Sensational Seasonal Flavours Marry In This Dream Roku Gin Drink & Dish Match

As we look to summer entertaining, Amanda Linnell pairs a refreshing Roku Gin cocktail with her dream dish.

The perfect summer soirée at our house is late in the afternoon, when the sun is slowly setting behind the trees at the bottom of the garden and spreading its dappled light. I like to lay out Turkish rugs and cushions on the lawn so guests can relax in the shade, while up on the terrace, we have an eclectic array of chairs around a big old Indian coffee table where people can also gather and where we spread out canapés and nibbles.

On one side French doors open into the cool of the living room where the sound system is set up — music is an imperative, on the other side French doors open into the kitchen. It’s all about creating an easy flow - an easy flow of people, food, drinks, conversation, dancing. Guests are usually welcomed with a celebratory glass or two of champagne, followed by a thirst-quenching gin cocktail.

The House of Suntory’s Roku premium gin is crafted in Osaka, Japan, and is a definite favourite, its six unique Japanese botanicals — the flowers and leaves of the Sakura tree, sansho pepper, yuzu, and both sencha and gyokuro teas — brings a delicate and refreshing lightness to drinks and is perfect for summer over heavier dry gins. I love lining up all the glasses and loading them with plenty of ice, before mixing. We have an old lemon tree which is always laden with fruit right through until early summer, so it’s quite special to be able to pick fresh fruit from the garden to garnish the drinks.

It’s always fun to have people help in the kitchen or on bar duties making cocktails for everyone. There’s nothing like a fabulous cocktail to elevate the sense of the occasion and it’s always a joy to surprise people with something delicious and unexpected. An all-time winner is the Kyoto Club cocktail, made with Roku Gin.

As with everything in Japan, this gin is designed with nature in mind and the six botanicals are sourced over the four seasons in accordance with the concept of Shun (pronounced shoon) which means they’re harvested at the peak of the season to extract the best flavour and distilled to fully embody the blessing of nature. I love this layer of detail and the added sense of connection with our own garden and celebration of summer. Sencha tea and gyokuro tea, two of the summer botanicals in Roku Gin, align particularly well with the season, with delicate flavour and a gentle, bitter umami that works well with warm weather and light summer food.

I have a small collection of pottery that I have collected from my travels and love to use when entertaining. Colourful salad bowls from France, patterned plates from Morrocco and hand-painted platters from Spain are always in use. From Japan, I have a myriad of little blue and white dishes I bought from a store in Tokyo, plus some beautiful ceramics, made by a good friend the potter Jane Burns who trained in Japan and I love to use these as well. I like things that don’t match and have a story behind them, and I appreciate craftsmanship – Japan is famous for it (House of Suntory is a good example of this) and its visible across everything they produce.

I come from a family where good food has always been at the heart of our gatherings, so it’s always important to have plenty and lots of variety. We often spend days planning menus, swapping recipes and discussing who will do what, even if it’s just for a casual family get-together mid-week. When it comes to a garden drinks party, we’ll roll out beautiful food to enjoy alongside a seasonal cocktail, like the Kyoto Club — a summery drink that harnesses fresh fruit like raspberry and lemon (picked with the Shun mindset of seasonality and freshness) alongside the soothing qualities of chilled green tea and of course Roku Gin.

I love to serve something with wow factor like this mouth-watering seared tuna, made with lemon (usually fresh from the tree in our yard) and a smokey sauce, and enjoy it as the sun goes down, the stars start to fill the sky and the seasonal scents of summer fill the air.

SEARED TUNA WITH SMOKED YUZU PONZU

Serves 1

Sauce

Tuna

KYOTO CLUB COCKTAIL

Serves 1

The perfect drink for summer. I adore its uplifting and playful colour, the adventurous mix of flavours which include chilled green tea, lemon juice, raspberry syrup and, of course, the six Japanese botanicals found in Roku Gin. And best of all, it couldn’t be easier to make at home.

Roku Gin is available at leading retail stores nationwide. For more about Roku (and other cocktail recipes to try your hand at) head to House.suntory.com/roku-gin