Japanese whisky new archibe

 Umiki whisky is announced to release. According to official website, it is blended whisky of A)Japanese ocean-side distilled malt whisky and B)imported grain whisky after finishing the curation in Japanese pine barrels with filtered, desalinated ocean-water from the depths of the Pacific Ocean. Japanese malt distillery name is never disclosed but there are only a few operating seasinde distillery in Japan. Anyway it not Japanese whisky but Japanese concept whisky.
  Umiki whisky is registered trademark by Kamiki Drinks LLP as same as Kamiki whisky which never mention to whisky distillery. In Japan, it is controled by the small liquor trader Yoshino Spirits located in Osaka city Japan with foreigner CEO.

 Black Nikka is main product of Nikka for volume zone market. Its label has beard man but he is missing from end of March. Actually it is collaboration campaign with famous Anime "Lupin 3rd". 

 Nikka release memorial bottles for 100Y anniversary of marriage of Masataka Taketsuru and his wife Lita. These are 6,700 bottles of "Single malt Yoichi apple brandy wood finish" and 6,350 bottles of "Single malt Miyagikyo apple brandy wood finish".

Kirin release new brands "Fuji" and "Riku" in April 2020. Fuji is single grin whisky of Fuji Gotenba distillery and they plan to supply 120,000 bottels annualy. Riku is blended whisky including import whisky and they plan to supply 50,000 bottles annualy.

 Shinshu distillery made 500L new pot from local 2 raw barley malt for thier whisky. They plan more than 3 years ask aging. 

 Dreamlink, restaurant group in Akita prefecture postponed their new whisky distillery project because they need more time to choose location. They opened call for land and building for thier new whisky distilery and receievd more than 50 proposals. 
 Originally they plan to start distillation in end of 2020 however it was also postponed to end of 2021 or later.

 Dreamlink advertise for lan to build thier new whisky distilery. They plan to finalize location in Jan 2020 and start production in end of 2020.
 This project is supported by Mr. Sato, former chief bartender of Imperial Hotel Tokyo and Akita prefecture general food lab. 

 7th Chichibu whisky festival was held on 16th Feb 2020. It is organized by special commitee of local liquor shop and bar. There were 70 booths including Chichibu distillery, other Japanese whisky distilleries and whisky importer with 3,300 visitors.

 Akkeshi distillery released their 1st single malt whisky Sarorun Kamuy with 3 years aging. Sarorun means Japanese crane and Kamuy means god in Ainu language. Ainu is indigenous peoples in Hokkaido, Karafuto, Kamchatka Peninsula and Kuril Islands.

 Shizuoka distillery released their 1st single malt whisky with 3 years aging. Mr. Nakamura, president comments that whisky is elegant and light taste.
20 casks(200L) are ready on 22nd Jan 2020.

 Nagahama distillery release Amaghagan world malt 4th edition Yamazakura wood finish. 1st edition is released in Dec 2018, 2nd edition Red wine wood finish in May 2019 and 3rd edition Mizunara wood finish in Sep 2019.  

 Suntory release only 100 bottles of Yamazaki 55Y. It is 3 million JPY per bottle. They released 50 bottles of Yamazaki 50Y in 2005, 50 bottles in 2007, and 150 bottles in 2011. It was 1 million JPY per bottle.

Kinouchi Shuzo renew former public house building to thier main whisky distillery Yasato. They install pot still made by Scotish company Forsyth. Currently they have small whisky distillery as a part of Hitachino nest beer brewery.

 Whisky lovers festival Nagoya 2020 was held oon 19th Jan  2020. There were 100 booths including Japanese distilleries, whisky importers, local restaurants and bars  with 3,300 visitors.

 Suntory focus on Indian market and starts new brand "Oaksmith" for it. They targets 1 million case in 2022 and plan to start local production in 5 years.

Nikka renew non aged statement Taketsuru and these bottle will be released form end of March 2020. They increase Yoichi malt balance and it is more crispy peat flavor and body than before renewal. 

 Due to shortage of long aged cask stock, Nikka terminates aged statement pure malt whisky "Taketsuru" bottle (17Y/21Y/25Y) in March 2020 and continue to supply only non aged statement "Taketsuru" bottle. Nikka also has already terminated aged statement single malt whisky "Yoichi" and "Miyagikyo" and limit only to non aged statement one to supply.

 Suntory already terminated aged statement single malt whisky "Yamazaki" and "Hakushu" in 2018

 Suntory declear thier business plan in 2020. They focus on Kaku, Torys and Jim Beam brands mainly for high ball.

Wakatsuru Shuzo takes special campaign to celebrate sales of 100,000 high ball cans "HARRY CRANES Craft Highball". Original blended whisky of high ball bottle wins 100 people by lottery.

 Takagi Shuten which is local 34 liuqor shop chain in Nagano prefecture released thier PB whisky bottle Nagano Zenkoji pure malt. This bottle seems to be produced by Sun foods from import bulk.

 Kinouchi Shuzo opens Hitachino Bluing Tokyo distillery. It has small hybrid pot still however it is more restaurant than distillery without whisky production license. It focus on more Gin than whisky.
 Kinouchi Shuzo is also building Yasato distillery as thier main whisky distillery.

Whisky festival Tokyo 2019 was held on 16th and 17th Nov 2020.

 WHISKY Magazine takes Saburomaru distillery featured especially about their mold pot still ZEMON which Wakatsuru Shuzo developed with Oigo Seisakusho. The cover is Mr. Takahiko Inagaki, Wakatsuru Shuzo Director in charge of whisky and Mr. Yohei Oigo, facotry manager of Oigo Seisakusho.

 Fujiikyoui, 104 local liquord shop chain in Tokai area release PB bottle "Saburomaru blended whisky Goldturtle" . It is made from peated malt whisky distilled by Saburomaru distillery with 7 years aging in bourbon cask and 5-10 years grain whisky. It is 6 months Manzanilla cask finish and diluted with natural water from Tateyama mountains to 55%.

Matsui Shuzo release Gin Hakuto

 Nikka release limited bottle "Black Nikka rich blend confort aroma" in Oct 2019. It is only 120,000 bottles.

 Nikka invests 6.5 billion JPY (50 million EUR) to increase production capacity by 2021. Whisky increased by this investment will come to market by 2030.

Niigata Beer is considering to build whisky distillery together in Vladivostok with Russia local supermarket. Niigata Beer is also considering to build another whisky distillery in Asia. 

 Suntory release memorial design bottle of "Suntory Royal" and "Suntory Old" for cerebrating new year in Nov 2019. Bottle shape/labe desing rabit because coming 2020 is rabit year in Eto year system which is traditioanl Japanese Zodiachas year system having 12 different animals.
Suntory continued to release special Eto zodiac memorial bottle from 1981.

 Nagahama distillery release Amaghagan world malt 3rd  edition Mizunara wood finish. 1st edition is released in Dec 2018 and 2nd edition Red wine wood finish in May 2019.

Honbo Shuzo hold Tsunuki distillery festival 2019 on 11th Nov 2019.

 Kiyosusakura Jozo release Kiyosu 45. It is blended whisky made from Sake yeast distileld with 5 years Oak cask aging. It is supplied only to local 3 prefectures (Aichi, Gifu and Mie)

 Hakki Jozo is considering new whisky distillery in Niseko.

Ichiro's malt card series complete set was auctioned for 100 million yen (8.2 million HKD/0.8 million EUR) in Aug 2019 in Hongkong. Same bottle set was auctioned in 2015 and price was less than half.

 Suntory release world whisky "Ao" 2nd lot in Oct 2019. It is blended whisky of Scothc, Irish, Canadian, Amerian and Japanese whisky. 1st lot was released in April 2019. "Ao" is new brand starting in 2018. 

 Shizuoka craft beer & whisky fair 2019 was held on 26th and 27th Jul 2019. It is organized by special commitee leaded by Gaia flow (Shizuoka distillery). There were more than 60 company booths including 9 Japanese whisky distilleries.

 Kirin releases "Oak master" series. "Oak master Taru Kaoru(Cask flavor)" and "Oak master Mori no kaze kaoru(Forest windows flavor)". Taru Kaoru has not only regular bottle but also large 2.7L and 4L size plastic bottle. Mori no kaze kaoru is mainly for high ball (Whisky with soda) style.

 Saburomaru distillery advertises 2019 cask bite owner in July. It is 2nd time for them and plan 200 bite owners in 2019 for 2 casks. Owner receive 2 bottles in 2024 or later. They also paln to organize cask owner visiting days in Aug with 50ml new pot bottle gift.

Kirin release limited whisky bottle "Distilleries select  2019" from June 2019. It has single malt bottle and single grain bottle and 3,000 bottles(half 200ml bottle/other half 500ml bottle) per each.

 Suntory release world whisky "Ao" 2nd lot of 2019 in Oct 2019. It is blended whisky of Scothc, Irish, Canadian, Amerian and Japanese whisky. 1st lot of 2019 was released in April 2019. "Ao" is new brand starting in 2018. 

 Fujiikyoui, 104 local liquord shop chain in Tokai area release PB bottle "Kunpou Barrel collection 2019" made by Kirin Fuji Gotanba distillery.

Nagahama distillery started 1 night stay whisky making experience tour from July 2019. They plan to held 2-4times per month and 6 member per each. 

 Nikka release limited bottle "Black Nikka deep blend" in May 2019. It is only 120,000 bottles.

Nikka release Tottori and Tottori Bourbon Barrel. These are their basic lineup blended whisky.

 Niigata micro distillery company was founded by Ohtani which is local stamp manufacutre in Niigata prefecture. Niigata micro distillery company plan to accept additional investment from other local companies.

They plan to invest 100 million JPY (0.8 million EUR) to renovate building to distillery and install copper pot still made by Scotich company Forsyth with 30,000 L distillation capacity per year.

They plan to start production in April 2020.

 Komasa Jozo release Komasa Gin Hoji tea. They plan to sell 10,000 bottle in 2019 for both domestic and overseas market. Komasa Jozo released Komasa Gin Sakurajima small orange as thier 1st gin in Jul 2018. 

 Miyashita Shuzo release craft Vodka Akihikari.

 Nikka release limited bottle "Single malt Yoichi limited edition 2019" and "Single malt Miyagikyo limited edition 2019" in March 2019. It is only 700 bottles per each.

Nikka invests to Miyagikyo distillery to increase cask storage capacity by 40%. 

Miyashita Shuzo invests to install 3 tanks to increase beer production capacity. One of these tanks are fermentation tank and it also increase whisky produciton capacity.

 Kirin invests 8 billion JPY (65 million EUR) to Fuji Gotenba distillery to install 4 fermentation tanks and 4 pot stills and increase cask storage capacity by 20% to 200,000 casks. Production capacity became double by Jun 2021.

 6th Chichibu whisky festival was held oon 17th Feb 2020. It is organized by special commitee of local bar. There were 70 booths including Chichibu distillery, other Japanese whisky distilleries and whisky importer with 3,000 visitors.

Suntory terminates White Kaku bottle in the end of Mar 2019 and focus to continue Kaku bottle.

Honbo Shuzo invests 1.2 billion JPY (1 million EUR) to Shinshu distillery. Production capacity will increased by 10% and cask storage capacity became double (From 2,000 casks to 4,000). New visitor center building also will be  built.