Whisky from the Field: Fukushima's "Soka"

Tamano Ascend Distillery in Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, released a new whisky on 6 September 2026: “Hiraku 2026 SUMMER EDITION Soka”. Soma lies on the Pacific coast, about 300 km north of Tokyo. The distillery grows its own corn and rye in its own fields. “Soka” was bottled once the spirit made from that grain had passed two summers in the cask. It is not a long-matured finished product. It is an interim release, intended to show how the young distillery’s spirit is developing.

A spirit that has seen two summers

The distillery began distilling in July 2024. “Soka” is a blend of spirit that has passed two summers since then. Its core is spirit matured in new casks of the kind used for bourbon. It is bottled at 43% ABV in a 700 ml bottle, with a recommended retail price in Japan of 9,460 yen including tax. It is more matured than “Hiraku NEW BORN”, released in March 2026. It keeps the vigour typical of a young spirit, but the mouthfeel has become softer. The woody aroma and sweetness from the cask are also said to be more clearly present. A bartender who tasted it beforehand described it as having “the scent of earth and grassland” and as “a taste you want at the end of the day”. The name “Soka” (“twin summers”) carries two meanings: the summer in which the grain grew in the field, and the summer the spirit spent in the cask.

A distillery born from a closed school and fallow farmland

The distillery occupies the former Tamano Primary School in the mountain-ringed Tamano district. It is run by CTI Ascend Co., Ltd., which was founded in 2023 through the in-house venture programme of Construction Technology Institute, a construction consultancy. Its stated concept is “whisky grown from the soil”. The company grows its ingredients on farmland that is no longer cultivated and, with the help of local people, carries out everything from harvest to mashing, distillation and filling into casks within the region. It also passes by-products from production to local livestock farmers and growers, and returns the resulting compost to its fields. In this way it is building a system in which resources circulate within the community.

Recognition at competitions

The distillery has also continued to do well at a Japanese competition, the Tokyo Whisky & Spirits Competition (TWSC). In 2025 it won the Newcomer Award, given to a notable new distillery. In 2026, “Hiraku NEW MAKE MashR” won Gold and “Hiraku NEW BORN MashR” won Silver. It also received the special prize “Best Japanese SDGs Award”.

Enjoying it in Europe

It has not yet been announced whether “Soka” will be available in Europe. Even so, the name is worth remembering now for anyone who wants to follow Japan’s new craft distilleries. Handling the growing of the ingredients itself is close in spirit to the “grain-to-glass” distilleries of Scotland and Ireland. To compare, we suggest lining up the young releases that appear each year, so that you can enjoy how the same spirit changes as it matures. Start by drinking it neat and judging the balance between the sweetness of the corn, the spice of the rye and the vanilla of the new cask.