Yambaru Spiced Rum, Kokuto De Lequio

• Spiced rum produced by Mizuho Shuzo in Naha, Okinawa, under the Kokuto De Lequio label • Botanicals include shikuwasa (Okinawan lime), getto (Okinawan ginger), and pipachi (Okinawan long pepper) • Produced from 100% kokuto (Okinawan raw cane sugar) • Fermented using proprietary yeast cultivated from local sugarcane fields • Double distilled in stainless steel pot stills • Botanicals are added directly to the still for a third distillation in a copper hybrid still • A sprightly nose of lemon-and-lime soda, sansho peppercorn, honeysuckle, and a touch of calamansi precedes a citrusy and floral palate of lime peel, jasmine flower, umeboshi, green papaya, SweeTARTS candy, and juniper berry • 43% ABV Yambaru is named after the heavily forested northern region of Okinawa and features botanicals sourced directly from local farms including shikuwasa—a high acid citrus fruit described as a cross between lime and Mandarin orange—and pipachi—a variety of long pepper that is sweeter and more pungent than round peppercorns such as the black or white varieties. Citrusy, spicy, and a bit earthy, Yambaru may be more evocative of a gin than what you’d typically expect of a spiced rum and straddles the line between both, playing just as well with tonic as it does lime and sugar in a Daiquiri.