Japanese whisky labelling standards, growing a cocktail garden, 0.0% alcohol variants of spirits and more in this week’s industry news.
Photo © Cocktails & Bars
Japanese Whisky Labelling Standards
The Japan Spirits and Liqueurs Makers Association has announced the release of new labelling standards which will become effective 1 April 2021. For a spirit to be called Japanese whisky, it must comply with the following:
- Raw ingredients must be limited to malted grains, other cereal grains, and water extracted in Japan. Malted grains must always be used.
- Saccharification, fermentation, and distillation must be carried out at a distillery in Japan. Alcohol content at the time of distillation must be less than 95%.
- The distilled product must be poured into wooden casks not exceeding a capacity of 700 litres and matured in Japan for a period of at least 3 years thereafter.
- Bottling must take place only in Japan, with alcoholic strength of at least 40% as of such time.
- Plain caramel colouring (E150) can be used.
The deadline to follow the new rules is 31 March 2024. The full text of what constitutes Japanese whisky can be found in the pdf here.
Tanqueray 0.0%
Following the release of Gordons’ 0.0% late in 2020, Diageo has released Tanqueray 0.0%, a no alcohol variant made using the same botanicals as its core London Dry expression. As with all non-alcoholic spirits, the method is a closely guarded secret but it has been revealed that the botanicals are individually immersed in water, heated and then distilled before blending. (source)
Growing a Cocktail Garden
In news closer to home, in fact from home, we’re excited to reveal that our edible garden will be featured in a story on Gardening Australia TV show. As some of our readers are aware, I have been growing edibles since January 2019 and using what I grow in cocktails. On Monday 22 February 2021, the Gardening Australia TV crew filmed in The Gourmantic Garden and the show’s host Costa Georgiadis interviewed me about growing a cocktail garden. This was followed by setting up a little pop up bar for a cocktail demonstration.
More details to come about the airdate and where you can watch it on television and online.
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