THE GIN PASSPORT ATLAS - DISTILLERY STORY- PINNED ON THE MAP - ASIA
LAST EPISODE 0 GIN, The Ethical Spirits Co, Japan
I'm always drawn to a gin with a good story, but every now and then one comes along where the story is actually part of what makes the liquid so interesting.
The Ethical Spirits & Co in Japan is one of those companies.
The idea began with Yuya Yamamoto, who was already working in the sake industry through Mirai Sake. Through his relationships with sake breweries, he became increasingly aware of the amount of sake lees, or sake kasu, left behind after the sake had been pressed. While sake lees aren't simply rubbish — they are traditionally used in food, fermentation and animal feed — Yamamoto saw an opportunity to give this by-product another life.
In 2020, he founded The Ethical Spirits & Co, with a rather wonderful philosophy: don't simply look at something as waste; look for the value that might still be hidden inside it.
That philosophy has become the foundation of the company. Alongside sake lees, they have gone on to experiment with ingredients and alcohol that might otherwise be overlooked, including beer that had passed its prime and cacao husks.
Their distillery is now the Tokyo Riverside Distillery, established in 2021. It's an urban distillery with a shop and bar, and the company describes it as a place where underused ingredients are transformed into something new.
The name LAST is particularly clever. It refers to the last thing left after sake is pressed, while also suggesting that its story doesn't actually end there.
Quite the opposite.
The sake lees get a second life.
LAST –another– EPISODE 0 was released in 2021 in two versions: Elegant and Modest.
Both use sake lees as the basis for the spirit rather than simply starting with the neutral spirit normally associated with gin.
That makes a noticeable difference.
The sake lees bring their own aroma and character to the spirit, creating a richer and more complex foundation for the juniper and botanicals to work with. The current Elegant recipe uses sake lees alongside hibiscus tea, pink peppercorn, coriander seed, lavender, cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, kaffir lime leaf and Sichuan pepper.
Elegant is rather aptly named.
It is floral, fragrant and complex, with juniper and citrus sitting alongside warm spices and those lovely perfumed notes. There is plenty of character here, but it never feels as though the unusual base spirit is being used simply for novelty.
I thought it was one of the most interesting gins I'd tried in a while.
Modest, despite its name, is certainly not lacking in personality. I found it slightly sweeter, warmer and more spice-led than Elegant, making the two a fascinating comparison.
The awards suggest I wasn't alone in being impressed. LAST – Episode 0 Elegant won Country Winner for Japan at the 2021 World Gin Awards, in the Contemporary Style Gin category, at 47% ABV. It also received Gold Outstanding at the IWSC 2021.
For the cocktail, I thought a White Lady would be appropriate, but naturally I couldn't leave a classic recipe alone.
Waste? Not quite. This is recycling with considerably more style.
"When the end of sake production becomes the beginning of something rather special"
ELEGANT LADY
45ml LAST – Episode 0 Elegant Gin
12ml Triple Sec
12ml Ginger Liqueur
22ml Lemon Juice, plus the oils squeezed into the shaker
10ml Sugar Syrup
1 Egg White
Shake with ice, then strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with a gold-dusted lemon zest rose.
The ginger adds another layer of warmth to the already complex gin, while the lemon keeps everything bright. The egg white gives it that lovely silky texture you'd expect from a White Lady.
It looks elegant, tastes elegant and, rather fittingly, gives a gin made from something that was once considered the last part of the process a rather fabulous new beginning.
