Two new awards to add to the mantle! Sakurao Gin Original has won “Best of Gin” at the Los Angeles International Spirits Competition, a first for any Japanese gin. Read my recent review of Sakurao Original here! Right behind that, Asahi has announced that Nikka […]

Nikka Black Deep Blend Extra Sweet looks to be the latest variation of budget-friendly blended whisky out of Nikka, slated for release on or around September 11. It has just popped up on Amazon JP for a 2,138 yen, so a 700 yen premium over […]

Osaka was rocked by a fairly strong earthquake at 7:58AM this morning, and Suntory has announced the Yamazaki Distillery and all facilities will be closed for the day as a result. There are no reports of damage to the distillery though. Information is still rolling […]

Scotch bottler Blackadder has a new release coming up, this time a Chichibu 4yo cask, marking their third release for a Japanese whisky. And it has a hell of a descriptive name, “BLACKADDER Chichibu 4yo Virgin American Oak Barrel Cask No.2862 63%.” Anyway, previous releases […]

GINfest Tokyo was held for the first time ever this year out at Tennoz Isle! Over this past weekend, around 3500 gin lovers made their way to the event, which featured around 100 different types of gin from both within and outside of Japan. While […]

Japan’s Professional Bartender’s Organization has announced the date of this year’s PBO Cocktail & Bar Festa will be July 29. So around a month earlier than last year. Now in its 4th year, the 2018 edition will once again it will be held at Courtyard […]

Today is World Gin Day 2018! Raise your Copa de Balon, and let’s celebrate! Despite being a relatively new category, we’ve recently seen a craft gin boom here in Japan. Here’s a look at all the Japanese craft gins that have hit the market over […]

Kagoshima-based shochu maker Komasa Jyozo has a new gin coming soon called “Komasa Gin Sakurajima Komikan,” using komikans from the (very) active volano island of Sakurajima. A “komikan” is a smaller variety of mikan, also known as a satsuma. As a category it’s tough to […]

Earlier this year Coca-Cola made waves when they revealed their intention to enter the alcoholic beverage market for the first time in the company’s 132-year history. And they are doing so right here in Japan. The three “Lemon-Do” chuhais are now available–only in Japan’s southern island […]

Flipping through some of the recently filed trademark applications, there were a couple that stood out as interesting. Let’s take a look! The NISEKO distillery First up is a trademark application for “The NISEKO distillery” filed by a person going by the name Kotaro Taketsuru. […]