Akkeshi Distillery (厚岸蒸溜所) in eastern Hokkaido has named its first new release since the end of its 24 Sekki (二十四節気) series. Akkeshi Single Malt Japanese Whisky Hitsuji (未) opens a new Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾北斎) twelve zodiac series. The distillery plans one bottle a year, each tied to an animal of the Chinese zodiac and decorated with drawings from Hokusai’s sketchbooks. Operator Kenten Jitsugyo (堅展実業) announced the release on October 29, 2026, with sales rolling out across Japan from late November. The release matters because the 24 Sekki bottles became a heavily collected series, with early editions now trading well above retail in Japan. What Akkeshi did next was always going to set the tone for the distillery’s second decade.
Hitsuji is a single malt bottled at 52% ABV in a 700ml bottle, with a suggested retail price of ¥36,300 including tax. The label lists malt from British and Hokkaido barley. Akkeshi has not published an age statement, a cask breakdown for this bottle or a bottle count. The distillery’s tasting note mentions chocolate and castella sponge cake, a range of citrus, peat smoke and a salty edge, with butter and soy-sauce savoriness on the palate and black pepper, ginger and raisin on the finish.
The packaging is part of the pitch. Instead of the usual box, Hitsuji comes in a spiral-wound paper tube, and every bottle includes a bookmark coated in 24-karat gold and printed with Hokusai’s sheep. The imagery comes from Hokusai Manga (北斎漫画), the late Edo period artist’s volumes of sketches of people, animals, buildings and spirits, which influenced European artists during the 19th-century Japonisme movement. Akkeshi says it will use the many zodiac animals in those sketchbooks for future annual bottles. 2027 is the Year of the Sheep, and the distillery says the animal stands for calm, harmony and the warmth between people.
Chief blender Katsuyuki Tachizaki (立崎勝幸) explained the plan in the announcement. After the 24 Sekki series, Akkeshi will run several long-term series over ten years or more. Each year the team will choose the spirit that best expresses that year’s Akkeshi for each theme, so the series records the distillery’s own development over time. For the zodiac series, he says the base “grammar” is three cask types: bourbon for brightness, sherry for depth and mizunara (ミズナラ) for a Japanese finish. Each animal will get a different balance of the three. He also cites lasting music as an inspiration, comparing the plan to the songs of a 1960s rock band that are still loved around the world.
Why this matters
The 24 Sekki series gave Akkeshi a release schedule that collectors could plan around: twenty-four bottles over six years, ending with the peated Shubun in August 2026. A twelve-year zodiac cycle gives the distillery the same kind of long collecting run, with one bottle a year instead of four. It also shows that Akkeshi now has enough mature stock to commit to a project that will not finish until the late 2030s. For a distillery that only started distilling in 2016, that is a statement of confidence in its own warehouse.
The price is the clearer signal. At ¥36,300, Hitsuji costs about 22% more than Shubun’s ¥29,700, which was itself a special edition. Regular 24 Sekki bottles typically retailed for ¥13,200 to ¥19,800 in Japan. Some of that rise pays for the special packaging and the gold bookmark. We read the rest as Akkeshi pricing its limited releases closer to what they have fetched on the secondary market, though the distillery has not said so. Our explainer on why Japanese whisky is so expensive covers the supply side of that story.
Akkeshi is also not alone in turning the zodiac into a product line. Matsui Shuzo (松井酒造) opened preorders this month for its own 2027 Year of the Sheep whiskies, the sixth year of its zodiac series. The two releases compete for the same gift season. The difference is in what each brand is selling: Akkeshi’s bottle is a single malt from its own stills, built around the Scotch-style approach the distillery has followed since founder Keiichi Toita (樋田恵一) was inspired by a glass of Ardbeg 17. Our Akkeshi distillery guide covers that history, the local barley work and how to read the range.
For readers outside Japan
The announcement covers a nationwide release in Japan and does not mention export. That is the same pattern as Shubun, which went to Japanese retailers with no international allocation that we could find. Japanese retailers generally cannot ship spirits overseas, so the realistic routes are buying in Japan or waiting for the secondary market. If you are in Japan from late November, specialist shops and department stores that carry Akkeshi are the place to ask. Our guide to bringing whisky home from Japan explains duty-free allowances.
If you plan to buy later at auction, expect a premium over the ¥36,300 retail price, and check the listing includes the paper tube and bookmark, since a complete set will matter to future buyers. Our guide to buying Japanese whisky at auction explains how to check provenance and fees.
For a more affordable taste of the distillery, Akkeshi’s regular releases are easier to find abroad. In the United States, the distillery’s importer Skurnik Wines & Spirits supplies retailers, and specialist shops in the UK and EU stock current bottlings; see our US buying guide for retailers. If you are curious about the cask “grammar” Tachizaki describes, our explainers on Japanese whisky cask types and mizunara oak show what each wood brings. Akkeshi has also taken part in cask swaps with other distilleries, including the Mars Malt Duo series; see our report on Kanosuke and Mars Tsunuki’s six-year spirit swap for the latest edition.
Source: Kenten Jitsugyo via PR TIMES (Japanese)