Written by Mika Tanimoto, Owner-Bartender, Bar Little Happiness — Hiroshima’s specialist whisky & rum bar with 1,000+ bottles When Saburomaru Distillery released VII THE CHARIOT in November 2025, it was already extraordinary: a Japanese single malt at 80 PPM phenol…
Written by Mika Tanimoto, Owner-Bartender, Bar Little Happiness — Hiroshima’s specialist whisky & rum bar with 1,000+ bottles Nikka’s Miyagikyo Distillery, in the mountains of Miyagi Prefecture, was chosen by Nikka’s founder Masataka Taketsuru for a specific reason: the water.…
Written by Mika Tanimoto, Owner-Bartender, Bar Little Happiness — Hiroshima’s specialist whisky & rum bar with 1,000+ bottles There is a small Nessie figurine on the counter at Bar Little Happiness. It has been there for some time. Guests who…
Written by Mika Tanimoto, Owner-Bartender, Bar Little Happiness — Hiroshima’s specialist whisky & rum bar with 1,000+ bottles At a recent Shindo Distillery seminar in Fukuoka, the host paused in the middle of a tasting description and said something that…
Written by Mika Tanimoto, Owner-Bartender, Bar Little Happiness — Hiroshima’s specialist whisky & rum bar with 1,000+ bottles There is a pot still at Old Pulteney Distillery in Wick that is missing its swan neck. The elegant curved neck that…
Written by Mika Tanimoto, Owner-Bartender, Bar Little Happiness — Hiroshima’s specialist whisky & rum bar with 1,000+ bottles Every time I pour Laphroaig 10 Year Old, someone says something like: “It smells like medicine. Why does anyone drink this?” And…
Written by Mika Tanimoto, Owner-Bartender, Bar Little Happiness — Hiroshima’s specialist whisky & rum bar with 1,000+ bottles The first thing to understand about visiting Ikawa Distillery is that it requires commitment. Not the casual commitment of a half-hour drive…
Written by Mika Tanimoto, Owner-Bartender, Bar Little Happiness — Hiroshima’s specialist whisky & rum bar with 1,000+ bottles The new make spirit that arrived at Bar Little Happiness from Tankyu Distillery in May 2026 told me something I did not…
Written by Mika Tanimoto, Owner-Bartender, Bar Little Happiness — Hiroshima’s specialist whisky & rum bar with 1,000+ bottles There are celebrity whisky collaborations, and then there is this. Most of the time, when a famous name appears on a spirits…
Written by Mika Tanimoto, Owner-Bartender, Bar Little Happiness — Hiroshima’s specialist whisky & rum bar with 1,000+ bottles Okinawa is Japan but not quite Japan in the way that the mainland is — subtropically warm, deeply influenced by its own…