Japanese independent bottler releases two casks: tunnel-aged malt and roasted-barley grain

Cask & Forest (CASK & FOREST), founded in Tokyo in April 2025, is an independent bottler that buys spirit by the cask from distilleries across Japan and bottles it in-house. It is a standard business model in Scotch, but still new in Japan. The two latest bottlings in its single-cask series, THE NATIVE CASK, went on sale on 29 September 2026 through the company’s official online store.

Nagahama Distillery: peated malt matured in a disused national road tunnel

Nagahama Distillery stands on the shore of Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest lake, in Nagahama, Shiga Prefecture. It calls itself “Japan’s smallest distillery” and will soon mark its tenth anniversary. “#3.2 Heavily Peated” uses malt made from the Scottish barley variety Laureate, smoked heavily with peat. It was distilled in 2022, matured in a first-fill bourbon barrel, and bottled in 2026 without added water. It was matured in a tunnel more than 300 metres long on a disused national road. The temperature barely changes through the year and, according to the distillery, less spirit evaporates during maturation (the angels’ share). The tasting notes describe a savoury smoke, reminiscent of salt-grilled fish, followed straight away by malty sweetness. The price is 18,700 yen (tax included).

Hishida Distillery: grain whisky from roasted barley used for shochu

Tensei Shuzo, in the Osumi Peninsula of Kagoshima Prefecture, is a shochu distillery founded in 1901. Shochu is a traditional Japanese distilled spirit, and the company uses roasted barley in its barley shochu. In 2022 it launched Hishida Distillery, which can produce both malt and grain whisky. When it tried this roasted barley, “chocolate barley”, in whisky too, a toasty aroma like chocolate-coated barley snacks (mugi choco) reportedly remained even after distillation. “#4 Roasted Barley Grain Whisky” is made mainly from Japanese barley, mashed with German malt. It was distilled in 2023 and matured for three years in bourbon barrels. Aromas of vanilla, honey and pear are followed by rye-like spice and a finish of scorched barley. The price is 8,800 yen (tax included).

A new bottler with an eye on forests and casks

According to Mamoru Tsuchiya of the Whisky Culture Research Institute, about 70 per cent of Japan’s land area is forest. Cask & Forest says it aims to live in harmony with those forest resources: it is working with forestry cooperatives and cooperage firms around the country to find distinctively Japanese cask woods, and is also building its own maturation warehouse. THE NATIVE CASK is positioned as the first stage of that effort.

For now, sales are limited to the official Japanese online store, and nothing has been announced about shipping overseas. Even so, the names Nagahama and Hishida are worth remembering. If you come across bottles from either distillery in a European specialist shop, pay attention to the differences in aroma and flavour. It could also be interesting to compare the roasted-barley grain with Scotch grain whisky.