Whisky du Monde - Catalogue Création 2025

Whisky Monde

Distilleries from nearly every continent have left their mark on the history of spirits.

One such legend — the Yoichi distillery, founded by Masataka Taketsuru in 1934 — is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. A highlight of this chapter, Nikka Whisky is celebrating the milestone with the unveiling of The Nikka Nine Decades, a limited edition that embodies the saga of this pioneering Japanese whisky house.

Japan is a major player on the worldwide stage, with nearly a hundred distilleries currently active or under construction. Chichibu — founded in 2008 by Ichiro Akuto — is of particular note, a major inspiration for today’s “new wave” of Japanese whisky. In a different region of Asia, the Foundations collection also features Taiwanese distillery Kavalan, whose gigantic facilities (completed in 2005) have recently been expanded with a third cellar. Amrut is another notable distillery, famous for manufacturing its own stills and releasing the very first Indian single malt whiskey, twenty years ago. Oceania is represented by Hellyers Road — named after English surveyor and architect Henry Hellyer, who is remembered for his exploration and mapping of Tasmania in the 1820s.

Across the Pacific Ocean lies the United States of America, whose emblematic distilleries may be rediscovered in this chapter. This land, which birthed the iconic bourbon-houses of the 19th century, is home to around 2,000 of them — with Kentucky boasting the highest concentration. Some of these distilleries have become monuments of legend. Consider Warehouse H: built in the 1980s within a vast 18th-century industrial complex, this is where Blanton’s single-barrels have been matured since 1984. An iconic edifice, certainly.

Family distillery Willett, founded in 1936, embodies another aspect of American whiskey’s heritage: it symbolises the resurgence of the whisky industry after the end of Prohibition. Willett reopened in 2012 after 32 years of slumber and major renovations, and announced in 2023 that it was breaking ground on a brand new distillery. This catalogue also shines a spotlight on luminaries of the American “craft” movement, such as Few Spirits (founded just north of Chicago in 1991) and Anchor Distilling Company (Old Potrero). The latter, founded in San Francisco in 1993, is a highlight of our 2024 Ex Libris series.

Lastly, the Foundations collection features distilleries from the Old World. To begin with, the Emerald Isle is represented by Waterford, which was built in an old Guinness distillery. Our travels come to an end in the United Kingdom, with two regional ambassadors: Welsh distillery Penderyn and Bimber in England, both of which opened new facilities in 2023. Swansea Distillery inhabits the factory which, in the 19th century, produced 90% of British copper, while Dunphail reconnects with the old tradition of floor malting — its kiln-topped roof a wink to the heritage of Charles Doig.

Japan - Blended Whisky - OB

Nikka Whisky 1934-2024

To mark its 90th anniversary, Nikka Whisky has released a special bottling, Nine Decades, created by Master Blender Hiromi Ozaki. What better time to delve into the history of this iconic group founded in 1934 by Masataka Taketsuru, the father of Japanese whisky!

A true pioneer, Masataka Taketsuru left Japan in 1918 to learn the art of distillation at a number of Scottish distilleries, including Longmorn in Speyside, Hazelburn in Campbeltown and Bo’ness in the Lowlands. In parallel, he studied chemistry at the University of Glasgow. After returning to Japan in late 1920, he joined the company Kotobukiya in June 1923, who entrusted him with overseeing Yamazaki’s construction. On 2 July 1934, Taketsuru founded Dai Nippon Kaju Co. Ltd. (renamed The Nikka Whisky Distilling Company in 1952) and began building the Yoichi distillery on the island of Hokkaido, with construction finishing in October of the same year. The first spirit came off the stills in 1936. Equipped with four wash stills and two spirit stills, all coal-fired, Yoichi produces not only unpeated whisky but also lightly peated and heavily peated whiskies which, used together, shape the character of its single malt.

The grain distillery Nishinomiya was founded in 1963 and equipped with the first Coffey still imported to Scotland by Masataka Taketsuru. Four years later, Masataka’s adopted son Takeshi Taketsuru presented his father with several locations for setting up their new distillery. Miyagikyo was opened in May 1969. Located in a small village in the province of Miyagi renowned for the purity of its spring water, it was equipped with four boil ball wash stills and four similar spirit stills designed to promote slow distillation. Its single malt is deeply charming and most commonly unpeated or only lightly peated.

Of the many expressions released by Nikka Whisky, some have played a truly decisive role in establishing the brand’s international renown The first edition of Nikka From the Barrel — a legendary blend composed primarily of malts matured in bourbon casks — was launched in Japan in 1985. Four years later, Yoichi and Miyagikyo’s single malts were released, followed in 2000 by Taketsuru Pure Malt, created in memory of Masataka Taketsuru, who died in 1979. In 1999, Nishinomiya’s two Coffey stills were transferred to Miyagikyo, which began producing Coffey Grain bottlings in 2014, primarily from maize, and Coffey Malt, made entirely from malted barley.

In 2001, Whisky Magazine named a cask strength bottling of Yoichi Single Cask 10 Year Old “Best of the Best”. This first award marked the start of the brand’s runaway success and paved the way for new opportunities abroad. The figurehead of Japanese whisky, Nikka continues to inspire a generation of distilleries in the archipelago today.

Japan - Single Malt - OB

Mars X Kurashima

This year, Mars brings us a collection of five single casks produced at Komagatake (formerly Shinshu) and Tsunuki. Two of these single malts were matured in Yakushima’s warehouses. For the second time running, the labels for these single casks were created by artist and designer Takahiro Kurashima. Kurashima’s illustrations were inspired by the iconic architectural features of Mars’ distilleries, including Komagatake’s pagoda roof, Yakushima’s warehouses and Tsunuki’s tower. After turning these elements into motifs, the shapes were duplicated and arranged in rosettes. Their pink, yellow, blue and ochre shades evoke the flavour and aroma palettes of the single malts in the series. the Japanese Alps, at an altitude of 800 metres. This distillery is today known as Komagatake.

Interview of TAKAHIRO KURASHIMA.

Renowned artist and designer, and member of the modern kinetic art movement, Takahiro Kurashima was born in Japan in 1970 and today lives in Tokyo. His artworks have featured in varied universes, from fashion to design, music, publishing and spirits.

When creating the motifs used in your work, you were inspired by the architecture of Mars’ distilleries. What do these visual interplays mean to you?

I manipulated these architectural elements — which are by their nature inorganic — according to the laws of symmetry, transforming them like plant organisms. By simply repeating these shapes, I was able to desig n something beyond my imagi-nation. Ultimately, this is in keeping with my definition of “foundations”. I combine pre-existing shapes, designed for specific needs such as architecture, or dictated by universal standards of beauty, to create new shapes.

What does industrial architecture represent for you?

Industrial architecture is a beauty sculpted by its functionality. It generally leaves little place for ornamentation or sophisticated shapes. I have a deep affection for the architecture of the distilleries I was inspired by.

How did you come up with the colour palette for each of the labels? Were you inspired by the whiskies’ aroma profiles?

The labels’ colour schemes were designed based on detailed information from each whisky’s aroma profile. To express the flavour nuances, we considered both the uniqueness and the unity of these five Mars expressions.

Japan - Single Malt - OB

Chichibu Paris Edition

Every year since 2018, Japanese distillery Chichibu, founded by Ichiro Akuto in 2008, designs a new blend dedicated to the City of Lights, released under the name Chichibu Paris Edition. The 2024 bottling is a tribute to Paris and Tokyo’s most beautiful monuments.

Six expressions, embellished with labels printed on traditional Japanese washi paper, explore the buildings that have come to symbolise their respective cities. In this game of mirrors, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and Notre-Dame Cathedral are paired with the Tokyo Tower, the Meiji Jingu Gate and the Tokyo Imperial Palace, offering an opportunity to revisit this remarkable architectural heritage through a unique tasting.

Chichibu x Moriguchi

In parallel to the Paris Edition 2024, the Japanese distillery Chichibu, founded in 2008 by Ichiro Akuto, has unveiled a new series of four single casks distilled between 2013 and 2016. Two of these offer a new interpretation of peat through the use of peated barley and ex-peated casks. The two other versions contrast a classic bourbon cask maturation in one of the oldest single casks ever released by the young distillery and maturation in a wine cask from prestigious vineyard Grand Puy Lacoste.

The bottles’ labels are decorated with geometric patterns and were designed by Kunihiko Moriguchi (born 1941). A living national treasure, Moriguchi famously revived the Japanese tradition of yuzen, a 300-year-old dyeing technique used exclusively for ceremonial kimonos. This latest series from Chichibu pays tribute to the art form whose timeless beauty and exceptional expertise continue to inspire fascination today.