The two main goals for this day was to get new tea and visit the house of Ki No Bi, a Kyoto Gin Distillery. Getting the tea was straightforward. Walk to the metro, take one train and then walk to the Ippodo Tea Shop. It is famous in these parts. It's history goes back to 1717 when a tea and ceramic shop was opened. It was called Omiya back then and in 1847 the shop was renamed Ippodo which means "preserve one." This was because the store has made point to preserve one tradition, providing high quality tea. We ordered all of the types of gyokuro that they had in stock. We are now stocked up on quality tea for the next three days at least. Next it was off to the House of Ki No Bi. This is a gin house that makes fine gin. We have had this gin before in London at the Sexy Fish restaurant. They have a special edition of gin made especially for the restaurant. I brought the gin book with me to make sure we did not double up on gins that we had already had before. We sat at the bar and ordered two gin and tonics. I got the Ki No Bi edition K, that had been stored in old whisky barrels so the mixologist suggested soda water instead of tonic. It definitely had the flavor of whiskey. Leslie ordered the Ki No Tou which is an old Tom style gin sweetened, post distillation, with black sugar from Okinawa. Those two drinks went down quickly so we decided more was better. My next order was a three gin tasting set. The three gins that were in the set were the Ki No Be Sei, Ki No Tea, and the Ki No Bi edition K. the first one is a gin is 54.5% and has a the higher alcohol level means more volatiles from botanicals remain in the gin. The second one is made with teas, one of which is gyokuro, our favorite tea. The last was stored in old champagne casks. Leslie finished with a shot of the Ki No Jui Ultra Premium Gin and it was served with ice. This gin also has gyokuro in it and the ice allowed this flavor to come forward. We picked up a couple bottles of tonic and a bottle of Ki No Be Sei to take home with us.
It is a Honda!
In Osaka they stand on the other side of the escalator!
Water runs in canals on either side of the river
A dusky thrush
The cherry blossom is very delicate
Playing on the rocks in the middle of the river
The golden pig!
Cute cutlet sign
The golden pic and Lucky the Lizard
Curly!
The tea store
As traditional as the store
Old jars, used to store tea, line the walls
Pulling out out teas
The workers are busy filling orders
Score!
We may have stumbled upon the pork district
Ki No Bi!
Ta da!
Copper and heat!
Nice look to the bar
Copper instruments
The mixologist giving is advice
Setting up the sample flights
The gold light makes for a fun atmosphere
Plum gin is red, the whiskey cask gin is amber, the rest are clear
Mixing our Gin and Tonics
More flights of gin heading out to other customers
A box set
So many to choose from
The devil on one shoulder and an angle on the other
Super premium!
Very special
My sample set
At 50,000 yen ($300+) a bottle it is too super premium for us
Making the magic
A lesson on the evolution of gin bottles
Up stairs we saw several gin related desplays
Passed a champagne place just down the road
Brilliant
Walked along the water
Water runs parallel on both sides of the river
Getting a bit cloudy
Headless ducks
Black Kite
Cherry tree
White wagtail
Maybe fish for dinner?
