One of Japan's southernmost distilleries, Helios Distillery, has released their first new whisky in several years: KURA The WHISKY Rum Cask Finish.
Let's be clear: this is a Rum Cask Finish of imported malt whisky from Scotland. I don't even remember the last time Helios released a whisky they distilled themselves. We did see "Reki" in late 2016, but I don't think Helios distilled that either. In fact, I thought they stopped their whisky production altogether! This bottle backs that up. Maybe they were inspired to try a rum cask finish by last year's Nikka Rum Wood Finish releases.
Helios has limited the first-release run to 2000 bottles, priced at around 5000 yen each. It's also available now from Musashiya.
I’m Whiskey Richard, and I am the founder of nomunication.jp. I’ve lived in Tokyo for over a decade, and I am a certified Shochu Kikisake-shi/Shochu Sommelier (焼酎唎酒師), Cocktail Professor (カクテル検定１級), and I hold Whisky Kentei Level 3 (ウイスキー検定３級). Click here for more details about me and this site. Kampai!