About

Japan Whisky Press covers Japanese whisky in English, working from Japanese-language sources.

Most English-language coverage of Japanese whisky arrives late, filtered through press releases that have already been rewritten two or three times. We work the other way around: we read the original Japanese announcements from distilleries, importers and trade media, and we publish them in English, usually the same day.

What we cover

  • Releases and news. New bottlings, distillery openings, awards, ownership changes and regulatory shifts, reported from the Japanese original.
  • Distilleries. Japan now has well over a hundred operating whisky distilleries, and most of them have no English-language reference anywhere. We are building one.
  • Buying. Where a bottle can actually be bought outside Japan, and what it realistically costs once it gets there.

How we work

We are independent. We are not owned by, funded by, or affiliated with any distillery, importer or retailer. We do not accept payment for coverage, and no distillery sees an article before it is published.

Where we earn money, we say so. Some links to retailers are affiliate links, and some pages carry advertising. Neither affects what we choose to write about. Our affiliate disclosure and editorial policy explain this in full.

Who we are

Japan Whisky Press is published by the team behind Private Whisky Lab Keyaki (whisky-bottlers.jp), a Japanese-language whisky publication. Editorial work is produced by the Japan Whisky Press desk.

Corrections, tips and questions: contact us. We correct errors openly and quickly.