Wine Cask Finished Whisky: When Grapes and Barley Share One Glass You pour it, take a breath, and your first thought is: this cannot be whisky. The aroma is berries, white grape, something floral and delicate. You check the label…
Your Complete Guide to Visiting a Whisky Bar in Hiroshima for the First Time If you’ve never visited a specialist whisky bar before, or if you’re visiting Hiroshima and wondering where to go for an exceptional drink, this guide is…
Glentauchers 2008 by Gordon & MacPhail: Apple Pie, Walnut, and the Art of Invisible Excellence Some distilleries become famous. Others become essential. Glentauchers has spent most of its existence in the second category — a quiet powerhouse of Speyside, making…
Caol Ila: The Feminine Elegance of Islay That Changed My Mind About Peated Whisky Islay has a reputation. When whisky lovers hear the name, they picture smoke — thick, medicinal, relentless. Laphroaig. Ardbeg. Bruichladdich. The island has built an identity…
The Lucky Cat Solla: Chestnut Cask, Beloved Cat, and Mars Whisky’s Pioneering Spirit Every year, Hombo Shuzo’s Mars Whisky releases a limited edition bottle in their beloved Lucky Cat series. Each release is named after a real cat — a…
SOGAINI: The Bottle That Carries Hiroshima’s Soul Some bottles tell you where they come from the moment you pick them up. SOGAINI — the latest limited release from Sakurao Distillery — is one of those bottles. Before you even taste…
Bar Little Happiness opened in Hiroshima in 2006. In 2026, it marks its 20th year in operation — two decades of whisky, rum, distillery visits, tasting events, and conversations with guests from Japan and around the world. This column reflects…
Chugoku Jozo — the company behind Sakurao Distillery — has been producing Togouchi whisky from sourced and locally matured spirit for many years, blending it in tunnels in the mountains near Hiroshima. More recently, they have expanded into gin. Togouchi…
The White Oak Distillery in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture — between Kobe and Himeji on Japan’s Seto Inland Sea coast — produces one of Japan’s most distinctive and accessible single malts. Akashi Single Malt 5 Year Old has gained significant international…
Chichibu Distillery operates two pot stills — the original still from the distillery’s founding in 2008, and a second still added as production expanded. Double Distilleries (DD) is the expression that specifically blends spirit from both stills: a comparison of…