Hakkaisan Brewery launches second rice whisky

Hakkaisan Brewery, a sake brewer in Minamiuonuma, Niigata Prefecture, has released “Hakkaisan Single Grain Uonuma 8 Year Old Rice Whisky 2026 LIMITED” in limited numbers. From 1 July 2026 it accepted applications for a lottery sale through the company’s online store. It follows the company’s first whisky, released in 2025, and keeps the same policy: only spirit distilled in-house is used, and it is aged for at least eight years. Whiskies that are made mainly from rice and use only their own distillate are rare anywhere in the world, so this bottle shows that sake breweries are moving seriously into distilled spirits as well.

Rice whisky made with sake-brewing know-how

In 2005, Hakkaisan Brewery began producing rice shochu at the Fukazawabara Distillery on its grounds. Rice shochu is a traditional Japanese distilled spirit made from rice. The company began making whisky at the same distillery in 2016. The brewing water is subterranean meltwater from Mount Hakkai, the sacred mountain of the region, and fermentation uses the sake yeast normally employed for sake. To preserve the character of the ingredients, the spirit is distilled only twice. The main ingredient is domestic rice, together with malt. The whisky is 52% ABV, comes in a 700 ml bottle and costs 13,200 yen including tax in Japan.

Aged in shochu casks, with a label by a local painter

For maturation, the company reuses casks that held its oak-aged rice shochu, Fubaika, a way of linking Japan’s two distilled spirit cultures. This shochu is brewed using sanzen jikomi, the same three-stage mashing method (adding the ingredients in three batches) used for sake. The spirit has been matured for at least eight years in American white oak and French oak casks. According to the tasting notes, the colour is a bright amber. Ripe citrus aromas are followed by notes of honey and brown sugar, and on the palate a gentle sweetness from the rice and a marmalade-like roundness spread out, with acidity and astringency in balance. The label features the painting “Denen-so” (Pastoral Symphony) by the late Yasuo Yamamoto, a painter from Minamiuonuma.

A whisky born in two snow countries: Uonuma and Niseko

Niseko Distillery, a Hakkaisan Brewery group company in Niseko, Hokkaido, has been making malt whisky since 2021. The group is reportedly also considering a blended Japanese whisky that would combine Uonuma rice grain whisky with Niseko malt whisky. Both places are deep in snow, and both distilleries aim to make whisky that draws on the character of that environment.

In Japan, sales are limited to the lottery and restricted distribution to bars, and no European release has been announced. Even so, rice whisky made by a sake brewery is a category worth watching in Europe in future. At 52% ABV, it is best to nose it neat first, then add a few drops of water to see how the citrus and honey aromas open up. Tasting it alongside oak-aged rice shochu would show clearly how distillation and maturation differ. Whether a blend combining Uonuma and Niseko spirit will appear one day is also worth following.

Sources

• PR TIMES (Hakkaisan Brewery), “Hakkaisan Single Grain Uonuma 8 Year Old Rice Whisky 2026 LIMITED: lottery applications open on Hakkaisan online store from 1 July”