It seems like Ghost #20 from Stefan van Eycken's Ghost Series of Japanese whisky independent bottlings is about to dawn upon us soon -  a 3 Year Old Shizuoka whisky.

While we await more details, we can tell from the label that the 3 Year Old Shizuoka whisky was distilled in 2019 and bottled in 2023, with a total outturn of 224 bottles, bottled at 61.9% ABV. It was aged in an ex-Bourbon barrel - Cask #1809. This bottling appears to be a collaboration with Precious Liquors.

Omori Notices a Demon. (Image Source: Tokaido Arts)

As with each bottling in the series, it carries a print on its label from Japan's last ukiyo-e master Yoshitoshi's "New Forms of Thirty-Six Ghosts" series of woodblock prints produced between 1889 and 1892.

Specifically it carries the print of "Omori Notices a Demon" which tells the story of Omori, a samurai, who is asked by a beautiful young woman to carry her across the stream to the other side. Whilst helping the woman cross the stream, Omori notices her true form in the reflection of the water and discovers that she’s a demon. Before she can kill him, Omori strikes the demon down with her sword.

More details soon!

Background

The Ghost Series started out as a project by Stefan van Eycken to bottle some interesting and rare Japanese whiskies for fans of his blog Nonjatta (which anyone interested in Japanese whiskies should know of by now, or if you haven't should definitely check out). Along the way, it has seen some incredible bottlings that have included Karuizawa's mythical "rouge casks" from the one single year that parent, Mercian, aged Karuizawa's whiskies in wine casks, to peated Hanyu and Chichibu whiskies, and as of late has focused more on Eigashima Distillery's Akashi whiskies, featuring very unusual ex-Sake American Oak casks and Cabernet Franc casks.

Yoshitoshi's last master works titled "New Forms of Thirty-six Ghosts". (Image Source: The Value)

The series is also distinctive in its labelling, with each label featuring a print of Japan's last woodblock print Master, Yoshitoshi's, final series of works titled "New Forms of Thirty-six Ghosts". It is said that the woodblock print selected for that specific bottle's label draws some resonance with the whisky that is being bottled.

Lead image courtesy of Stefan van Eycken's The Ghost Series.

Kanpai!

88 Bamboo Editorial Team