UKIYO Japanese Blossom Gin, 40%, 70 cl

Product Information

To qualify for this category, the gin must not have any flavour, maceration or botanicals added post distillation. THE JUDGING CRITERIA Bittersweet, zesty and fantastic when paired with campari and vermouth, Silent Pool makes some of the best modern gins coming out of England.

Flavour-wise, there’s fresh grapefruit, orange peel and bitter lemon on the nose, so our advice is to keep it simple, with a heady 50ml measure, Indian tonic and citrus peel garnish.Gin is now available in every fruit combination imaginable, but we love the sophisticated flavour of olive leaf, which Australian gin maker Four Pillars uses at the centre of its bottle. Our panel of expert judges will whittle down the entries to a shortlist of between 8 – 12 per award, with the results being announced to the public. Public Voting Opens The gins were crafted on Japan’s Kyushu Island, with locally sourced grains distilled into shōchū. The shōchū is then infused with botanicals including juniper, mandarin and spices. Producing a good cask-aged Gin is no mean feat, with so much risk and uncertainty, the distiller has to be at the top of their game, but the results are often most rewarding. THE JUDGING CRITERIA

This category is sure to be hotly contested and any gin used in a Martini needs to have a real sense of character. THE JUDGING CRITERIA The Hanami festival is a celebration of the blooming of cherry blossom in Japan’s parks and countryside, traditionally held in Spring. A gin so exclusive, it doesn’t bother with a label. Botanicals are sourced from across Africa, including fresh varieties of juniper so rare, you won’t have tried them anywhere else. Born in Kagoshima Japan, in the shadow of the Sakurajima volcano, Ukiyo Yuzu Gin is made from a traditional Japanese shochu spirit, which is then redistilled using juniper, yuzu, more citrus and a whole host of regional botanicals. Made in exclusive batches, you won’t find Oxley lining the shelves of your local — which is exactly why we love it. A cold distillation process captures botanicals at their freshest, resulting in a powerful gin and a higher ABV to match.The Gin To My Tonic is one of the largest gin communities in the UK, with the aim of raising awareness and celebrating the endeavours of craft distillers from across the UK and beyond. We love nothing more than recommending gins, and what better way to recommend than with our very own annual awards. You’ll find Hepple gracing the leatherbound menus of Britain’s finest drinking dens – and with good reason, too. Distilled in the Northumberland wilds, a heady blend of botanicals undergoes a three-stage extraction, resulting in a vibrant gin that jumps out the glass from the get-go. If you like your spirit to lean heavily on the citrus and herbs (green juniper, pine, Douglas fir, savoury lovage, sandalwood), then you need to add a bottle to your line-up. Meanwhile, Ukiyo Japanese Rice Vodka is crafted on the island of Okinawa, in a distillery known for making the local rice spirit, Awamori. The result is said to be a balanced spirit, celebrating Japan’s ‘bounty of blossom’. The liquid is recommended served in a gin and tonic, or in a Spritz.

The UK gin market has exploded in recent years with hundreds of distilleries opening in the past two years across the country. As part of our continued endeavours we are keen to nurture growth, promote talent, encourage innovation and raise awareness of fantastic small batch craft distillers, and as such we will be rewarding one distillery with a year's worth of marketing and event support in 2024 (all costs covered). We may be a nation of gin and tonic devotees, but that doesn’t mean your imagination has to stop at ‘ice and a slice’ when mixing up your chosen tipple. Read the gin’s label to find out which botanicals feature, and then choose a few as your garnish. Gins will be judged with a pre-determined tonic expertly chosen by The Gin To My Tonic. THE JUDGING CRITERIA Then it’s over to the gin loving public! This is their unique opportunity to have their say over the next 5 months. Award Bars will be introduced at our Gin Festivals, Tasting Kits will go LIVE on The Gin To My Tonic Store and Virtual Tasting Events scheduled, all with a call to action to encourage gin lovers to vote. The result is bright, clean and punchy. If there’s only one hand-blown bottle on your drinks trolley, make it this one.This coveted award will be shortlisted to between eight - twelve finalists by our panel of expert judges. The winner will be decided by the public over a 5 month voting period commencing 31st May, with votes driven through a variety of different content, events, tastings and experiences. As the birthplace of gin, we had high expectations for this Dutch bottle – and it delivered. There’s nothing run of the mill about it; the wheat-based spirit eschews the traditional botanical line-up in favour of a complex, fruit-forward mix of white peach, raspberry and Turkish rose.