How are you all doing?
My name is Yamada, and I am in charge of this month’s diary.
The hot days are continuing, and it is the time of year when a drink after work is even more delicious.
Now, the key botanical in this month’s limited edition 08 is mint.
We have increased the amount of Japanese Hackberry and Spearmint originally included in 150 and added Apple Mint as a finishing touch.
It has the refreshing taste of menthol with the fruity sweetness of mint.
It is ideal for drinking during relaxation, as well as for barbequed meat and hearty meals.
We decided to distill mint and made many prototypes.
However, the minty flavor was not easily expressed, perhaps because the minty base of 150 was too mellow.
After much trial and error, we decided to fill the basket with spearmint and apple mint and add Japanese hacca to the YASO Spirits for 24 hours.
After much trial and error, we decided to fill a basket with spearmint and apple mint, soak Japanese Hakka in YASO spirits for 24 hours, and distill it.
The apple mint is fruity, as the name suggests.
Compared to spearmint and peppermint, apple mint is often used in beverages and cooking, and has a sweet, fruity mint with little menthol.
By using these two types of mints, the menthol feeling of the Japanese mint was harmonized with the menthol feeling of the Japanese mint, and the fragrance was just right.
We actually visited Mr. Maehata’s place, who has been helping us with Yoneyama Touki and other plants, to collect Japanese Hakka.
I am ashamed to admit that this was the first time for me to use a sickle to cut plants and to enter a river.It was a very enjoyable and valuable experience.
As soon as I got close to the Hakka, I could smell the nice, crisp aroma of Hakka.
I had an image that the smell of peppermint was strongly mentholated, but it was not only mentholated, but also had a very nice aroma with a hint of sweetness.
I guess there are many things you can’t understand unless you actually hold it in your hands. It was a good learning experience.
He also said that he would like to dry and sell the leaves after harvesting them. I didn’t have time to visit this time, but I heard that a café nearby actually served a mixture of hojicha and hacca that was very tasty.
Just imagining it sounds delicious…I want to try it too^^Next time I want to go into the mountains to look for various plants!
The collectede Hakka was washed and soaked in spirits immediately after being taken out, then combined with the base spirit that is usually used for distillation to start distillation.
Thanks to the abundance of the hackberry and mint, there was already hackberry and mint… from the time the base spirit began to be distilled. There was a menthol sensation that came to my eyes.
As time went on, other botanicals and spices gradually peeked out, and the mint flavor and aroma changed as well. I’m a big fan of chocolate mint, and after smelling the minty flavor for the past few days, I couldn’t help but inoculate myself with chocolate mint every day.
The first part of the mint was mentholated and bitter, but gradually sweetness and fruity flavors appeared, with a slight coumarin-like flavor in the second half. I guess this is a bit of a minty flavor.
Could this be the Hakka? I am just curious.
The limited edition 08 is a refreshing menthol mint and hacca blend that is perfect for the coming season.
Rather than having the menthol flavor at the forefront, the fruity aroma and sweetness of the mint, as well as the spices and botanicals that are originally included, combine to create something that is easy to be familiar with.
We hope you will enjoy this drink when you need to relieve fatigue, when you want to feel refreshed, or when you want to finish off a drink.
This limited edition product will go on sale on Monday, August 8, just in time for the Obon season.
Please be careful not to make a mistake.
Thank you for reading this long article.
We will be working at the new distillery from next month, so I hope you can get a sense of the scenery in the photos.
See you soon ^^.
