Wakatsuru Shuzo’s Saburomaru distillery (三郎丸蒸留所) in Tonami City, Toyama Prefecture, announced on August 13, 2026 that it had collected three Highest Gold awards and one Gold medal at the Asia World Spirits Competition 2026, run by the Singapore-based judging body The Tasting Alliance. The results extend a run of 2026 award wins for a distillery that has built its reputation on heavily peated, smoky whisky rather than the lighter style most associated with Japanese single malt.
The three Highest Gold winners were all from Saburomaru’s SAB. blended whisky line: SAB. Sunset Red (46% ABV, sold in 200ml and 700ml), SAB. Night Black (46% ABV, also sold in both sizes), and SAB. Ocean Blue 1st Batch (46% ABV, 700ml), a malt-and-grain blend. A fourth award, a Gold medal, went to a single cask release from the distillery’s Sangokushi (Romance of the Three Kingdoms) series: Single Cask Saburomaru “Guan” #100365, bottled at 60% ABV in 700ml. That cask-strength bottling had already sold out in Japan before the award was announced.
The Asia World Spirits Competition judges entries blind, with buyers and industry professionals tasting without knowing the brand, producer or price. Saburomaru’s showing follows two other 2026 results reported earlier this year: a Highest Gold for Single Malt Saburomaru VI “The Lovers” Cask Strength at the Tokyo Whisky & Spirits Competition (TWSC2026), and four Gold medals at the International Spirits Challenge (ISC2026) in the UK, including for the export-only Mizunara Head 5-Year-Old single cask.
Why it matters beyond Japan
Saburomaru has leaned into peat for more than 70 years, using a coal-fired mizunara-oak kiln that gives its whisky a smoky character closer to Islay than to the delicate, fruit-forward profile most drinkers associate with Yamazaki or Hakushu. Stacking Highest Gold results across three separate international competitions in a single year, TWSC, ISC and now AWSC, signals that the style is winning over judges outside Japan even as wide retail availability abroad has not been confirmed for the SAB. series specifically. For collectors tracking which smaller Japanese distilleries are building an international track record, Saburomaru is now one of the clearest cases in 2026.
Source: Gourmet Press (Japanese)
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