Written by Mika Tanimoto, Owner-Bartender, Bar Little Happiness — Hiroshima’s specialist whisky & rum bar with 1,000+ bottles
EZO is the old name for Hokkaido — the Japanese island that is home to bears, red foxes, and one of the world’s last genuinely wild landscapes in a densely populated country. The distillery that takes this name is equally unexpected.
The Wild Animals from Ezo range is designed to evoke the specific wildness of Hokkaido’s nature: not the refined, polished character associated with some Japanese whisky brands, but something rawer, more expressive, more connected to the particular environment of Japan’s north.
What Makes Hokkaido Whisky Distinctive
Hokkaido’s climate is the most Scotch-like of any Japanese region — cold winters with significant snowfall, dramatic seasonal temperature differences, and the slow maturation that colder conditions allow. The angels’ share is lower than at mainland Japanese distilleries. Spirit can age in cask for longer before losing too much to evaporation. The result, when the base spirit is good, tends toward greater complexity with age.
EZO’s expressions reflect this environment: not subtle, not delicate, but with the kind of structure that cold-climate maturation builds into whisky over time.
EZO / Wild Animals from Ezo expressions are available at Bar Little Happiness. Read the full Japanese column: little-happiness.jp/columns/the-wild-animals-from-ezo/
Bar Little Happiness | Hiroshima, Japan
Rum & Whisky specialists | 1,000+ bottles | English menu available
Open Mon–Sat 7PM–12:30AM, Sun 7PM–midnight
No cover charge. Walk-ins welcome.
english.little-happiness.jp