23rd September 2025 marks the unveiling of the latest release in notable Japanese whisky expert Stefan Van Eycken's now legendary Ghost Series, which has served as an evolving collection of some of Japan's most rare and unique whiskies, many of which are never repeated again and hail from the country's most exciting distilleries past and present.

The series is so named after Japan's last woodblock print master Yoshitoshi, whose final series of work "New Forms of Thirty-six Ghosts" was a retelling of Japan's most cherished folklores - each bottling in Van Eycken's Ghost Series thus follows and features a single print from Yoshitoshi's final series, many of which selected for its resonance to the whisky bottled inside. Van Eycken is of course best known for his category defining work at Nonjatta and Whisky Magazine Japan, having documented and followed the modern rise of the Japanese whisky scene. Ghost Series bottlings have thus ranged from mythical Karuizawa's and Hanyu's (both distilleries that no longer exist) to existing mainstays such as Mars, Akashi and Chichibu, although often featuring twists such as the use of ex-Sake casks and Apple Saison beer casks, to an increasing focus on exciting newly minted distilleries such as Kanosuke, Akkeshi and Shizuoka.

Ghost #25.

For Ghost #25, it has thus been announced that the whisky selected comes from Mars Whisky's (Hombo Shuzo) Tsunuki Distillery in Kagoshima Prefecture, an 8 Year Old medium-peated (20ppm) single malt which has then been aged in a First-Fill ex-Sherry Hogshead at the Yakushima Ageing cellar. Whilst the Ghost Series has in fact featured whiskies from Hombo Shuzo - namely Ghost #11 (3 Year Old, 2015-2018) a Komagatake single malt aged at Tsunuki, as well as Ghost #17 (4 Year Old, 2017-2022) that was distilled and aged at Tsunuki Distillery, both non-peated and aged in First-Fill Bourbon casks - Ghost #25 promises to be different; not only is it markedly older at 8 Years Old, but is also special as it was distilled in the very first seasons of production at Tsunuki Distillery when the distillery first opened.

The 8 Year Old Yakushima Aged Tsunuki Japanese Single Malt has been bottled at cask strength of 58% ABV, with just a 241 bottle outturn.

David Tsujimoto of Aloha Whisky and Stefan Van Eycken.

The release, in collaboration with the ever beloved David Tsujimoto of Aloha Whisky Bar, comes on the back of several milestones for the two Japanese whisky icons - it also marks the 6th Anniversary of Aloha Whisky Bar, Stefan Van Eycken's 25 years covering the Japanese whisky scene, and will also be presented at the 25th Aloha Whisky Rising tasting event (which is an ongoing series of tastings held at Aloha Whisky Bar, hosted by Stefan Van Eycken). And so to commemorate the occasion, the pair decided to go with a producer that they both have loved and admired for a long time.

Stefan explains: “I have had a soft spot for Yakushima-aged Mars whisky ever since the company started aging whisky there. I have visited the Hombo shuzo site there a number of times over the years, including way back when there wasn’t even a dedicated warehouse for the aging of whisky and it was just a handful of casks stowed into the corner of a dry goods warehouse. I have been mightily impressed by various Yakushima Aging single cask bottlings and limited-edition releases over the years, and it turned out that David was also a fan of Mars’ Yakushima whiskies. It had been a dream of mine to select a cask at the Yakushima Aging cellar and we set the wheels in motion a little under a year ago, and were over the moon when Hombo Shuzo accepted to host us at the Yakushima Cellar to select a cask. David and I traveled there in March of this year and none other than Tatsuro Kusano was our host during the selection process. It’s fairly unusual to be offered more than two or three samples during a cask selection process at a distillery here in Japan, so we were thrilled  when we saw a line up had been prepared with a great many types of distillates and cask types. It was a tough decision because the samples covered a wide spectrum from Hombo Shuzo’s two distilleries, from elegant distillate-driven non-peated cask samples to wild and robust peated samples, and there were a few samples across the spectrum that we felt were truly excellent. In the end, we picked one from the wild end of the spectrum.”

For Ghost #25, the "Peony Lantern" print from Yoshitoshi's New Forms of Thirty-six Ghosts woodblock series was selected, which tells of a well-known romance featuring two ghostly lady protagonists hurrying to their nightly meeting with the object of their affection. The print was selected for being in-line with the two previous Hombo Shuzo Ghost releases, all of which features notable female leads.

Taking a page from David Tsujimoto's own Tsunuki bottling released two years prior, Ghost #25 will be made available via a signature rally.

16 bars will participate in the rally (including Aloha Whisky Bar in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan), with 10 of the bars in Tokyo and 7 of the bars in Kagoshima, where Tsunuki Distillery resides. The rally will begin on 26th September 2025 and will run until 26th January 2026. Joining the rally is simple - pick up a rally card at one of the participating bars, order a minimum of 2 drinks (plus applicable bar charge) and have your card signed after payment. A minimum number of 7 signatures are required to enter the lottery, with more signatures collected offering higher odds of winning the right to purchase a bottle. Do send in signature cards before the deadline of 26th January 2026, with the draw to be held soon after and winners will be sent their bottle (cash on delivery) starting 9th February 2026.

Note: Participants must be over 20 years of age; there is only 1 signature per person per bar and one entry into the lottery per person. 

Happy bar-hopping!

Kanpai!

88 Bamboo Editorial Team