Introducing The Japan Cask Company, specialists in private casks of Japanese whisky

For many whisky drinkers, there comes a point in their life when they realize they’re in it for the long haul. You are a whisky drinker now, and you probably always will be, so long as your wallet and liver cooperate.

Maybe this epiphany comes when you’re in your twenties, maybe in your fifties, or maybe even later. It’s the point when you understand that whisky is not something that can or should be rushed. You know that the best dram of your life might not have been that liquid gold from that 45-year-old bottle. No, it was probably the first pour you had after getting back from the hospital when your kid was born, when they turned a certain age, or the last bottle you shared with your dad before he died. Or, for some of us, the joy is in the journey itself, in a perpetual search for that best whisky.

You also appreciate how whisky isn’t simply a drink. It’s the amber-tinted lens through which we can be introduced to new people, places, cultures, experiences, and even ways of life.

Perhaps you’ve been to tons of bars, opened bottle after bottle, sampled whiskies from every corner of the globe, visited obscure distilleries, built a sizeable collection, gone to countless festivals… and you’ve had a hell of a lot of fun doing it.

So, what’s the next step?

What other experiences await?

For me, maturation sits at the core of the whisky experience. Something is enchanting about a cask imparting its rich, local aromas and flavors onto a spirit year after year. Whether it’s atop the cliffs of Skye, deep in rural Kentucky, or overlooking a volcano in Kagoshima, Mother Nature is essentially allowing us to capture her in a drink.

What if you could get a front-row seat to whisky maturation in Japan for three years, five years, a decade, or even more? What if you could experience Japanese mother nature first-hand?

Cask Ownership

Your ticket to that front-row seat is buying your own whisky cask. While careful consideration should be given to both distillery & cask offer, cask ownership allows a personalization of your whisky experience that goes far beyond simply choosing various bottles at a bar:

• Maturation
  • You can see, taste, smell, and touch the effects maturation has on a spirit for the entire duration of its life spent in a cask, watching it grow from a newborn to a proper, mature whisky.
  • Because Japanese craft whisky distilleries are still relatively young by global standards, many are experimenting with new recipes and aging techniques, providing an opportunity to introduce entirely new whiskies to the public.
• Customization
  • You call the shots when it comes to how long you want that maturation to be. 4 years? 8 years? 20 years? It’s up to you.
  • You choose the size and wood of the cask: Ex-Bourbon, Mizunara, Sherry, Wine, Sakura, Chestnut, etc.
  • You choose the final bottling abv. If you’re adding your own water to every dram anyway, maybe you should consider adding it at the source instead—or simply bottle at cask strength.
• Full ownership
  • The cask is yours. YOU decide what to do with all the whisky that comes out of it. Drink it all yourself. Give bottles to friends and family. Keep them in your bomb shelter to drink during WWIII. Use them to attract paying customers to your bar. Give your car a deep cleaning. The choice is yours!

That is now possible for Japanese whisky. The Japan Cask Company is a new UK-based venture specializing in brokering sales of Japanese whisky casks to private clients and organizations.

This kind of venture was unimaginable even just a decade ago. Back then, Japan had no independent bottlers, and you could count the number of active, genuine whisky distilleries on two hands. With Suntory and Nikka alone calling the shots in the Japanese whisky market, the purchase of entire casks of Japanese whisky was basically impossible for anyone inside or outside the country, whether or not you worked in the industry.

Now that the Japanese whisky market has broadened to include over 120 actual distilleries, we’re beginning to see more options available to whisky drinkers.

With all these new distilleries, we now have opportunities to explore Japan’s various local cultures and microclimates through whisky. And because craft whisky distilleries generally aren’t owned and operated by global megacorps, some–but not all–distilleries are open to the idea of specific casks being earmarked for individuals, bars, whisky clubs, and more. Since essentially all Japanese craft whisky distilleries have a very small output, quantities are extremely limited.

The Japan Cask Company supports private clients interested in purchasing casks of genuine Japanese whisky. And I do mean genuine – the company exclusively sells casks from Japanese whisky distilleries they have visited in person & who ferment, distill & mature in the cask for a minimum of three years. The company offers a full range of services for clients:

• Identifying, selecting, and negotiating with distilleries
• Sourcing specific types of casks
• Advising on maturation, bottling, and export from Japan
• Administration of ownership agreements and certificates – clients’ ownership of casks is direct with the distillery & managed by The Japan Cask Company if required
• Management of fund transfer to Japan

While the portfolio is still growing, The Japan Cask Company currently offers casks from the following distilleries:

• Hanyu
• Nozawa Onsen
• Ontake
• Shindo
• Niigata Kameda
• Water Dragon
• Ishigaki (rum)

If you’re ready to elevate your whisky experience to the next level, support the future of the category, and call yourself the owner of a very exclusive cask of Japanese whisky, reach out to The Japan Cask Company now.