Matsui The Hakuto Premium Gin

The Hakuto Premium is the Kurayoshi Distillery's flagship gin turned up — the same nashi-pear foundation as the standard Hakuto, at a higher 47% ABV and with the botanical bill expanded from nine to fourteen. Hakuto means "white rabbit," after the Hare of Inaba, Tottori Prefecture's ancient myth of a rabbit who tricked a line of sharks into forming a bridge to shore and was healed by the god Ōkuninushi after paying for his boast. The distillery belongs to Matsui Shuzo, the oldest registered company in Tottori, with Edo-period sake roots and spirits production in Kurayoshi since 1910. Where London Dry stands on juniper, The Hakuto leans into nashi, the crisp Japanese pear that's Tottori's signature crop, joined by juniper, coriander, orange peel, yuzu peel, sansho pepper, gyokuro green tea, cherry blossom, black pepper, and five botanicals the distillery keeps secret. All macerate in neutral spirit before distillation in an alembic pot still, proofed with soft groundwater from the snowmelt of Mount Daisen. Skurnik found wet pine bough, cherry blossom, and candied lemon peel on the nose, leading to a structured mid-palate of pink and sansho peppercorn softened by underripe pear flesh, cedar, and well-integrated juniper. The Daily Pour scored it 94, noting how impressively ten-plus botanicals cohere at this proof. The extra strength is the point: it holds its shape in a bracing Dry Martini, a Negroni, or a G&T with a slice of pear.

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