Roppongi’s Grand Hyatt Tokyo is getting in on the Venture Whisky action with an exclusive bottling dubbed Ichiro’s Malt & Grain Maduro. Maduro is the lounge of the same name at the hotel, and the only place this bottling will be sold beginning March 1.
This sort of arrangement is a world-first for the hotel chain. While it seems like there’s yet another exclusive bottling of Ichiro’s Malt (or Malt & Grain) every couple weeks, as far as I know this is also Venture Whisky’s first time teaming up with a hotel Hyatt. In the past there have been bottlings for ANA Intercontinental, Kyoto’s Hotel Okura, among others. (Thanks to Stefan for the correction)
Only 300 bottles of the whisky will be sold, and they’re priced at a cool 63,000 yen each. Of course there’s also a cover charge and service charge — don’t expect to be able to walk into Maduro and buy a bottle to take home (in fact, it could even be illegal for them).
It’s unabashedly a World Whisky: in addition to Ichiro’s Malt it also contains 10-20 year matured Scotch, Irish, Canadian, and American whiskies. Those were blended together then aged another three years in a French oak wine cask. They note that on the palate it hits with the fruitiness of plum, a first for a blended Ichiro’s Malt & Grain.
While 63,000 yen probably sounds expensive for a blended world whisky, consider a) Ichiro’s Malt & Grain World Japanese Blended Whisky won World’s Best Blended Limited Release last year (thanks Kevin), and b) Maduro is a jazz lounge at the damn Grand Hyatt, so you’re not just paying for whisky!
Though they are selling the whisky by the bottle, their intention is that you drink it at Maduro as part of their bottle service. As a result, it’s extremely unlikely that this bottle will ever be available on the secondary market.
Hi there! I created and run nomunication.jp. I’ve lived in Tokyo since 2008, 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 Levels 3 and JW (ウイスキー検定３級・JW級). I also sit on the Executive Committees for the Tokyo Whisky & Spirits Competition and Japanese Whisky Day. Click here for more details about me and this site. Kampai!
One Comment