Nose: honey and light sherry notes. Palate: light wood that becomes more strong with time, peat? Sharp, numbing. Not fruity. Not very enjoyable. Finish: short, spicy, sour. The “sharpness” of the flavors was like warm knives touching my tongue, a little numb, it’s ok. […]

Wapirits Tumugi claims to be Japan’s first spirit for cocktails. “The UK has gin, Russia has vodka, Cuba has rum, Mexico has tequila. And Nippon has Wapirits,” reads the potentially incendiary marketing copy. “But Whiskey Richard, you cover Japanese gin all the time,” you respond. […]

This is a commemorative bottling for the 5th anniversary of Shinanoya, a famous food and liquor shop/distributor in Japan. This is the sister label to Karuizawa 16 year cask 5006. The labels depict screen door painting “Lion and Tiger” by 18th century Japanese painter Soga […]

From the, in my opinion, strange looking The School of Malt, Dave Broom labels. Dave Broom is the author of “Whisky: A User’s Guide” and also writes/reviews for a variety of outlets, such as Whisky Advocate [he also wrote The Way of Whisky: A Journey […]

Kawasaki is considered the sister distillery to Karuizawa and produced grain whiskies with a supposedly 90% corn mashbill. Unfortunately, times were rough and the distillery closed because the new owners (Kirin) weren’t interested in whisky (but now they produce both malt and grain whiskies at […]

Karuizawa is considered the top Japanese whisky brand, well because it tastes good. The typical “lost distillery” story: bad times came upon the distillery, distillery gets acquired by a company that isn’t interested in whisky production, another party comes in and buys all the old […]

We now have an official date for the highly anticipated release of Akkeshi New Born Foundations 3: March 5, 2019. This one has a lot of people talking since it’s aged entirely in casks made from mizunara from Hokkaido itself, which is quite an accomplishment […]

For many of us, the first thing we visualize when it comes to whisky is the design of our favorite bottle. Bottles that sit on modern bar shelves must capture the attention of drinkers with an increasingly dizzying array of options. Higher end whiskies of […]

The shortage of major Japanese whiskies continues. The latest word around town is that Suntory and Nikka are planning to temporarily suspend or discontinue several more of their popular whiskies at the end of March. This is in addition to the already revealed discontinuation of […]

Medicinal liqueur maker Yomeishu is getting into craft spirits with the upcoming release of two craft gins and a gin-based liqueur. All three of them lean on Kuromoji, or Lindera umbellata, as a botanical. Their chief product of the same name, Yomeishu, is probably Japan’s […]