nomunication.jp - tokyo bar & cocktail guide

29/05/2025

Another great year at the Tokyo International BarShow 2025. This year's theme was "The Historical Journey," so guess who showed up?

This year’s BarShow was another big one. 14,100 attendees showed up across May 10-11… and it even rained on Saturday. The rain didn’t seem to bother anyone though. 14,100 is actually a slight decrease from last year’s visitor count of 14,500. I think nobody noticed. Despite advance warnings ...

14/05/2025

Great night talking shop and drinking whisky with the team from while they're here in Japan!

03/05/2025

So last year I wrote a bit about the crowding at the Tokyo International BarShow. It seems that this year they are introducing some new restrictions on the purchase of same-day tickets, re-entering the venue, and entering the venue at all *even if you hold a ticket*. That's a novel approach -- most events would simply not sell same-day tickets at all and cap the pre-sales.

https://www.nomunication.jp/2024/05/31/event-report-tokyo-international-barshow-2024-cocktail-innovation/

31/03/2025

Let's talk about that press conference last week where JSLMA announced they want GI for Japanese whisky.

At a press conference in Tokyo on March 27, the Japan Spirits & Liqueurs Makers Association (JSLMA) announced its intention to push for both Geographical Indication and a National Tax Agency directive about Japanese whisky. That’s good news for fans of the category, because we could soon have laws...

24/03/2025

Shochu, history, tuna, satsuma age, and plenty more shochu in Kagoshima's Ichikikushikino. Trip report!

At the behest of Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs, I recently had the opportunity to visit Ichikikushikino City in Kagoshima for a day-long shochu experience for members of the press and industry folk. Our group hit four distilleries, learned a ton, and had plenty of food and drink. Ichikikushi...

16/02/2025

My thoughts on the addition of sake-making with koji being added as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.

While probably old news to many, in December 2024, much of the sake industry celebrated the addition of “Traditional knowledge and skills of sake-making with koji mold in Japan” being listed as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. What are the implications for the category, if any? UNESCO’s ...

27/01/2025

Tonight we look at the background of the newly formed Japanese Whisky Promotion Committee, whose goal is to create legal protection for the category. (warning: long read)

One of the significant steps forward for the Japanese whisky category within Japan in 2024 was the launch of the Japanese Whisky Promotion Committee. The primary goal of the Committee is simple: creating a legally enforceable definition of Japanese whisky in Japan. As I write this from Tokyo in Janu...

28/12/2024

The Japanese Whisky Distillery Tracker desperately needed an update, so update it I have! There are now a whopping 64 distilleries listed, when they came online, and how close they are to a first single malt release.

Japanese whisky’s rise to global acclaim began around 2008, with the Chichibu Distillery starting operation that same year. Since 2015 there has been a flurry of new entrants to the market. Old distilleries that were once dark have been revitalized and live again. t can be tough to keep track of e...

22/12/2024

A few of you have asked about upcoming events in Japan -- so I'm happy to announce the Japan Drinks Events calendar! I will be updating this regularly throughout the upcoming year.

By popular demand! A summary of upcoming whisky, spirits, and cocktail events in and around Tokyo. Want to add an event? Please contact me.

31/10/2024

Let's sit down and talk about how the Saburomaru Distillery is coming along. While drinking two of their single cask releases, of course.

Back in 2017, I named Toyama Prefecture’s Saburomaru Distillery one of the distilleries to watch in 2018/2019. And watch it we have. Let’s take a look at some of the latest offerings from this Toyama-based Japanese whisky distillery to see where things might be headed in the future. While we’v...

17/10/2024

This morning we're looking at how the recently announced Hong Kong import tariff cuts for spirits might impact Japanese whisky.

Historic news for Japanese whisky drinkers in Hong Kong, if not all of Asia, this week: Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced the liquor tax on imported spirits with 30% abv or higher and a price of over HKD$200 (~$26 USD) will be reduced from 100% to 10%. The significance of this cannot be und...

13/10/2024

A slightly dated overview of some of the changes we've seen at Japanese whisky distilleries over the past year.

Editor’s note: This article, written in April of this year, was intended to be part of a Japanese whisky supplement for Whisky Magazine. However, due to factors beyond my control, they did not publish the supplement. Because the rights have now returned to me, here’s the article in its entirety....