You can make delicious spirits. But you cannot make spirits that sell. The reality of craft gin seen from a bar.

This is a series where I talk about craft gin as the owner-bartender of the craft gin specialty bar 'Shinjuku Distillery'.
Previous:I learned after starting a craft gin bar. There are fewer 'gin lovers' than I thought.

The more delicious the gin, the better it sells.
The more perfect the gin, the more it is appreciated.
Perhaps many people think so too.

Of course, even now that I run a bar,
I believe that deliciousness is important.

However, having actually handled over 200 types of
gin,
I have noticed one thing.

You can make delicious spirits.
But you cannot make spirits that sell.

Even now, I don't know the answer to that.

Customers
order without knowing
the taste

Come to think of it, it's obvious.
Customers haven't tasted it yet at the time they order.

In other words, they don't know the taste.
You cannot choose something you don't know by its taste.

And yet, there are gins that sell and gins that don't.
When you think about it, this is a strange story.

Even though they are just as delicious,
they sell differently

In this world,
there are many craft gins
that I think are truly delicious.

Those with beautiful aromatic compositions.
Those you never tire of drinking.
Those with interesting personalities.

I can confidently
recommend any of them.
But in the actual workplace,
there are gins that sell and gins that don't.

Of course, I'm not saying there is
no difference in taste at all.
However, that alone cannot explain it.

I myself
often wonder, 'Why does this one sell more?'

'Delicious' is
surprisingly not a selling point

For me personally, this was truly surprising.

Even when I explain to customers,
'This gin has a good balance of aromas,'
'The finish is beautiful,'
the reaction is often lukewarm.

On the other hand,
'It's a distillery in Hokkaido,'
'The owner used to be a...'
sometimes these stories get a better reaction.

Of course, taste is important.
But initial interest
often arises from somewhere else.

People may seem like they are drinking spirits,
but they are not just drinking the spirits.

For example,
just saying, "It's a local gin,"
is enough to get an order.

I've seen it while traveling.
I used to live there.
The label caught my eye.
The name was interesting.

It is not rare for it to be chosen
for reasons like those.

And then, after trying it,
they say, "This is delicious."

Taste is important.
But it is not chosen for its taste.
They just drink it because they became interested.

Making good spirits and
making spirits that get chosen are different things.

I have been making craft gin since before I started the bar, but

my way of thinking has clearly changedfrom before I opened the shop.

I used to think that if I made good spirits,
they would naturally be chosen.
But I don't think so anymore.

This is both the interesting part
and the difficult part.

Craft gin makers
inevitably want to talk about taste and production methods.
Botanicals, distillation methods.
Aroma components, the finish.

But customers
don't necessarily start from there.
They enter from something further back,
from interest, empathy, or a story.

Taste is, of course, important.
If it isn't delicious, there won't be a next time,
and they won't recommend it to others.

In other words,

You won't be chosen just by being delicious.
However, if the chosen spirit
isn't delicious, it won't last.

A state like that naturally forms.

That is why makers worry.

How can I get people who haven't tried it yet
to become interested?
How can I
convey the appeal of this spirit?

People may seem like they are drinking spirits,
but they are actually drinking the background along with it.
I have come to understand that a little bit.

But then, what should one talk about to get people interested?
What kind of story moves people?

I still don't know the answer to that.

And,
that trial and error
is reflected in the
craft gin industryitself.

Next time, I would like to write about that.

[Shinjuku-gyoemmae]
[Bar] Craft Gin & Whisky Bar Shinjuku Distillery

[Yotsuya-sanchome / Arakicho / Akebonobashi]
[Izakaya] Gin and Small Plates Distillery