Shirakawa 1958 is the one official single malt bottling from the demolished distillery, and can be stated to be the earliest single classic Japanese whisky bottled so far, though a part of its again story stays shrouded in thriller.
The whisky was distilled on the Shirakawa distillery, positioned 200km north of Tokyo, in 1958, and survived an period when Shirakawa’s malt whisky was nearly all utilized in proprietor Takara Shuzo’s flagship ‘King’ mix.
Shirakawa was opened in Fukushima Prefecture by earlier proprietor Daikoku Budoshu in 1939, earlier than being acquired by Takara Shuzo in 1947. It solely produced malt whisky between 1951 and 1969, and was demolished in 2003.
Little is thought of the historical past of the whisky, which was distilled at a time when Shirakawa primarily used Japanese malted barley and domestically sourced ‘mizunara’ oak casks. In some unspecified time in the future, it was transferred from oak into ceramic jars on the distillery, then put into chrome steel tanks at Takara Shuzo’s Kyushu manufacturing facility when Shirakawa closed.
‘There aren’t any recognized examples of Japanese whisky claiming to be from a single classic that predate Shirakawa 1958,’ stated Stefan van Eycken, a number one authority on Japanese whisky. ‘Though Shirakawa distillery was one of many pioneers of malt whisky making in Japan, the liquid was by no means formally accessible as a single malt.’
The whisky got here to mild after Stephen Bremner, MD of Scotland-based Tomatin Distillery Co – which is owned by Takara Shuzo – grew to become intrigued by the Japanese firm’s early historical past of malt whisky manufacturing. Intensive analysis led to the identification of the ultimate parcel of Shirakawa single malt in 2019.
From 13 September, 1,500 70cl bottles of Shirakawa 1958, bottled at 49% abv and priced at £25,000 every, might be accessible from tomatindistillery.com and retailers together with Harrods, Berry Bros & Rudd, The Whisky Change and Royal Mile Whiskies.
The one UK client tasting of Shirakawa 1958 will happen at 12.45pm on Saturday, 1 October 2022, at The Whisky Change Whisky Present in London. Tickets might be accessible from right this moment (24 August) at whiskyshow.com/london/. Friends should additionally maintain a Saturday ticket for the present.
