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Kyoto Distillery brand home to open in March

Japan’s Kyoto Distillery will open its new brand home next month, made from local materials and featuring dishes and drinks crafted using locally-sourced ingredients.

The Kyoto Distillery will open its new brand home in March

Plans to build the House of Ki No Bi were first announced in November last year. The brand home, based in the centre of Kyoto, is set to open on 28 March.

It takes the form of a renovated traditional machiya townhouse that was built more than 100 years ago as a timber mill. Douglas Kakuda Croll, son of one of The Kyoto Distillery’s founders, David Croll, oversaw the interior design of the building, which has retained original features such as earthen walls, beams and roof tiles.

A local workshop created bespoke furniture for the House of Ki No Bi, while a Kyoto textile company provided traditional fabrics. The back bar is decorated with a woodblock pattern designed in collaboration with an atelier founded in the city in 1624.

Each space in the building is called ‘ma’, which can be roughly translated as ‘room’. Ki No Bi no Ma will serve classic cocktails and local drinks; Omise no Ma will sell exclusive items; Tenji no Ma, an exhibition area, will outline the history of gin and the botanicals used by The Kyoto Distillery; and Konwa no Ma will host gin blending sessions.

The Kyoto Distillery became Japan’s first dedicated gin distillery when it opened in 2016. The business focuses on blending different botanical distillates and champions Japanese ingredients.

Ki No Bi has released a number of limited edition expressions, the most recent of which was Ki No Bi Edition G – thought to be the first gin aged in Champagne barriques.

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