Two of the newest Japanese craft gins to hit the scene are 9148 from Sapporo’s Benizakura Distilley, and Hinata from Kyoya Distillery in Miyazaki Prefecture. Tonight we’re drinking both! Benizakura Distillery 9148 Recipe 0101 Review Full disclosure, both of the gins I’m drinking tonight I’ve […]

The clear drink fad currently happening in Japan isn’t stopping at soft drinks. Japan now has two clear beers: Suntory All-Free All-Time and Asahi’s Clear Craft. Bottoms up! Suntory All-Free All-Time As previously reported, this one was released on June 19. It’s 0% abv, zero […]

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 […]

Nikka Black Rich Blend Extra Sherry is the latest from Nikka, just released on May 29, 2018. Similar to how last winter’s Nikka Black Aromatic was a limited edition of Nikka Black, Extra Sherry here is a limited edition take on Nikka Black Rich Blend. […]

When Japan’s only independent cooperage decides to release a liquor, I pay attention. “Tarusky” is Kyoto-based Ariake Sangyo’s brand of cask-aged shochu. Tonight we’re drinking from bottle #534 of “Tarusky Premium Blend.” It’s a liquor that blurs the line between whisky and shochu. Inside we find […]

Two of Suntory’s latest RTDs, The Cocktail Bar Professional Gin & Tonic and The Cocktail Bar Professional Moscow Mule were just released on April 3rd. New, affordable, and two cocktails I drink at bars. Sure, why not? Before that though let’s just take a look […]

Tonight we’re drinking the very first products to come out of Chugoku Jozo’s new Sakurao Distillery: Sakurao Gin Original and Sakurao Gin Limited. Founded in 1918, Chugoku Jozo is already fairly well known for the Togouchi brand of Japanese whisky. But again I have to […]

Tonight we’re drinking whisky from Okinawa’s Helios Distillery, one of Japan’s many distilleries located on the island. “KURA The WHISKY RUM CASK FINISH” is Helios’ first whisky released since October 2016. Helios has a fairly short history by Japanese distillery standards, launching rum distillation in […]

Akkeshi New Born 2018 Foundations 1 is the name of Akkeshi Distillery’s very first official release. We’ve posted extensively about Hokkaido’s Akkeshi Distillery already: it’s one of our Distilleries to Watch 2018-19, and there’s plenty more we learned at last year’s seminar at the Tokyo […]

As reported last month, un-brand brand Muji released a Muji sake again in 2017, this time on December 22. Luckily I live nearby the flagship in Yurakucho, so I managed to pick up a bottle on launch day before they sold out. Let’s have some […]