The 50th anniversary of Kirin's Fuji Whiskey is a big deal - Japanese whiskies have come a long way and Fuji Whiskey is itself unique for its grain prowess that it's refined for the past five decades. Perhaps more poetically, it is said that snowmelt from Mt Fuji, which the brand takes its name from, takes 50 years to make its way from the snowcaps at the peak of the mountain to the underground aquifers that eventually go into making Fuji Whiskey.

The distillery was founded in 1972 and started making whiskies in 1973, and is today helmed by Master Blender Jota Tanaka, who is himself incredibly acclaimed and experienced, and who is also one of only five Japanese inductees to the World Whisky Hall of Fame.

With all that weight, you can expect the 50th Anniversary bottlings coming from Fuji to be something special - Fuji Whiskey is therefore debuting a 50th Anniversary Edition Single Grain Japanese Whiskey that will feature a blend of distilled spirits from every decade of its history, including 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s!

Jota Tanaka.

Also famously, Fuji Whiskey makes three profiles of grain whiskies - Bourbon type, Canadian type and Scotch type - which is reflective of its unique history of having been established with major influences from these whisky producing regions, all of which are combined together in this Anniversary Edition Single Grain.

This is said to create "a perfectly harmonized sweet and complex aged aroma derived from long-aged undiluted whiskey that has been continuously improved with an eye to the future."

| Read: Talking “Japanese-ness”, Fellowship & Food Pairings with Jota Tanaka - Master Blender of Fuji Whisky

Only 6,000 bottles of the Fuji Single Grain 50th Anniversary Edition Japanese Whiskey will be released, bottled at an indicative 52% ABV (to be confirmed, as it will be bottled at cask strength), and will retail at 27,500 Yen (US$177) at Kirin's DRINX online store.

The limited edition bottling will be made available via lottery sales which will be open on 28th May 2024.

Kanpai! 

88 Bamboo Editorial Team