Komoro Distillery (小諸蒸留所), a young craft whisky operation on the slopes of Mt. Asama in Nagano Prefecture, will release its first single malt on November 7, 2026. The bottling, named KOMORO ORIGIN, arrives three years after the distillery’s first spirit run on June 20, 2023, and will be limited to 4,000 bottles of 700ml each.
The distillery is operated by Karuizawa Distillers Co., Ltd. (軽井沢蒸留酒製造株式会社) and sits roughly 910 meters above sea level at the foot of Mt. Asama, an active volcano whose water and air shape the site’s production choices. Master blender and distiller Ian Chan leads the operation, and the company says his approach continues the philosophy of the late Dr. Jim Swan, the whisky scientist and consultant widely credited with helping build the reputations of Taiwan’s Kavalan and Japan’s own Chichibu (秩父) distillery. Karuizawa Distillers describes its guiding idea as “respect for nature, a scientific perspective, and sensibility built on long experience.”
The release is being marked with two events rather than a single launch date. On November 6, a synchronized toast called “KOMORO = KANPAI” will link the distillery with satellite venues across Komoro City at 6 p.m., followed by local food and short presentations. The following nine days, branded “KOMORO FIRST RELEASE WEEK” and running November 7 to 15, will include distillery tastings, maturation cellar tours, and master classes. Announced guests include Charles MacLean MBE, one of Scotch whisky’s best-known writers and educators, and Caroline Lennon, Dr. Jim Swan’s daughter.
Why this matters beyond Japan
A debut single malt from a new Japanese distillery is not unusual by itself; well over 100 have opened in the past decade. What sets Komoro apart is the guest list. Charles MacLean’s presence signals that the international whisky press already treats a three-year-old Nagano operation as worth the trip, and Caroline Lennon’s appearance ties KOMORO ORIGIN directly to Dr. Jim Swan’s legacy at a moment when drinkers outside Japan are increasingly aware of his role in Kavalan’s rapid rise to award-winning status. For overseas travelers planning a Japan whisky itinerary, Komoro adds a small, currently very limited-batch stop in Nagano, not far from the long-established Mars Shinshu (マルス信州) distillery. No export or international retail plans have been announced, and pricing and ABV were not disclosed in the distillery’s release materials.
Why this matters
The Karuizawa name Komoro’s parent company carries is not incidental. The original Karuizawa distillery, run by Mercian in neighbouring Miyota, was shut down in 2000 and demolished over the following decade, and its remaining stock has since become one of the most mythologized in whisky collecting: a bottle of Karuizawa 1960 sold at auction for roughly 13.44 million yen in 2015. Komoro Distillery’s founder, Takashi Shimaoka (島岡高志), a former Citibank bond trader who later took over an old ryokan inn in Karuizawa, set out explicitly to revive that lost name as a working distillery rather than let it survive only as an auction legend. Because the original site was gone, the new operation was built in Komoro instead, chosen for its natural conditions at 910 meters on Mt. Asama’s slopes rather than for any physical link to the old plant.
To run it, Shimaoka brought in Ian Chan, the master blender behind Taiwan’s Kavalan, a distillery whose rapid rise to international award recognition in a hot, humid climate reshaped assumptions about which countries could make serious whisky. Pairing a deliberately symbolic name with an internationally credentialed blender from outside Japan’s traditional network is a strategy several of the newer craft distilleries are now trying, betting that reputation can be built quickly through association and expertise rather than over the decades it took Yamazaki or Yoichi. Komoro marked its first anniversary of distilling in mid-2024 and has used that milestone to talk publicly about a multi-decade plan for the site, rather than treating the first single malt as a quick cash-in on the Karuizawa association.
For readers outside Japan
KOMORO ORIGIN is a 4,000-bottle release with no export or international retail plan announced, and the distillery’s own materials did not disclose pricing or ABV, so readers abroad have no official channel to buy it at launch. Anyone encountering a listing for it outside Japan before an official announcement should treat that listing with caution, since the most likely outcome is that it sells through Japanese channels and the secondary market first, the same pattern that drove the original Karuizawa’s prices so high after supply dried up.
Readers tracking this story from abroad have two realistic options. The first is visiting during November’s release week, when Komoro is hosting public tastings and master classes with Charles MacLean and Caroline Lennon; see our Komoro distillery guide for background on the site. The second is understanding why old Karuizawa bottles cost what they do before bidding on anything claiming the name, covered in our guide to the original Karuizawa distillery and our wider guide to buying Japanese whisky at auction without getting burned.
Source: PR TIMES (Karuizawa Distillers) (Japanese)
Source: Gourmet Press (Japanese)
Source: Komoro Distillery official site (Japanese)
Primary source: Karuizawa Distillers founder’s story, PR TIMES STORY (Japanese).