Niseko Distillery’s Gin Is A Finalist At New York World Wine & Spirits Competition

In addition to skiing and golf, Niseko can now claim to be the home of world-class gin.

The recently-released results of the 2023 New York World Wine & Spirits Competition has Niseko Distillery’s Ohoro Gin as a Best Gin Finalist, making it rated one of the top five gins in the world.

This follows Ohoro Gin’s Gold Award at the 2023 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Ohoro Gin begins with soft underground water from Niseko Annupuri and is then crafted with Niseko-grown sweet gale and Japanese peppermint, giving it a strong core flavour with a light citrus aroma.

New York World Wine & Spirits Competition cited Ohoro Gin being “an ideal cocktail base” as one of the reasons for the finalist accolade.

Niseko Distillery was founded in February of 2019 by Hakkaisan Brewery, a Niigata Prefecture-based sake brewery.

Its distillery, in a wood at the foot of the Annupuri ski area, was completed in December of 2020.

Niseko Distillery’s first whiskey distillation was in March of 2021 and its Ohoro Gin was released later that year in October.

The whiskey will become available in 2024, after three years of ageing.

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