Shirakawa 1958 - an extraordinary whisky
The liquor is said to be the rarest Japanese whisky in the world. Not without reason. It will soon be on the market in a limited edition, distributed by the Tomatin distillery, a subsidiary of the producer.
Shirakawa Distillery was built in 1939 in Fukushima Prefecture. It operated until 2003, when it was closed and demolished. As is customary in Japan, the distillery produced a number of different liquors, and malt whisky was one of the products in its portfolio. This type of alcohol was produced at Shirakawa from 1951 to 1969, making the distillery one of the first malt whisky producers in Japan. This whisky was said to be excellent, but not even a single limited edition has ever appeared. All production was destined to compose blends.
Shirakawa became part of Takara Shuzo's portfolio in 1947, and in 1986 the same company bought the Tomatin distillery in Scotland. And here comes the connection between the two whisky makers, which continues to this day.
According to renowned expert Stefan van Eycken, a specialist in Japanese whisky, there is no known case of a Japanese vintage whisky being bottled from a vintage earlier than the Shirakawa 1958. So we are dealing with the oldest vintage edition of single malt whisky in the history of Japanese whisky.
The type of barrels in which the whisky was matured is unknown, as well as the duration of maturation, as the whisky was found long after the closure of the Shirakawa distillery, in 2019, in the Kurokaberuga warehouses owned by Takara Shuzo. All that is known is that it came from distillation in 1958, matured in barrels, then transferred to ceramic decanters. When the Shirakawa distillery closed, the whisky went into stainless steel tanks and was transported to a company-owned plant on the island of Kiuiu, where it has been stored ever since.
Shirakawa 1958 was bottled as a 49% vol. beverage. The accumulated stock was enough to prepare 1,500 bottles, which will go on sale on September 13 this year. A single bottle will cost £25,000, and they will only be available through carefully selected stores, including, for example, London's Harrods.
Over the past decade or so, Japanese whisky has made a real splash among lovers of the drink. Suffice it to mention single malt whisky from the Karuizawa distillery, whose vintage editions fetch astronomical prices on the secondary market. It's no different with liquor from Hanyu, Yoichi and Miyagikyo. Those interested in expanding their horizons with whisky from the Land of the Cherry Blossom are encouraged to learn more about the the current, extremely rich offer of the House of Whisky Online.
[24.08.2022 / Photo: Tomatin Distillery]