(Image Source: Hinormaru Whisky)

Kiuchi Sake Brewery's Hinomaru Whisky, based in Naka City of Ibaraki Prefecture, has released a very surprising pair of Japanese single malt whiskies for fans - a Hinomaru Whisky Sakura Cask 6 Year Old and a Hinomaru Whisky Port Cask Finish 5 Year Old, both distilled at the Nukada Distillery.

This is a real delight for fans as Hinomaru only recently released their 1st Edition Hinomaru Single Malt Whisky just months ago, which itself was actually aged under 3 years old. This hinted at Hinomaru having on hand only younger stocks of whiskies, yet Hinomaru has now revealed that the brand actually had on hand some fairly well aged stocks of single malt whiskies - a 5 Year Old and 6 Year Old pair of whiskies that are also aged in pretty interesting casks of Sakura and the other being aged in Sherry casks before taking on a Port cask finish.

This was possible as pointed out by Japanese whisky correspondent Nomunication, that Kiuchi Shuzo, the parent of Hinomaru Whisky, had actually begun distilling whiskies at Nukada Distillery since February 2016 before moving at least some of its distillation to the newer Yasato Distillery.

As Nomunication points out, what is eye catching about this is that this pair of releases would indicate that Kiuchi Shuzo was likely one of the first to start their own craft whisky distilling since Chichibu whisky came on the scene, which itself paved the way for many more craft distilleries that have more recently begun to release their own Japanese single malts.

(Image Source: Hinomaru Whisky)

Hinomaru Whisky Sakura Cask

This single cask expression was distilled in 2016 at Nukada Distillery using a column-type still with non-peated malt, which was then aged for 6 years in a single Sakura cask at the eastern foot of Mt. Tsukuba. Hinomaru tells us that the expression features a "reddish amber glow [with a] deep and gorgeous finish".

It is bottled at 48% ABV and is priced at 33,000 Yen or 225 USD for a 700ml bottling. 

Hinomaru is taking Web applications for the bottling, which you can access on their site here.

Applications will run from 11 October 2022 to 18 October 2022.

(Image Source: Hinomaru Whisky)

Hinomaru Whisky Port Cask Finish

This single cask expression was distilled in 2016 as well, using a column-type still at the Nukada Distillery, which was then aged in a single Sherry cask for 4 years, and subsequently finished in a Port Wine cask for 1 year. Hinomaru describes it as "complex and deep aged incense weaved by two types of barrels".

It is bottled at 48% ABV and is similarly priced at 33,000 Yen or 225 USD for a 700ml bottling.

The bottling is also available only via Web applications, which can be accessed on their site here.

Applications will run from 11 October 2022 to 18 October 2022.

Our Take

What has tongues wagging about these pair of releases isn't just the surprise that Hinomaru had been sitting on some more aged whisky stocks than was initially thought, but perhaps more so that the bottlings were priced at a very steep 33,000 Yen or 225 USD. Despite the fact that these would be some of the more well-aged craft Japanese whisky expressions on the market, not counting Chichibu, and that both expressions are single cask and have an outturn of only 100 bottles for each expression to go, it is still considerably pricey.

That said, the demand for Japanese whiskies is as everyone knows, piping hot, although it would be a real test to see if that is sufficient to bolster a relatively young brand as Hinomaru, even with the relatively more attractive age statements on. 

However, I would argue that there might be good cause to believe that the higher prices would help disallow flippers, if that is even the brand's intention. Given that the outturns are already minuscule, its hard to imagine that anyone could think there would not be sufficient (heck, more likely far, far exceeding) demand for the expressions. They were probably expected to sell out several times over. The only question would be whose hands it would land upon.

As such the higher prices could actually potentially reduce the upside for flippers on auctions - after all, would we be so confident that these expressions from a relatively young brand could go for much higher that the already eye-watering RRP? That could make it a riskier flip and actually counterintuitively put it into the hands of real fans or bars instead.

Perhaps what I'm also curious about is whether we'll see other young distilleries or brands do a magic rabbit-out-of-the-hat trick and whip out a couple of unexpectedly more well-aged expressions.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot