🌶️ Sichuan Pepper × Iyokan?! “The Oriental Shock” — THE ORIENTAL RUM from Tenjinmura

2026.10.05

In short: THE ORIENTAL RUM for Rum Festa FUKUOKA 2024 from Tenjinmura Distillery in Uchiko, Ehime — a Japanese rum with huajiao (Sichuan pepper) and iyokan citrus, made with sake yeast by former sake brewer Akiko Kameoka. Try it neat or with tonic. From Bar Little Happiness, Hiroshima.

“What, Sichuan pepper (huajiao) in rum…?”

Many of you probably thought exactly that when you heard this bottle’s recipe.

This time, an ultra-limited release from Tenjinmura Distillery in Ehime.

“THE ORIENTAL RUM for Rum Festa FUKUOKA 2024”

Made especially for Rum Festa in Fukuoka — a special bottle that has now sold out at Little Happiness.

🏮 What is “huajiao” (Sichuan pepper) anyway?

It’s that tingling, numbing spice familiar from Sichuan dishes like mapo tofu.

You might be surprised — “Does it go with alcohol?” — but in this rum it works like “glossy magic.”

• The magic of aroma: even brighter than Japanese sansho pepper, and somehow exotic.

When it meets the sweet-and-sour of “iyokan” citrus, it creates a strange, oriental ensemble that makes you exclaim, “Is this really rum?!”

(Image borrowed from a retailer’s website)

🍶 The soul of sake

The maker is Akiko Kameoka, who runs the distillery single-handedly in Uchiko, Ehime.

A former sake brewer, she makes it using the “sake yeast” she has worked with for many years.

The freshness of iyokan, and the kick of huajiao.

With a strong commitment to her craft, she makes spirits sincerely, in small batches.

⏳

This limited bottle drew attention at Rum Festa Fukuoka 2024.

Savour its sensual kick neat, or let the huajiao aroma burst in a rum and tonic.

Every encounter is meant to be. Welcome to the world of Rum&Whisky.

Mika Tanimoto, Bar Little Happiness

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