Celebrating the Cherry Blossom Festival with Roku Gin

Every year between March and May, the sakura or cherry blossoms, of which there are more than 200 species, begin to bloom on the main islands. On Okinawa, the southernmost and warmest of the islands, the festival can begin as early as January. Online and televised sources track the expected date of blooming, and the entire country waits in anticipation of the celebration of beauty, spring, and personal renewal.

Families share picnics together under the blossoming trees, artists provide song and dance in public spaces, households host tea ceremonies, and craftsmen create works of art tailored to the festival and region of the country. At night, paper lanterns are hung to keep the celebration going.

Food and drink are central to the festival, with tamagoyaki (rolled omelets) and mochi (sweetened rice cakes often dyed pink for the event) on nearly every table. Flavors range from sweet to savory to citrusy and include many ingredients and flavors we associate with East Asian food and drink: yuzu, green tea, sakura flowers, black tea, matcha, and dumplings.



Roku Gin is crafted from 14 botanicals, including six Japanese botanicals: Sakura flower, Sakura leaf, Yuzu peel, Sencha tea (green tea), Gyokuro tea (refined green tea), and Sanshō peppers.

The addition of Sakura petals and leaves anchors the blend in the Cherry Blossom Festival, making it the perfect spirit to use in your own celebrations. As a side note: the United States also has annual Cherry Blossom Festivals; one in Washington D.C., where the original cherry blossom trees were gifts from the people of Japan to the U.S. in 1912, and one in Macon, Georgia, which has the most species of sakura in the world.

Suntory crafts Roku by using the distillery’s “liquor atelier,” where botanicals are distilled separately in distinct stills designed to maximize extraction of the best flavors while maintaining each botanical’s unique characteristics. What that means for a gin is that the flavors don’t get muddled into a fuzzy, casserole-like concoction; rather, the botanicals add distinct notes and layers of flavor and complexity. This makes Roku exceptionally soft and easy to drink, with floral notes that don’t overpower the spirit. In fact, the gin is crafted for every season, and botanicals that capture those seasonal flavors are included in every batch – sakura being the main flavor for spring.