Japan Whisky Press

Category: News

Japanese whisky news, reported from Japanese-language primary sources.

  • Sakurao releases Sauternes cask finish single malt

    Sakurao releases Sauternes cask finish single malt

    Sakurao Brewery and Distillery, the Hiroshima-based maker behind the Sakurao (桜尾) and Togouchi (戸河内) whisky brands, released a new limited single malt on August 7, 2026: Sakurao Sauternes Cask Finish Stillman’s Selection. The company said the whisky was hand-picked by its in-house “stillman” from among its Sauternes-finished casks for its unusually rich aroma, and bottled in limited quantity at 700ml and 46% ABV.

    Stillman’s Selection is Sakurao’s tasting-led series, drawn from either of the company’s two maturation warehouses: the coastal Sakurao warehouse, cooled by sea air off the Seto Inland Sea, and the Togouchi warehouse, set deep in the forested Chugoku mountains. According to the release, this bottling comes from Sauternes casks stored at the Sakurao site, chosen for notes the company describes as reminiscent of white peach, ripe apple, and mango, with a muscat-like fruitiness, a smooth palate, and a finish balancing rich sweetness with elegant acidity. The reference retail price is 15,000 yen before tax.

    The bottling continues a run of cask-finish experiments from Sakurao Brewery and Distillery, whose Togouchi Rum Cask Finish blended whisky was recently selected as the top entry in the whisky category at Les Spiritueux de l’année, a French spirits competition, an award announced in March 2026. The distillery, whose roots as a shochu and sake maker in Hatsukaichi date back to 1918, has built out a modern whisky and gin operation on the same site over the past decade.

    Why it matters outside Japan

    Sakurao has been building an international profile well beyond this one bottle. In April 2025, the Sakurao single malt collaborated with the Italian amaretto liqueur Disaronno at the Tokyo International Bar Show, its first such pairing, and the company’s gin, Sakurao Gin Original, has picked up multiple international awards of its own. In October 2025, Sakurao Brewery and Distillery entered a capital and business tie-up with Mitsui & Co.’s investment arm, a sign of ambitions to grow beyond its current scale. None of this confirms an export plan for the Sauternes Cask Finish Stillman’s Selection itself, and the company has not listed international stockists for this limited run. But for whisky drinkers in the US, UK, and elsewhere who know Sakurao mainly through occasional imports, the combination of a French spirits award, an Italian liqueur collaboration, and fresh outside investment suggests a distillery angling for a bigger stage than its Hiroshima base might suggest.

    Source: PR TIMES / Sakurao Brewery and Distillery (Japanese)

  • Akkeshi closes six-year 24 Sekki series with Shubun finale

    Akkeshi closes six-year 24 Sekki series with Shubun finale

    Akkeshi (厚岸) distillery in Hokkaido has revealed the first details of Shubun (秋分, “Autumn Equinox”), the 24th and final release in its long-running 24 Sekki series. Distillery operator Kenten Jitsugyo confirmed on August 4, 2026 that the peated single malt will arrive in late August, closing out a project that began in October 2020.

    The 24 Sekki series takes its name from the 24 solar terms of the traditional East Asian calendar, and Akkeshi has released one expression roughly every three months to mark each turn of the season. Shubun belongs to a smaller group within that run known as the ni-shi ni-bun bottles, four releases tied to the two solstices and two equinoxes: Shunbun (Spring Equinox), Geshi (Summer Solstice), Shubun (Autumn Equinox), and Toji (Winter Solstice). With Shubun, all four have now been released, bringing the six-year project to a close.

    Early images shared by the distillery show a red-toned box echoing the earlier Newborn Foundation 4 release, with an autumn-leaf motif on the packaging. Pictograms on the label mark the whisky as a single malt and peated, which is standard for the series. What is new is an age statement: the label reads “5 years or older,” the first time Akkeshi has printed an age claim on a 24 Sekki bottle. Earlier entries in the series were released without age statements, so the change signals that this closing bottle is meant to carry more weight than a routine seasonal release. Akkeshi has said the whisky uses Hokkaido-grown barley, in keeping with the distillery’s focus on local ingredients, though full details on cask types and tasting notes have not yet been published.

    Akkeshi opened in 2016 on Japan’s northeastern coast and has built a reputation for smoky, maritime whisky often compared to Islay Scotch, thanks to a climate and peat source the distillery has long promoted as similar to that of the Scottish island. It became the first craft whisky distillery in Japan to receive external HACCP food-safety certification, in December 2021.

    Why it matters outside Japan

    Akkeshi rarely gets a wide official release overseas, but earlier 24 Sekki bottles have regularly turned up on international auction sites and specialist retailers once Japanese allocations sell out, reflecting demand from collectors well beyond Japan. A finale bottle carrying the series’ first age statement is likely to draw the same attention: for whisky drinkers in the US, UK, and elsewhere who know Akkeshi mainly through its peated core range, Shubun offers a rare dated data point on how the distillery’s stock is maturing nearly a decade after it began distilling. No export or international allocation has been announced for this release, so overseas buyers will most likely need to watch resale channels once it ships in Japan.

    Source: Japanese Whisky Dictionary (jpwhisky.net) (Japanese)