Japanese Whisky Bar Report – Aloha Whisky Bar Tokyo

Aloha Whisky

A newcomer to the Tokyo Whisky Bar scene, Aloha Whisky Bar in Ikebukuro opened it’s doors in September 2019.
The bar is owned and operated by the affable Mr David Tsujimoto, a native of Hawaii of Japanese decent. David has lived in Tokyo for the last 6 years and in that time has collected an extremely impressive range of whiskies. Around 600 bottlings in total and if that is not enough to wet your appetite, about 250 of these are Japanese Whiskies. That number of Japanese Whiskies propels Aloha Whisky Bar straight into the Major Leagues!

Aloha Whisky 2The majority of the other whiskies on offer are Scottish or Bourbons but there is also whisky from Canada, Ireland, Taiwan, Hawaii, Australia, Switzerland and China.
Other alcoholic beverages include Beer, Red and White Wine, Gin, and Cognac. David also has a passion for rums so if your interested in rums, ask David for a recommedation of one of the rums at the bar. We did and it was a suberb fruit bomb!
Starting prices for half shots of no age statement Japanese Single Malt Whiskies is Y500 and Single Cask Japanese Whiskies from the likes of Chichibu Y1500.
If you are new to whisky David offers a number of tasting flights from both Scotland and Japan. A tasting flight was the starting point for my own Japanese Whisky odyssey over 10 years ago.
As David is always on the lookout for new whisky expressions, you would be certain of an exciting experience even after multiple visits to Aloha Whisky Bar.
Aloha Whisky Bar is also a non smoking venue, a boon for anyone who actually wants to nose and taste whisky not just cigarette smoke all night. The bar seats around 10-12.
The bar is currently open every day except Tuesdays from 6PM-11:30PM. I always recommend before going to any bar that you check out their Facebook page for any updates to opening hours. Directions to the bar if arriving by train are pretty straight forward. Exit C3 of the Fukutoshin(F) area of Ikebukuro Station. If you can’t find C3 ask any station staff. When you exit C3 at street level the bar is directly across the road a few meters to the left. It is on level 3 accessed by a small elevator. Picture below includes the sign for Aloha Whisky Bar.
I cannot recommend Aloha Whisky Bar highly enough and it will be one of my regulars whenever I am in Tokyo.

Aloha Whisky 3

The Japanese Whisky Review – 500 Japanese Whiskies Tasted!

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So what does it take for the average self funded Japanese Whisky Aficionado to reach 500 Japanese Whiskies tasted? 10 years, being in the right place at the right time, spending time on the ground in Japan making contacts, unwavering enthusiasm and a whole lot of hard earned cash!
How hard was it? That is a story of 2 parts. The “Glory” days between May 2009 (the first time I visited Japan) and roughly 2014 and the leaner times after that of rocketing prices and limited availability.
Getting to 100 was relatively easy. 200 wasn’t that hard either. From memory even 300 wasn’t too bad. Beyond that it felt like hitting a brick wall and if your’e like me and just an average middle class Joe, you already know the reasons why. I won’t rehash here recent Japanese Whisky history and why prices are so high and stock levels/variety so limited, there are enough stories on the net using a simple Google search.
The majority of Japanese Whiskies I’ve tasted have been drinkable at the very least all the way up to stellar. There have been some total duds of coarse which is to be expected.
Favorite distillery style is from Yoichi and I admire Yamazaki and Chichibu for innovation and at least when you can get them, variety. Most often imbibed daily dram is Nikka From the Barrel.
Most underrated distillery in Miyagikyo and most overrated is Karuizawa. I’ve tasted about the same amount of bottling’s from Mars Whisky as I have Karuizawa and overall I’d choose Mars any day. I’ll throw in a number of Hanyu Card series as overrated at least for the price they command these days.
For those wondering if there will ever be a return to the “Glory” days of cheap prices, easy access and lots of variety I’m going to have to be the bearer of bad tiding’s. As long as supply exceeds demand no way! Not only that, even when the big players Suntory and Nikka bring a variety of age statement whiskies back on line they have repeatedly said they see their products as premium. This means they will continue to charge commensurate premium prices compared to say, Scottish whiskies of the same age and availability. I do look forward however to the 3 year old bottling’s that will be released in 2020 from the newer distilleries such as Akkeshi, Shizuoka, Kanosuke and Mars Tsunuki. 2020 will also be banner year for Chichibu who will release their first official 10 year old whisky.
Finally I’ll list 25 Japanese Whiskies that aren’t daily drams that I would always love to have a stash of. These are whiskies that left an immediate impression and haven’t failed since.
Hibiki 21
The Hakushu SM Aged 15 Years 500ml 56%
The Hakushu Single Malt Sherry Cask #9O 50021 1989 TWE 62%
Suntory Owners Cask Hakushu 2000-2011 #EL 41914 Smoky & Bitter 57%
Suntory Owners Cask Bar Hermit Private Stock Yamazaki 1996 Sherry Butt 13YO #AX70004 60%
The Cask of Yamazaki 1993 Heavily Peated #3Q70047 62%
Suntory Blended Whisky For The Peninsula Tokyo 2014 43% Sherry Casks of Yamazaki, Hakushu, Chita
Miyagikyo Single Cask 1996 16YO Sherry Cask 60% #118913
Taketsuru Pure Malt 35YO
Yoichi Single Cask 1994 18YO #400749 Warehouse 25 62%
Yoichi Single Cask 1988-2013 23YO Warehouse 25 #100212 62%
Yoichi Peaty and Salty 1989 12YO Single Cask #251224 63.3%abv
Yoichi 20
Karuizawa 1992 #6978 62.8%
Mars Moltage 3 and 25 28YO 46%
Mars Malt Gallery 1985 23YO #324 American White Oak 58%
Mars Komagatake Single Cask Vintage 1989 23YO 63.5% Cognac Limousin Cask #1060
Mars Komagatake 27 years old Sherry Casks / American White Oak Cask 46%
Kawasaki Single Grain Sherry Butt 1982 28YO # 7414 65.5%
Chichibu Mizunara Puncheon Cask # 89 2008-2017 58.2%
Ichiro’s Malt 8 of Clubs 1988 23YO #7100 57.5
Ichiro’s Malt The Game 2000 9YO 61.2%
Ichiro’s Malt SC for Takashimaya 1991 18YO 46.5%
The Single Malt Chichibu Golden Horse 12-year-old, Bottle # 0263 2008 56%
Ichiro’s Malt and Grain Kiyosato Field Ballet 26th Anniversary Bottling 48%abv

Kirin Single Malt Blenders Choice 2015 NAS 46%abv

Kirin Single Malt Blenders Choice 2015-2Nose: Lots of honey, toffee and vanilla notes. Sugared apple pie crust, some wood spice, rye spice, oranges, buttered popcorn, white pepper, cinnamon, overripe pineapple. I’d say fairly faithful to the Kirin House style.
Palate: Lots of spices, cinnamon, nutmeg, white pepper, chili flakes. Bubblegum, lemon detergent, orange cake, young white peaches, acetone.
Finish: Oranges, orange biscuits, lemon curd, banana, fresh thickened cream, acetone and or petrol fumes.
Last Word: On the palate and finish there is a persistent acetone/petrol fume note/flavor that spoils the overall experience. Apart for the nose, a bit of a disappointment really.
Rating: 79/100

Buying Japanese Whisky in Japan 2019 Report

The 2018 report was once again the most viewed post on the Japanese Whisky Review. Not surprising that given the Japanese Whisky drought, even more folks are keen to know where and when stuff is available. Comments were up by almost 200 on the 2017 report with 631 vs 433. A big shout out to all those who commented, especially the regulars!
I think we all know 2019 will be at least as tough buying Japanese Whisky in Japan as 2018 but every contribution counts so please keep the comments coming this year. I know from personal experience I was able to grab a number of bottles in 2018 that I would have missed out on if readers hadn’t advised of pending releases!
Kampai
Brian AKA Dramtastic

The Japanese Whisky Review 2018 Wrap Up – The Year That Wasn’t!

Woo Hoo! What an awesome, ye glorious year 2018 was for Japanese Whisky!
Sorry, my bad, that was 2010!
So, as 2018 comes to a close it’s time for the reality check.
It should really only take a few lines because as the title says, it was the year that wasn’t. Now we can throw at least couple of years prior tp 2018 in the same basket but as it has been pointed out by punters with boots on the ground, it seems that by and large, this was the worst year for them trying to access ‘interesting’ Japanese whisky. We’re not talking about the ridiculously priced auction stuff but what you can buy at retail liquor stores in Japan or abroad. If you haven’t been following you can read the many stories of frustration on the Buying Japanese Whisky in Japan 2018 report.
How bad is the drought? Well Suntory, a giant conglomerate and the biggest producer of whisky in Japan, is down to a single readily available age statement whisky, Yamazaki 12. They did however generously(sarcasm), delete two popular age statement whiskies Hakushu 12 and Hibiki 17 from their portfolio. They replaced for want of a better word, Hibiki 17 with Hibiki Blenders Choice but that so far was for Japan only. Have not tried it myself but readers have reported not as good as the 17 year old. They did not even release a limited edition this year like the Yamazaki LE of previous years.
Moving on to Nikka we still have a core range based on No Age Statement Whiskies. Then we had the Manzanilla Wood Finish Yoichi and Miyagikyo for Japan and the Sherry Wood and Bourbon Wood Finished Yoichi and Miyagikyo for Europe. Bourbon Wood Finish……how exotic! Sherry Wood Finished……previously any Yoichi or Miyagikyo I’ve tasted from sherry casks were fully matured in that cask type. Basically, not enough sherry cask whisky at Nikka so they can only afford to use some for finishing. All the limited releases were also without an age statement. In previous years, at least there were single cask releases of Yoichi and Miyagikyo even though they were tough to get if you weren’t in Japan.
As an aside, early next year I’m going to post my thoughts on Japanese No Age Statement Whiskies so please bear with me on that story.
Chichibu, I think in a number of markets it’s relatively easy to find the Blend, Mizunara and Wine Wood Finish and the Double Distilleries. Limited releases fly off the shelves in Japan or are already bought up on pre-order. We’ve all seen the second hand prices of Single Cask Chichibu and I’m sure no one even a couple of years thought we would live in a world of $1000+ 5-6 year distilled only in the last 10 years. No fault there from a distillery that currently only releases about 150,000 bottles a year. These guys cannot be expected to make up for the short fall of the ‘Big Two’ Suntory and Nikka.
Eigashima White Oak Distillery, tiny concern with limited production runs gave us maybe 8-10 age statement whiskies up to 10 years old, a number being single casks. Good for them and I mean that! It is one of the few positives about the halo effect of the current popularity of Japanese Whisky. The little guys can now confidently sell everything they produce and consequently are happy to continue to distill whisky. Pricing though if you are not in Japan and cannot buy these Akashi for retail price can be problematic as they are often being sold abroad often 3 times or more. It’s a hell of a lot of money for young whiskies!
Mars follows the Eigashima story quite closely as far as number of releases in 2018. At least in Australia though, Mars is more readily available. Our largest discount liquor store chain has at one stage or another throughout the 2018 sold 8 different Mars bottling’s consisting of their core range plus 5 limited releases. That number comes close to equaling the total number of offerings from the ‘Big Two’ sold by the same chain in 2018.
There were a number of new pot/new make spirits released primarily in Japan. Good news for the future but of no impact at all on the over all state of play in 2018.
If you are like me, you would have done internet searches for Japanese Whisky News throughout 2018. Really just a case of nothing to see here and the majority of news was about the Japanese Whisky drought and discontinued age statement bottling’s.
You don’t have to be Nostradamus to see a basic repeat of 2018 in 2019. If you are a fan of Japanese Whiskies I can only suggest to keep your wits about you and be ready to pounce on any new bottling’s released in 2019.
Down the track both Chichibu and Mars should offer a little more relief from the drought. Mars in 2020 when some true(whisky aged at least three years) starts being bottled from the Tsunuki Distillery. Chichibu a little later once the second distillery which will run concurrently with original distillery and be 5 times the size, bottles whisky in around 2023. The other new distilleries looking to release Japanese Whisky in 2020 should at least provide us with some variety if not a big boost in overall output.
The true turn around however will only start when the Big Two, Suntory and Nikka, start churning out significant numbers of age statement whiskies again. When that will be is anyone’s guess!

Bar Te – Airigh Chichibu Japan – Japanese Whisky

IMG_1693 (1)-3After our tour of Chichibu Distillery had completed I asked if our tour guide Soma could recommend a good whisky bar in Chichibu town. He recommended Bar Te – Airigh and what an awesome recommendation it was. Now Soma called the bar Bar Cherry, as did Chichibu Brand Ambassador Yumi. I tried a google search that would translate Bar Te – Airigh to Bar Cherry but I could not find one.

Walking through the door into this awesome whisky cave felt immediately like home. Fantastic laid back vibe and friendly English speaking owner Takeshi Yokota. Bottles total around 600 of all types of whisky and about 150 of those are Japanese. Now 150 bottles of Japanese Whisky is tantalizing enough, but what makes Bar Cherry stand out from the crowd is probably the best selection of Chichibu Whisky available. Roughly half the bottles of Japanese Whisky are Chichibu, with so many being limited releases including the bars own bottling.

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I also found the bar great value and there is no seating charge. I had full shots of 2 Single Cask Chichibu, 1 being from a sample bottle of Chichibu that will be a bar exclusive released in a few months. Also 1 Miyagikyo Limited Release and Scotch Malt Whisky Society 119.14 Yamazaki and Scotch Malt Whisky Society 120.7 Hakushu both from Spanish Oak Bota Corta casks. My girlfriend had 3 JD mixers and we both had ham and cheese toasties and 1 x homemade baked cheese cake. Total price was about AUD$195 or US$145. If you know the prices of full bottles of the ones I tasted you will know why I think this was great value.
Takeshi san also graciously lined up the 6 2018 New Pot from the Shizuoka Distillery for me to try gratis.

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It takes around 70 minutes by Limited Express train to reach Chichibu from Ikebukuro Station Tokyo and the last 30 minutes or so winds its way through some lovely Japanese country side. As we did not know what time we would return from Chichibu we bought 1 way tickets in each direction. Total cost for the train tickets was about US$22 per person. All seats on the Limited Express trains are reserved so allow yourself enough time at Ikebukuro station to purchase these. There is a Limited Express office about 20 meters from the platform that the Chichibu LE train leaves from.
Bar Cherry is about a 15 minute walk or a few minutes by taxi from Chichibu Station. The address is 8-4 Daiichi-Isida Bld, Miyakawacho, Chichibu-shi Saitama 386-0046 Japan. Ph: 0494-24-8833.
Bar opens at 5PM and the last Limited Express back from Tokyo leave at around 10.25PM from memory. Takeshi san can advise of train times. We went on a Monday. Please check with the bar prior to visiting that they will be open on that day. You can send a message via the Facebook page.
I don’t pay a lot of attention to the non Japanese Whiskies as I focus on stuff relevant to Japanese Whisky Blog, but you can get an idea of other Whiskies by checking out the Facebook page or the bars blog.
I cannot recommend Bar Te – Airigh(Bar Cherry) highly enough and it is now my favorite Whisky Bar!

Kirin Single Cask 10YO #M814 47%abv

P1050359Nose: Apricots, dried pears, barley, lemon sherbet, vanilla, wood spice, ash.
Palate: Barley, dried pears, smoke, salt, ginger, spearmint, lemons, oregano, oak. Mouth feel it light and crisp. Water brings out almonds and thickens the body a little.
Finish: Minerals, lemon, icing sugar, spearmint, ash.
Last Word: Easy drinking, no off notes, not particularly bold or complex and comes off a little younger that 10 years old.

Rating: 82/100

Buying Japanese Whisky in Japan 2018 Report

In the 2017 there were 428 comments by contributors for the Buying Japanese Whisky in Japan Report thread. A mighty effort especially from a small number of very active posters. My personal thanks to those guys.
In 2017 there were also 22,500 views of this thread so be in no doubt this post and the advice given is greatly valued by readers of TJWR. I should add that there were 12,000 views of the 2016 report during that 2017 as well.
So to our regular contributors and anyone else who wants to jump on board, I look forward to reading about your experiences of buying Japanese Whisky in Japan 2018!

Kampai

Brian AKA Dramtastic

Kirin 17YO Small Batch Single Malt Whisky 46%abv

P1050313Nose: Fresh cut timber, apricot, straw, pineapple, mustard, prune juice, passion fruit.
Palate: Passion fruit, strawberries, rye spice, nutmeg, salt, orange, pineapple, saw dust, balsamic. Light bodied.
Finish: Lots of chewy mints, passion fruit, pineapple, orange, timber.
Last Word: Has a number of typical elements found in many Kirin whiskies. Pineapple, passion fruit and Bourboneque is style. If your not a bourbon fan you probably won’t fancy this, but I like the fact that Kirin has it’s own house style at least in relation to other Japanese distilleries. This one although smooth and well made is not outstanding.

Rating: 84/100

Kirin Fuji Gotemba Single Cask 1995 10YO #M000505 45%abv

P1050287Nose: Peated and while by no means to Ardbeg or Laphroaig level peating, this would be classed as heavily peated by most Japanese whisky distilleries. You can pick up the peated note from 2 feet away. Diesel, creosote, barley, candy apple, dried pears, pomegranate, shoe polish, toffee.
Palate: Toffee coated nuts, nutmeg, toffee apples, tar, dried papaya, dried pears, spearmint, licorice. Water adds milk chocolate and cafe latte.
Finish: Tar, spearmint, toffee, a mineral element and lingers on cafe latte.
Last Word: I am not a peated whisky fanatic but this has a nice balance between the peaty and the sweeter elements of toffee, dried fruit and the bitter sweet cafe latte. These single cask Kirin have been available at the Fuji Gotemba distillery from time to time. I have tried a few but this one being bottled in 2005 is even rarer. Liked this whisky a lot from the start and I’ll definitely grab another if one becomes available.

Rating: 88/100

Buying Japanese Whisky in Japan 2017 Report

004Kicking things off early this year. A big thanks to all who posted reports over the last coupe of years especially the regulars. Great work and an invaluable source of reference if the 10’s of thousands of views these posts have received is anything to go by.

I though we’d start off with a report added by Martin 2 days ago in the 2016 post but is from January 2017 .
FYI . . .
In Hakata earlier this month found an Hibiki 21 at Daimaru. Then bought one of them Kurayoshi 18 year old at BIC Camera Hiroshima on a whim (wondering about this one, will taste when back home). Also found, but decided not to buy, an Hibiki 12 YO at a side street retailer. Just today found the last bottle on shelf of Hakushu 18 YO at BIC Camera in Ikebukuro (the bigger one, closer to station). Also bought some miniature Hibiki 17 YO at Seibu in Ikebukuro.

This post is open to anyone who wishes to contribute so keep the reports coming folks and happy hunting in 2017!

Kirin Fuji Gotemba Small Batch Single Grain Whisky 25YO 46%abv

P1050278Nose: Creme caramel, stewed apple with cinnamon, dried bananas, nutmeg, smooth creamy oak, spearmint, icing sugar and a coastal element like shellfish. With water there is a bourbony kick of orange, licorice and rye spice.
Palate: Baking spices along with a hit of pepper and sea salt. Brown sugar, stewed apples and the dried bananas. Water brings back the creme caramel plus blood oranges, licorice and salted cashews.
Finish: This is the let down as it is short and fairly thin. There’s some icing sugar, nutmeg, brown sugar and licorice.
Last Word: The nose is luscious, the palate complex for a grain whisky with decent balance, but the finish diminishes this as an overall excellent experience and knocks several points of the score.

Rating: 87/100

Kirin Fuji Gotemba Blenders Choice Single Grain Whisky 2015 46%

IMG_3959Nose: Light and smooth. Apple, butter, creamed corn, dried pears, honey, cinnamon.
Palate: Brown sugar, nutmeg, honey, buttered scones, dried pears, cinnamon and apple pie. Nice balance between fruits, spices and baked goods.
Finish: Sweet spices, dried pears and apples, pie crust.
Last Word: A smooth, well balanced single grain whisky that would pair well with a platter of cheese, dried fruits and nuts.

Rating: 84/100

Karuizawa Topples The Macallan In 2015

Karuizawa1960.jpgI’ve just begun reading the March issue of Whisky Magazine and in this edition there is a quite significant post in regards to Karuizawa. The Whisky Magazine Index collates the prices of live auction sites over a 12 month period and has been running since 2007. Since inception, The Macallan has taken top spot for whisky prices each year. Well each year up until 2015. This was the year that a Japanese Whisky Distillery took over the number 1 position and unsurprisingly it was Karuizwa. To save a lengthy explanation in this post as to how the index works you can check out the following link.
Now back to unsurprisingly, I only say this because it is well known now in the whisky world the stratospheric prices being fetched by Karuizawa on the auction circuit. The WMI shows the average price for Karuizawa’s in 2015 at a scarcely believable GBP2,500 a bottle compared to second place Macallan GBP1,700. I also agree with WM’s assessment that prices consolidated in the second half of the year rather than any significant fall.
What is surprising is how quickly it has happened since Japanese whisky gained a foot hold in markets outside of Japan. Karuizwa produced and sold whiskies for decades including single casks in Japan before we starting seeing them outside of their homeland. It has been correctly stated a number of times that the Japanese whisky industry was in the doldrums for many years in Japan. Karuizawa was not much better known in Japan for all those years than it was outside of Japan. I would actually go as far as saying unloved for the most part in Japan, Hanyu the same. The bigger companies such as Nikka and Suntory could still churn out enough blended whiskies during that time to continue viable production runs. Of course this lack of love for Japanese whisky at home meant the smaller players either closed or stopped production of whisky in favor of producing other types of alcohol. Yes, we know that that it was a decision by the Japanese conglomerate Kirin to close Karuizawa, but if you think about the conditions at the time, from a purely corporate perspective there was no reason to keep it open.
Now for some personal perspective on Karuizwa whisky. Firstly, what is the formula to get to the number 1 spot for auction prices from what was really a base of zero about 7 years ago. Number one has to be lucky in historic timing. As the planet gets smaller through the world wide web, the upper middle and wealthy classes swell in developing economies and peoples tastes broaden, the conditions are right for something unknown to become a sensation. This is not just in regards to Karuizawa but Japanese whisky as a whole. Secondly was a company founded by non Japanese natives who took a leap of faith to distribute Karuizawa, Hanyu and Chichibu in the UK/Europe because the Japanese who owned these companies where never going to do that under the conditions in Japan at the time. That distribution began right around the time the first conditions where coming into play outside of Japan. Thirdly, that company have also proven to be brilliant at marketing. Fourthly, the world’s best known and influential whisky blogger writes for the most part dazzling high scoring reviews of Karuizawa and writes this type of review for a significant number of bottling’s basically since Karuizawa was first released outside of Japan. Fifth would be rarity, Karuizawa will always be rarer than any of the high prices Scottish whisky distilleries listed on the index. Sixth, the Japanese have fallen in love with their own whisky in the last 18 months and are now alert to the prices they can sell them for. Lastly myth, how many of these Karuizawa are actually being opened at these prices and how what sort of cross section of tasting reviews are there on the web and that includes whisky forums driven by consumers? Compared to Scottish whisky very few in either scenario. A lot of reviews have been by the retailers who are selling them so I am sure they are totally unbiased : ). So what are we basing the legend on, in reality bugger all! Still, if you are retailer or collector who is buying and selling Karuizawa for a profit, you are more than happy to perpetuate the myth even if you have never tasted a Karuizawa in your life.
Personally I think Karuizawa is the most overrated whisky distillery in the world and have found a number of bottling that I just cannot drink, certainly more than from any other Japanese distillery. Basically the one’s I can’t drink just sit in the cupboard though I have allowed some family to use them to drink with their favorite mixer. This is not to say I have not tasted some very good to excellent Karuizawa, it’s just they are not anything like equal to the legend to my tastes.
To finish I’ll add that there are 5 Japanese distilleries/brands listed in the top 25 of the index in 2015, the others being Hanyu, Yamazki, Hibiki and Nikka. Hanyu is sitting at number 6 and although the rise in prices for 2015 were 5.6% compared to Karuizawa’s 7.4% I believe the greatest part of the percentage for Hanyu was in the second half of the year’s compared to Karuizawa where it was in the first half of the year. Any bets that in the next few years it will be a one-two for Japanese whiskies at the top of the index……………