and lye-like, and as for the taste, it was sweet and gentle, like baked goods made with eggs.

From there, we started taking the parts to be used in the blend again, and it was hard to describe in words, it smelled so good.
This may be a personal image of the fragrance, but I could imagine a thin misty forest with sunlight falling through the trees.
There was a forest element and a bit of wateriness.
The taste was elegant and a bit rummy, with a citrusy vibe.
During the distillation process, the good smell of chloemogeys was spreading around me. Linalool, one of the ingredients in chloemogeys, is said to have a relaxing effect, and I felt so good during the distillation that I wanted to keep smelling the scent of chloemogeys.

I personally love perfumes, especially vanilla and oriental ones, and now that I have learned about the benefits of chromophylls through this distillation, I would like to buy perfumes and cosmetics that use chromophylls.
When I buy something that has a fragrance, I look at what is in it and wonder if it is the fragrance of "XX" or "XX".... I have been secretly looking forward to thinking about it recently.

In writing the diary, I was very curious about the ingredients contained in it, so I looked them up and found that cineole, which is found in chromophyll, is also abundant in wormwood.
Why wormwood all of a sudden? Some of you may be wondering, but wormwood is a plant that makes up the majority of the plants in the spirits (raw alcohol) we use.
Therefore, we felt that they complemented each other better and were a good match.

As I mentioned at the beginning, I think you will feel the Kuromoji in the front of this limited edition 05 "Kuromoji".
That said, they complement each other's good parts without fighting with the original base djinn.
The refreshing aroma and taste of YASO, reminiscent of a meadow, combined with the luxurious, clear, perfume-like aroma and citrus-like freshness of the black locust, make this a perfect gin for the coming season.
Although it is a pleasant season, there are times when you may not be in the mood due to May illness or daily fatigue.
At such times, we hope that the aroma of churomoji will soothe you and help you relax, even if only a little.

Thank you for reading to the end. We hope you look forward to next month's diary.
See you~~!