It has been a while. I am Yamada, who will be in charge of this month’s diary.
It will soon be Golden Week.
This year, I am more excited than usual because I plan to do various otaku activities during the vacation. (Hey, I think I wrote something like this in my diary last year, too…?)
Well, this month’s limited is “Chamomile and Orange”.
Actually, this was the first time for me to decide on the botanicals and do all the blending and stuff….
Fortunately, I had a lot of time to work on it, so I was able to get the opinions of the Mr.Umeda and Ms.Sugikawa, and managed to get it into shape.
It is a gin with the aroma of chamomile, supported by orange and cinnamon, which gives a warm spring feeling.
This time, I blended juniper, chamomile, marigold, orange, cinnamon, and various other parts.
The juniper was cut in a different position than usual so that it would have a sweeter flavor.
We also added a little domestic chamomile to balance the aroma.
This was the first time I used Japanese chamomile, and I felt that the aroma was gentle and penetrated easily into the nose.
We tried several times to distill chamomile by itself, using a prototype machine and a small distiller that we used before the distillery was built, but there was a very distinctive aroma that lingered.
The aroma of chamomile was there, but there was a watery smell that we had a really hard time removing. I really struggled to get rid of it.
I was so happy that I was able to remove the chamomile aroma by using this machine and devising the cutting position, temperature rise, and mixing.
(By the way, I finished removing the chamomile today as I write this diary.)
Chamomile alone was floral but did not have much sweetness.
To add warmth, we distilled cinnamon several times in a prototype machine and used a small amount.
We also added small amounts of orange peel and bergamot to accentuate the aroma and taste.
I recommend mixing it with tonic to spread the aroma of the chamomile as well as the other ingredients and add sweetness.
Although the limited edition is something we do every month, when it came time to choose the formula and ingredients, it was a very difficult task.
We spent our days in a state of excitement and suspense until the decision was made.
However, the joy I felt when the decision was made gave me a great sense of accomplishment.
I can only express my gratitude to the director for his advice and opinions….
Thank you very much.
If I have to do it again next time, I would like to have enough time to make a decision.
Thank you for taking the time to read this long article. See you soon.
