Japan’s relationship with rum is intimate and underappreciated. Okinawa, Japan’s southernmost prefecture, has a centuries-old tradition of producing sugarcane spirits — and from that foundation, a small but growing craft rum movement has emerged. Kokuto de Lequio is one of…
Sakurao Distillery in Hiroshima is not standing still. Having established its core whisky range, the distillery has begun exploring unconventional maturation — including a rum cask finish that brings a tropical sweetness to Hiroshima’s already-distinctive spirit, and an Angel’s Share…
One of the more fascinating developments in premium aged rum is the use of ex-Islay whisky casks for finishing. A Caribbean rum finished in a cask that previously held heavily peated Scotch absorbs something genuinely unexpected: the ghost of peat…
The Ardbeg Committee — founded in 2000 — is one of the whisky world’s most famous fan communities. Each year, Ardbeg releases a limited Committee bottling: cask strength, unchillfiltered, no colouring, exploring a specific dimension of the distillery’s character. Smokiverse…
Founded in Aberdeen in 1842, William Cadenhead is Scotland’s oldest surviving independent bottler. They purchase casks from distilleries, age them under their own care, and bottle them at natural cask strength — no dilution, no chill-filtration, no artificial colouring. What…
Highland Park Distillery, founded in 1798 on the Orkney Islands north of the Scottish mainland, occupies a unique position in the whisky world: it is simultaneously one of Scotland’s oldest and most remote active distilleries. Orkney was a Norse territory…
Yamazaki Distillery — founded in 1923 by Shinjiro Torii of Suntory, with Masataka Taketsuru as its first master distiller — is the birthplace of Japanese whisky. Located at the confluence of three rivers south of Kyoto, in an area historically…
Yamazaki Distillery — founded in 1923 by Shinjiro Torii of Suntory, with Masataka Taketsuru as its first master distiller — is the birthplace of Japanese whisky. Located at the confluence of three rivers south of Kyoto, in an area historically…
Most whisky drinkers know distillery brands — Glenfarclas, Springbank, Ardbeg. Fewer know the world of independent bottlers: companies that purchase casks from distilleries, age them under their own care, and bottle them under their own label. William Cadenhead, founded in…
To reach Highland Park Distillery, you travel further north than you might expect Scotland could go: to Orkney, a group of islands north of the Scottish mainland, where Norse culture is still present in place names, festivals, and a particular…