"Off Trail-Azeotrope Beer Distilled Gin Sansho Punch New Pot" wins Grand Gold Award at Tokyo Whisky & Spirits Competition 2023
We are pleased to announce that "Beer Distilled Gin Sansho Punch New Pot" from "Off Trail - Azeotrope" (hereinafter "Azeotrope"), a brand that challenges the creation of innovative distilled spirits, won the Grand Gold Award in the Western Spirits GIN category at the " Tokyo Whisky & Spirits Competition 2023 (TWSC2023) ," announced on Wednesday, May 10, 2023.
■ Malt gin made from upcycled imported beer lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Launched in October 2021, "Off Trail - Azeotrope" is a crossover brand between beer and distilled spirits that utilizes the fermentation and barrel aging know-how cultivated through beer brewing to create innovative spirits and liqueurs.
Following on from last year's Silver Award winner, " Off Trail - Azeotrope Malt Gin New Pot Blended ," this time "Beer Distilled Gin Sansho Punch New Pot" has been awarded the brand's first Grand Gold Award. Out of a total of 646 entries from around the world in the spirits category, this is the only product to win the Grand Gold Award in the Gin category, a remarkable achievement.
"Beer Distilled Gin Sansho Punch New Pot" is the second limited edition of our Beer Distilled Gin series, which repurposes Los Angeles beer. We collected imported beer from our partner liquor retailers that was approaching its expiration date due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and carefully distilled it twice in a pot still in Kosuge Village, Yamanashi Prefecture. We added grape sansho pepper from Wakayama Prefecture as a botanical to create this refreshing craft gin.
In addition to this product, "Beer Distilled Gin Sansho Punch Aged With Oak" and "Malt Gin Gently Peated New Pot" won gold medals in the Gin category of the Western Spirits Division, and "Lager Korn Kagua Distilled" won silver medals in the Other category of the Western Spirits Division.
About the Tokyo Whisky & Spirits Competition (TWSC)
A competition for distilled alcoholic beverages such as whiskey, spirits, and shochu that began in 2019.
Planned and run by the Whisky Culture Research Institute, this is one of the largest competitions in Asia and the only one of its kind in Japan, with over 300 experts on Western liquor and shochu from around the country judging the winners through blind tastings.
This is the fourth time the competition has been held, and entries began to be accepted in the fall of 2021. A total of 241 judges conducted the judging remotely from February to May 2022.
The results of the Tokyo Whisky & Spirits Competition 2023 (TWSC2023) are here
[About the winning products]
Western Spirits Category [GIN] Grand Gold Award:
Off Trail - Azeotrope Beer Distilled Gin Sansho Punch New Pot
This beer is centered around grape sansho pepper, and is accented with a variety of botanicals including juniper berry, coriander, yuzu, and elderflower. While retaining the malt aroma of the original beer, it has a punchy flavor with a refreshing aroma and a stimulating kick reminiscent of biting into fresh sansho pepper. It's dry, yet still has a body and sweetness derived from the malt, resulting in a complex yet refreshing finish.
Product information here
Western Spirits Category [GIN] Gold Award:
Off Trail - Azeotrope Beer Distilled Beer Distilled Gin Sansho Punch Aged With Oak 
This ethical Beer Distilled Gin is made by infusing oak chips into the Grand Gold Award-winning "Beer Distilled Gin Sansho Punch New Pot." This refreshing craft gin is made primarily with Wakayama Prefecture-grown grape sansho pepper, and a variety of botanicals, including juniper berries, coriander, yuzu, and elderflower. The American oak chips are then infused into the gin, creating a layered and complex flavor that combines the vibrant sansho pepper flavor with woody, vanilla, and maple notes for a mellow, richly layered taste.
Product information here
Western Spirits Category [GIN] Gold Award:
Off Trail - Azeotrope Malt Gin Gently Peated New Pot 
This experimental product crosses over whisky and gin by incorporating malt spirits, the raw material for whisky, and peat, a type of carbonized peat made from wild grasses and aquatic plants, to create a new style of gin. The malt used is partly peat malt, which adds a powerful, smoky aroma. It balances subtle botanicals with a gentle malt flavor. It's a new type of gin that's different from London dry gin, and focuses on flavor.
Product information here
Western Spirits Category [Other] Silver Award:
Off Trail - Azeotrope Lager Korn Kagua Distilled 
This Lager Korn is a distilled version of our regular beer, Kagua, which was released during the COVID-19 pandemic, and aged for 20 months in red wine barrels. Lager Korn is a distilled spirit made from aged grain. While retaining the aromas and flavors of the original malt, esters, and yuzu, aging adds a sweet vanilla-like aroma and a ripe wine aroma, creating a complex flavor profile.
Product information here
We will continue to devote our efforts to developing unique products and delivering them to as many people as possible.
[Off Trail – What is Azeotrope?]
Launched in October 2021, this craft spirits brand crosses the boundaries between beer and distilled spirits. As a spin-off of "Off Trail," a cutting-edge beer brewing project that utilizes microbial barrel aging techniques, the brand is exploring innovative spirits and liqueurs. Focusing on genever-style spirits, which are malt-derived distilled spirits aged in barrels, the brand aims to bring a breath of fresh air to the distilled spirits world by leveraging the fermentation and barrel aging know-how cultivated through beer brewing. "Azeotrope" refers to the phenomenon of two liquids with different boiling points boiling together while maintaining their composition when mixed in a certain ratio, creating an azeotropic mixture. The name evokes the symbiosis of beer and spirits, our core businesses.