Ohoro Gin: Niseko, and a Botanical That Predates Hops

We had some things wrong about this gin on our site for a while, so this is the corrected version, and the real story is better than the one we had.

Who Actually Makes It

Ohoro comes from Niseko Distillery in Hokkaido, which is part of the Hakkaisan brewing group. Hakkaisan is a sake house, and one we already pour: their Junmai Daiginjo 45 and their Rydeen beer are both on our list.

The distillery sits in the forest near Niseko Annupuri and uses soft spring water off that mountain. It is bottled at 47%, which is higher than most gin and is a deliberate choice: botanicals carry better at strength, and this one is built to survive tonic.

The name is Ainu. Ohoro means to continue, or continuing, chosen for the wish that a gin born in Niseko would keep going.

Yachiyanagi

The botanical worth knowing about is yachiyanagi, which grows in Hokkaido's wetlands. In English it is bog myrtle, or sweet gale.

Here is why that is interesting. Before hops took over brewing in Northern Europe, beer was bittered and preserved with a herb mixture called gruit, and bog myrtle was one of its main components. For centuries this was the plant that made beer taste like beer. Hops displaced it so completely that most people have never heard of it.

So a Japanese gin is using, as a local Hokkaido botanical, a plant with a long forgotten European drinking history attached to it. Neither side of that was planned. Bog myrtle simply grows in cold wet ground, and Hokkaido has cold wet ground.

It brings a resinous, slightly sweet, herbal note that sits close to juniper without duplicating it.

The Rest of the Build

Japanese mint, also from Niseko, gives a clean cool lift rather than the sharp menthol hit of peppermint.

Then a classical spine of juniper, coriander, angelica root, orris root, licorice and chamomile, and a citrus section of lemon, orange, yuzu, lime and grapefruit.

That is a lot of citrus, and it is why the gin reads bright and clean despite the resinous botanicals underneath. The description the distillery gives is firm and well defined with light citrus, which is accurate and unusually modest.

How to Drink It

In a gin and tonic it holds up, which is the whole argument for 47%. Most craft gin gets erased by tonic.

In a martini it is very good and the bog myrtle becomes obvious once there is nothing to hide behind.

Neat or over one large cube if you want to actually study it. Let it sit a minute and the mint arrives late.

Ask whoever is behind the bar what they would build with it. We do not have a fixed Ohoro cocktail on the menu, which means you are more likely to get something made to what you feel like drinking.