Fukuoka City's First Gin Distillery Puts Local Ingredients into One Bottle
Little Flower Distillery, Fukuoka City's first licensed spirits maker, has launched Fukuoka Gin, blending base spirits of local tea and seaweed.
A new craft gin distillery has been born in Fukuoka City, in the north of Kyushu in south-western Japan. Little Flower Distillery, run by Little Flower Fukuoka Co., Ltd., opened on 8 August 2026 in Akasaka, Chuo Ward, in the centre of the city. According to Fukuoka Tax Office, it is the first business to obtain a spirits manufacturing licence within Fukuoka City. Its flagship Fukuoka Gin went on general sale on 10 September.
The City, the Sea and the Mountains, Expressed Through Blended Base Spirits
Fukuoka Gin combines juniper berries, the foundation of any gin, with ingredients from within Fukuoka Prefecture: wa-kocha (“Japanese black tea”, tea grown and produced in Japan) from Yame, a tea-growing area in the south of the prefecture; haruka, a citrus fruit grown in Itoshima, just west of Fukuoka City; kuromoji (a shrub of the laurel family used as a fragrant wood in Japan) gathered in the prefecture’s mountains; and aosa, a type of seaweed, from Hakata Bay. Rather than distilling everything together, the distillery makes a separate base spirit from each ingredient and then blends them. The aim is to express, in a single gin, Fukuoka’s geography, where the sea and mountains lie right next to the city. The Japanese black tea comes from Yoshizumien, a tea farm founded 140 years ago.
A Gin Designed for Drinking with Food
The distillery’s concept is a gin to drink with a meal. The recipe was built around one test: does it avoid overpowering the flavour of the food and stay pleasant right to the end of the meal? The aim is a light taste in which the gentle sweetness of the Japanese black tea, the bright citrus aroma of haruka and the umami of aosa are joined by the refreshing quality typical of gin. The recommended ways to drink it are with soda or with water. It is 43% ABV, comes in a 500 ml bottle and has a recommended retail price in Japan of 4,620 yen including tax. At the distillery, the Japanese black tea and haruka left over after distillation are made into cookies and baked goods, served at the café on site. This is an effort to use every part of the ingredients and reduce waste.
How to Enjoy It in Europe
No plans for sales in Europe have been announced at this point. Representative Reijiro Kajiwara says the aim is for a gin loved locally to eventually reach the whole of Japan and then the world. When choosing a Japanese gin in future, it is worth noticing whether the botanicals are distilled all at once or whether a separate base spirit is made from each ingredient and then blended, as this reveals the maker’s thinking. Japanese gins made with tea or seaweed show their character best when topped up with soda and paired with fish dishes or light starters. Fresh information can be found on the distillery’s official Instagram.
Sources
This article was written by The Sake Wire editorial team, summarising the public sources listed above. Images are our own.
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