Hakutsuru distils its own black tea and lavender gin

A gin born in a sake brewery’s laboratory

Hakutsuru Sake Brewing, headquartered in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, is known as one of Japan’s major sake producers. In 2021 the company obtained a licence to produce spirits and set up a distillery, the Kobe Mikage Distillery, inside the brewing plant on its head-office grounds. In December 2024 it released its first gin, “KOBE HERBAL GIN Hakufu”, and it has been gradually expanding its gin-making ever since.

“Lab. SeeD GIN_02” is the second release in the “Lab. SeeD” series. In this series, ideas born in the company’s in-house laboratory (Lab.) that have not yet become products are called “seeds” (Seed) and are turned into products. The theme is the Western atmosphere that lingers in the port city of Kobe. For the second release, the company set out to express through aroma the scenery of Kitano-zaka, a slope lined with old Western-style houses.

Darjeeling and lavender: six botanicals

There are six botanicals (the plant materials used to flavour gin). Alongside juniper berries, which no gin can do without, the recipe combines black tea leaves, lavender flowers, angelica root, black pepper and cardamom seeds. For the tea, the team tried many varieties and leaf shapes before choosing the Darjeeling that best matched the image they had in mind.

According to Hakutsuru, the gin first offers the showy fragrance of lavender and the sweet aroma of black tea. On the palate, the refined sweetness of the tea swells, followed by moderate spice and a pleasant astringency, and the finish closes sharply. It is 45% ABV, comes in a 200ml bottle and costs 1,650 yen including tax. Only 273 bottles went on sale from 3 October, at the company’s museum and on its official online shop.

Compare it with the coffee gin of the first release

The first release in the series was “Lab. SeeD GIN_01”, a coffee gin launched in April 2026 in a run of 132 bottles, which has already sold out. A further batch of it went on sale from the same day. According to the development team, the first release has a calm sweetness like Western-style confectionery, while the second is showy, slightly bitter and aimed at grown-ups. They hope people will taste the two side by side and notice the difference.

No plans for sale in Europe have been announced, and with so few bottles, this one will be hard to get hold of. Still, it is worth noting that a major sake brewery is using its own distilling equipment and research division to put out small, experimental gins one after another. If you come across a gin made by a Japanese sake brewery, check the botanicals on the label: they reveal which land and landscape the brewery is trying to express. With a gin built on showy ingredients such as tea and flowers, try it first neat or with a little water to appreciate the aroma, then mix it with tonic to see how it balances against the bitterness. The differences become easier to taste that way.