FIRST JOURNEYS - 80 GINS AROUND THE WORLD - PIN 48 OF 80
HIDDEN CURIOSITIES GIN, Surrey, UK
AROUND THE WORLD, ONE BOTTLE AT A TIME,
PHILEAS FOGG WOULD SURELY APPROVE
I cannot move on to the next destination before an honorary Japanese post, featuring the amazing Hidden Curiosities Gin. Although this gin hails from Surrey in the UK, where Jenny works closely with Silent Pool Distillers to create her special recipe, it is inspired by all things Japan, where she lived for five years. So, for the purposes of my 80-day journey, I think it deserves its place!
During her time in Japan, Jenny explored and learned more about the unique flavours of local botanicals, food and fragrances, and she says that those five years had a huge influence on her palate. Some of her favourite places to visit include Kyoto, Yokohama and Hokkaido, which is famous for its lavender fields and is where she sources the Furano lavender used in her Aranami gin.
It's a particularly interesting lavender. Jenny describes the Furano lavender as more candied and violet-like than the lavender we grow locally, and it is one of seven Japanese-sourced botanicals in Aranami. The Japanese botanicals she uses aren't there simply because they sound exotic either; each has a personal significance to her and connects back to her time in Japan.
Jenny didn't start out making gin. She is also the founder and director of Cravat Club, a British-made accessories business specialising in colourful, contemporary cravats, pocket squares, ties and scarves. The business began in 2014, after Jenny returned to the UK following several years living in Japan, and she wanted to bring a bit more choice and personality to what she felt was a rather neglected area of menswear.
And this is where the two businesses get rather nicely tangled together.
Jenny's love of colour, pattern and Japanese design runs through Cravat Club, with designs influenced by Japanese woodblock prints, dragons, koi carp and other Japanese imagery. She produces the accessories in England, in small runs, and the business now sells to customers in more than 70 countries.
Hidden Curiosities was born out of Jenny becoming bored with the same gin flavours she kept coming across. She wanted to create something that was unique but also personal to her, and a gin that stood out from the crowd. After spending time in Japan, she spent another year researching gin and tasting more than 100 craft gins before developing her own recipe.
She worked closely with Silent Pool Distillers in the Surrey Hills, using their 350-litre copper still (Juliette), and the first batch of Hidden Curiosities was produced in July 2017. It is a London Dry Gin, bottled at 42%, and contains 20 botanicals, with Japanese yuzu playing an important role alongside five different peppercorns, green cardamom, pink grapefruit, bergamot, lime, white mulberries, violet and lavender.)
The name Hidden Curiosities has a slightly mysterious feel to it, and one of Jenny's cravat designs also found its way into the story. The design was used on the back of the gin label, which is a lovely way of bringing her two businesses together.
I recall my first sip of Aranami Strength Gin and honestly it blew me away.
Aranami means “raging waves” in Japanese and this is a very different proposition from the original Hidden Curiosities. It is bottled at a whopping 59% ABV, making it a Navy Strength gin, and uses the same 20-botanical approach, with seven of those botanicals sourced from Japan.
Those seven include Japanese yuzu, sansho pepper, kabosu, kumquat, Japanese sour plum, shiso leaf and Furano lavender, with salted cherry blossom and Tahitian vanilla also adding to the recipe. The result is a gin with bright citrus, peppery spice, floral notes and a little sweetness.
And then there is the bottle.
The specially commissioned design on the back of the Aranami bottle can be seen through the clear glass and incorporates the botanicals, cranes in flight and a powerful dragon emerging from tempestuous waves. It is quite a striking piece of artwork and, rather cleverly, the design was later turned into cravats and pocket squares, again linking Jenny's two businesses and passions.
Aranami has also picked up some pretty impressive awards. It won Best English Navy Strength Gin at the 2020 World Gin Awards, as well as the Industry Choice Award at the 2020 Gin Guide Awards. So my first impression wasn't entirely off the mark!
I think what makes Hidden Curiosities particularly interesting for my Japanese journey is that it isn't trying to be a Japanese gin. It is a British gin made in Surrey, but created by someone whose palate and ideas were shaped by living in Japan.
You can see that influence in the botanicals, the flavour combinations, the design and even in the way Jenny has brought the gin and the cravat business together.
It is also a nice reminder that influences don't have to stay neatly inside one country. Jenny took something from her years in Japan and brought it home, worked with a Surrey distillery and created something that is very much its own thing.
And as for the gin itself, the 59% Aranami is definitely not shy. I think it needs a serve that gives all those Japanese botanicals a bit of room to show themselves rather than burying them under a heavy tonic.
For my cocktail, I'm going with a Japanese-inspired Negroni, which also happens to suit the gin's pepper, citrus and bitter notes beautifully.
“A little piece of Japan in the Surrey Hills, created by a woman whose Japanese life and love of design found their way into both a gin bottle and a cravat.”
RECIPE : It's Cherry Blossom season in May, so I've played heavily on cherries for this one, with a negroni riff, garnished of course with fresh cherries and blossoms.
SAKURA NEGRONI
25ml Aranami Gin
15ml Cherry Brandy
20ml Sweet Vermouth
20ml Campari
"Show me a bottle
and I'll tell you a story."