Roku Gin review
Read our Roku Gin review that finds the taste of Japan in a bottle. Some unique Japanese botanicals combine with more traditional fare in this delicate and light gin.
A mid-priced gin from Japan, Roku comes in at at 43% ABV and features the number six. A lot.
Sample botanicals: Juniper; coriander; yuzu peel; sakura flower and leaf (cherry blossom and leaf); sencha tea
Some cherry blossom. Photo by Yuki Yoshida on Unsplash
Roku Gin review
Roku combines six Japanese botanicals with a range of eight more ‘traditional’ gin botanicals. It has a six-sided bottle, and Roku means six in Japanese. Or we think it does at least: at whichgin.com we only have passable French, German and Spanish in the ranks.
We weren’t familiar with some of the Japanese botanicals at work before trying Roku. It does – to us – have quite a citrus hit to it. Those more traditional gin botanicals seemed to dominate at first, but it then got more delicate the more we tried it.
In fact, this is quite a subtle gin overall. There’s a light spiciness, and that citrus hit we mention isn’t a full-blown punch. If you’ve ever tried a Japanese whisky, you’ll already know that Japanese spirits often have a very harmonious quality.
How to serve Roku Gin
Drink Roku Gin with a good quality tonic and ice. We liked it best with a fresh lime garnish. We also thought Roku Gin worked well with elderflower tonic, but weren’t hugely keen to try it with the ginger sticks, ice and tonic that is suggested as the perfect serve. We thought the ginger would likely dominate what, to us, is a light gin. Let us know in the comments if it works for you though, and we’ll give it a another attempt.
The official website for Roku Gin (it’s part of Suntory) is here. There are some serving suggestions (including that ginger!) and a bit more on the botanicals.
Buy Roku Gin UK
In the UK, you can buy Roku from Amazon by clicking here or the advert below:
You can also buy Roku Gin from Master or Malt
