The sliding glass doors of the Fukagawa Distillery open onto a shoebox-size tasting room with immaculate white walls anchored by a curved white counter. Test tubes, beakers and bottles of Fukagawa Distillery's seasonal gins, each bearing a vividly colored label, line the shelves. Through a window behind the eight-seater bar, a gleaming copper-and-glass still takes pride of place in a room of steel tanks. The space feels both futuristic and nostalgic — part steampunk-spaceship, part alchemist’s laboratory.

Tucked in a residential corner of Koto Ward’s Kiyosumi-Shirakawa, a Tokyo neighborhood better known for art galleries and coffee shops than spirits, Fukagawa Distillery represents a creative, entrepreneurial spirit in Tokyo’s drink scene.

The distillery was established by glassmaker Kouki Sekiya and bartender Kouta Kobayashi in 2023.