Podcast

The Essential Differences between Sake and Shochu (Ep. 10)

April 12, 2021 · Leave a Comment

EPISODE INTRO

In the 10th episode of the Japan Distilled podcast, your hosts Christopher Pellegrini & Stephen Lyman continue with part 2 of a 3 part series to clear up multiple misconceptions about Japanese shochu. In this episode we explain the differences between Japanese sake and shochu (and awamori). Both of these drinks traditions have a long history and were officially designated as the national liquors of Japan in 2012. They are both uniquely Japanese due to some key similarities, but their key differences make them very different in how we enjoy them.

CREDITS

Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)

Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://www.uncannyjapan.com/)

HOSTS

CHRISTOPHER PELLEGRINI Vermont born and bred, long-time Tokyo resident and author of The Shochu Handbook, Christopher learned about delicious fermentations as a brewer at Otter Creek (Middlebury, VT). He now spends most of his waking hours convincing strangers that shochu and awamori are unlike anything they’ve ever tried before.

STEPHEN LYMAN discovered Japan’s indigenous spirits at an izakaya in New York City. He was so enthralled that he now lives in Japan and works in a tiny craft shochu distillery every autumn. His first book, The Complete Guide to Japanese Drinks, was nominated for a 2020 James Beard Award.

We are both certified sake and shochu professionals. While we generally prefer distilled spirits, a good sake warms the cockles of our hearts.

If you have any comments or questions about this episode of Japan Distilled, please reach out to Stephen or Christopher via Twitter. We would love to hear from you.

SHOW NOTES

Shochu (left) and Sake (right). Can you tell?

Sake and shochu packaging can be deceptively similar both in Japan and overseas. Without the ability to read kanji, close inspection of other elements on the labels becomes vital.

The easiest telltale sign is the alcohol percentage (assuming its written in roman numerals, which is usually the case). Shochu is usually bottled at 25% or higher so if you can find that on the label, you can be confident you are looking at shochu or awamori. Sake is usually under 20% so again if you find those numbers, you are probably looking at sake. However, 20% becomes problematic since both are sometimes bottled at 20% and the legal drinking age is 20 so in those instances it becomes harder to discern.

A few key kanji:

日本酒 (nihonshu) or 清酒 (seishu) – seishu is the official legal name of sake so that must appear on labels. However, on bar or restaurant menus you will more often seen nihonshu written.

焼酎 (shochu) or 本格焼酎 (honkaku shochu) – honkaku shochu is the good stuff as we discussed in the last episode. Other styles will have shochu somewhere on the label even if honkaku is missing.

２０歳 (ni-ju sai) – thi is how “20 years old” will be written on a warning statement so you know this is a false angle to discover what you are looking at.

度 (do) – this is the counter for alcohol percentage so if you see 25度 you are holding a 25% ABV drink (very likely shochu).

Sometimes the ABV will be written in kanji as well so you need to know your counters.

1 = 一

2 = 二

3= 三

4 = 四

5 = 五

6 = 六

7 = 七

8 = 八

9 = 九

10 = 十

Counting is then done by adding up these characters.

十二 = 12

二十 = 20

二十五 = 25

It takes some time to get used to this counting style, but once you do you can start to identify the alcohol percentage and other numbers on labels pretty easily.

Sake Basics

sake fermentation tanks are almost always closed.

Ingredients: water, rice, koji, yeast, ±brewer’s alcohol, and either commercial lactic acid or lactic acid bacteria.

Production Steps (simplified): Polish rice, wash rice, steam rice, propagate koji, shubo yeast starter, main fermentation, ±add brewer’s alcohol, press, filter, age, ±dilute, and bottle. Pasteurization is often done after filtering and/or after bottling.

sake press — pressing is the last step before maturation.

Shochu Basics

shochu fermentationk tanks are almost always open, though often covered to avoid debris.

Ingredients: water, koji, yeast, ±rice, ±barley, ±sweet potato, ±kokuto sugar, ±buckwheat, ±45 other possible approved ingredients.

Production Steps (simplified): wash rice (or barley, soba, or sweet potato), steam rice (or barley, soba, or sweet potato), propagate koji, first fermentation (shubo), steam or roast main ingredients (e.g., more rice, barley, soba, sweet potato, etc.), main fermentation, ±third fermentation with aromatic ingredient, distill, age, filter, ±dilute, filter, bottle. shochu referred to any distilled spirit even after introduction of the column still.

stainless pot still — For honkaku shochu the final step before maturation is distillation in a pot still.

Key Similarities

Sake and shochu rely on koji for saccharification of starches during fermentation.
Sake and shochu rely on multiple parallel fermentation with yeast and koji simultaneously active during the same fermentation process.
Sake and shochu rely on Japanese craftsmanship for premium category products.

Key Differences

Sake is brewed and then bottled while shochu is brewed, distilled, and then bottled.
Sake can only legally be made with rice as a starch source. Shochu has about 50 approved ingredients depending on how you count them.
Shochu is almost always between 20-44.9% alcohol while sake is typically between 13-20% alcohol.

Kanpai!

**Errata: Stephen and Christopher’s weekly “Shochu’sday” livestream has migrated from Instagram to the Japan Distilled accounts on Facebook and YouTube. Please check those accounts for upcoming broadcasts.

Authentic Honkaku & Otherwise (Ep. 9)

March 30, 2021 · Leave a Comment

EPISODE INTRO

In the 9th episode of the Japan Distilled podcast, your hosts Christopher Pellegrini & Stephen Lyman begin a three episode process of clearing up multiple misconceptions about Japanese shochu. In this episode we explain the differences between honkaku, otsurui, korui, konwa, single distilled, multiply distilled, and white liquor categories of shochu in Japan. Over the past 120 years all of these terms have been used to describe different production styles at various points in time. It is all quite convoluted and based on arcane Japanese tax regulations, but hopefully you will have a clear understanding by the end of this episode.

CREDITS

Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)

Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://www.uncannyjapan.com/)

HOSTS

When talking about shochu, 99.9% of the time we are referring to Honkaku Shochu rather than the other spirits types. If you listen long enough and taste along you will definitely understand why.

If you have any comments or questions about this episode of Japan Distilled, please reach out to Stephen or Christopher via Twitter. We would love to hear from you.

SHOW NOTES

An industrial column still for continuous distillation (left) and a typical stainless steel pot still used for shochu production (right). Honkaku shochu must be made in a pot still.

Timeline of Shochu Regulatory Categories

1500~1885 shochu unregulated, always made in a pot still.

1885~1910 shochu referred to any distilled spirit even after introduction of the column still.

1910~1949 shochu categorized as old machine (pot still) or new machine (column still).

1949~1971 shochu recategorized. New machine renamed korui (superior) and old machine renamed otsurui (2nd class) – multiply distilled shochu considered superior to pot distilled shochu.

1971~2002 Two new subcategories added to otsurui. “Honkaku” to refer to authentic pot distilled shochu made in a traditional way and “white liquor” to refer to pot distilled shochu that was not made in a traditional way. Korui definition unchanged.

2002~2006 White liquor definition changed back to otsurui (2nd class) to refer to single pot distilled shochu not made in a traditional way. New definition of white liquor is as an alternative way to label korui shochu, forever confusing those who study this stuff.

2006~2021 Honkaku and otsurui styles officially renamed “singly distilled” and korui renamed as “multiply distilled to remove the implied superiority of korui v. otsurui. These designations are not used on labels.

Today Honkaku Shochu will always have 本格焼酎 on the label as this is considered the premium product and the only style to be considered kokushu (national liquor of Japan) along side sake.

The shochu aisle at a liquor store in Fukuoka. Nearly everything (>90%) other than the large plastic jugs on the foreground on the left is Honkaku Shochu.

Further Distinctions

Today, these terms are used to differentiate different types of shochu under Japanese regulation.

Honkaku Shochu traditionally made authentic shochu. Must be made with koji and approved main fermentation ingredients and then distilled in a pot still. Nothing can be added after distillation other than water and time. Must be under 45% alcohol by volume (ABV).

Otsurui Shochu pot distilled shochu either not made from an approved ingredient or with <2% added sugar. Must be under 45% ABV.

Korui Shochu multiply distilled alcohol produced in Japan. Cannot be over 35% ABV. Cannot be barrel aged for over 1 year and if barrel aged, cannot be sold at over 25% ABV.

An assortment of korui, konwa, and honkaku shochu in 2 to 5 liter plastic jugs. The price is the easiest indication of the quality. The Honkaku Shochu どでか芋 on the bottom right is ¥3880 for 4L while the 5L jug next to it is ¥1650.

Konwa Shochu blend of Honkaku or otsurui and korui shochu.

Otsu-ko Konwa Shochu subcategory of konwa shochu in which more than 50% of the blend is pot distilled shochu.

korui and konwa shochu — Both Imo Kanoka (芋かのか left) and Kanoka (center かのか) are ko-otsu shochu with 8% sweet potato and 15-25% barley otsurui shochu added to 92% and 75-85% korui respectively. Takara (right, gold/blue label 寶 is the modern kanji, but Takara Distillery uses that stylized old kanji that does not exist in modern typesetting) is a korui shochu priced at ¥1680 (price tag not visible).

Ko-otsu Konwa Shochu subcategory of konwa shochu in which more than 50% of the blend is mulitiply distilled shochu. Most konwa shochu is made this way.

White Liquor while no longer an official designation, this is another name for korui shochu. It is often sold under this name when being used for home umeshu production.

Kanpai!

What is Authentic Whisky? (Ep. 8)

March 15, 2021 · Leave a Comment

EPISODE INTRO

In the 8th episode of the Japan Distilled podcast, your hosts Christopher Pellegrini & Stephen Lyman reflect on what defines authentic whisky in Japan and abroad. In this fourth and final part of our series on Japanese whiskies, we ask a few questions that sent us down a rabbit hole of ideas and suggestions that the Japanese whisky industry may never consider, but we enjoyed discussing.

What is authentic whisky anyway?
Is there terroir in whisky?
What makes Japanese whisky Japanese whisky?

HOSTS

CHRISTOPHER PELLEGRINI Vermont born and bred, long-time Tokyo resident and author of The Shochu Handbook, Christopher learned all about delicious fermentations as a brewer at Otter Creek (Middlebury, VT). He now spends most of his waking hours convincing strangers that shochu and awamori are unlike anything they’ve ever tried before.

We have been drinking whisky longer than we have been drinking shochu or awamori, though we enjoy all of these spirits a great deal.

If you have any comments or questions about this episode of Japan Distilled, please reach out to Stephen or Christopher via Twitter. We would love to hear from you.

SHOW NOTES

What is authentic whisky?

There are now 5 predominant whisky producing nations across the globe (listed alphabetically so as not to cause a fuss).

Canada

Ireland

Japan

Scotland

United States

Until April 1, 2021 Japan is/was the only one of these countries in which foreign distilled and even aged whisky could be bottled in Japan and labeled as Japanese whisky. The new JSLMA labeling standards changed that – creating the first standards for Japanese whisky since the Japanese started marketing (let’s not say making since we do not know what was in those bottles) domestic whisky in the late 1800s.

Within those 5 countries, there are several types of authentic whisky made using a variety of processes and ingredients ranging from single malt whisky in Scotland to bourbon or rye in the USA. Some is pot-distilled. Some is column distilled. In most traditions it can only be aged in oak casks.

We share all of this to try to set some common sense boundaries for the question, “What is authentic whisky?” With exception of some fruit or sugar based spirits being called whisky in some other countries not known for their whiskies (read up on Thai whiskey as an example), all of the major producers adhere to these simple rules:

made with grains
distilled at least twice
aged in oak barrels
bottled at 40% ABV or higher

While some of these traditions have additional “guardrails” around how they can be made, all 5 of these predominant traditions accept those standards at minimum to defined authentic whisky. Interestingly, the new Japanese standards are the only that allow aging in wood other than oak.

Whisky Terroir?

Terroir is often defined as “sense of place” and when it comes to spirits, this must include the nature of the local ingredients being used, the decisions made about how to make the spirit, and how the spirit is treated after distillation.

A lot of whisky is made from grains grown very far from the distillery so the sense of terroir may be a bit further removed that it would be from, say, Satsuma Shochu, which by law has to be made from sweet potatoes grown within the prefecture of production. However, local grains are increasingly being used, especially for craft whiskies.

Whisky Terroir is certainly not settled science, but it is a fun topic to explore.

What Makes Whisky Japanese?

This really is the crux of the debate that has arisen from the new labeling standards. We decided to ask experts and our listeners before we recorded this episode, but it turns out the experts and audience were pretty well aligned, which made our job a lot easier.

Japanese Whisky Twitter Poll — Thanks to everyone who responded!

It turned out that a vast majority of our listeners thought Made in Japan was the most important aspect of labeling something as Japanese whisky. Also, interestingly, less than 10% thought that following Scottish malt whisky rules was a key point. For those who commented, several did mention that Made in Japan and Follows Scotch Rules were equally important.

Where did we end up falling? Perhaps this list looks familiar (with 1 addition):

made with grains
distilled at least twice
aged in oak barrels
bottled at 40% ABV or higher
made in Japan

So where we part with the new standards is that we do not think Japanese whiskies need to use malting for saccharification and we do not think woods other than oak should be allowed (unless oak is also used). Japan has been making alcohol with koji saccharification for over 1,200 years and has been using malted grains to make alcohol for perhaps 150 years. Both extract sugars from grains to allow yeast to do its job (and koji is more efficient).

CREDITS

Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)

Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://www.uncannyjapan.com/)

Links

WHISKY RISING by Stefan Van Eycken the definitive guide to Japanese whisky. A veritable encyclopedia of information.

JAPANESE WHISKY by Brian Ashcraft an accessible, well-researched introduction to the best whiskies from Japan.

THE WAY OF WHISKY by Dave Broom an international whisky expert’s journey through Japan.

Nomunication a Japanese Whisky-focused site run by whisky professional Whisky Richard.

Kanpai!

New Japanese Whisky Standards Announced! (Ep. 7)

March 8, 2021 · Leave a Comment

EPISODE INTRO

In the 7th episode of the Japan Distilled podcast, your hosts Christopher Pellegrini & Stephen Lyman introduce the newly announced Japanese whisky standards. In this third of a planned four-part series on Japanese whiskies, we dive into the production quality standards, labeling rules, and other arcane parts of the new guidance issued by the Japanese Spirits & Liqueur Makers Association (JSLMA). These voluntary standards go into effect April 1, 2021 and JSLMA members are expected to be fully compliant by March 31, 2024.

NOTE: This episode is being released between 2 regularly scheduled podcast episodes due to the “breaking news” nature of these announcements.

HOSTS

We have been drinking whisky longer than we have been drinking shochu or awamori, though we enjoy all of these spirits a great deal.

If you have any comments or questions about this episode of Japan Distilled, please reach out to Stephen or Christopher via Twitter. We would love to hear from you.

SHOW NOTES

Context

The need for these Japanese whisky standards may not be readily apparent to casual drinkers or even fans of whisky more generally, but “real” (meaning verifiably produced with grains) whisky has been produced in Japan since at least 1926, but there has never been an official definition of what Japanese whisky means. As such, as Japanese whisky has become popular overseas, some entrepreneurs have started importing Scotch, Canadian, and American whiskies in bulk and bottling them in Japan with fancy Japanese labels even though the spirit inside the bottle is 100% NOT Japanese whisky.

Yamazaki v. Kurayoshi — The Kurayoshi (right) is a blatant attempt to fool consumers into thinking they are buying The Yamazaki (left). Kurayoshi is repackaged imported bulk Scotch whisky while Yamazaki is an authentic Japanese Single Malt Whisky.

Additionally, Japanese shochu produced from grains and then aged in oak barrels meets the standards of whisky in America so several shochu makers have begun selling their products as whisky in the US, though to their credit none of them have used the term “Japanese whisky” on their packaging.

rice whisky — Rice whisky from Japan is produced by shochu makers who barrel age their koji-fermented spirits.

As a result of these recent competitive developments, the JSLMA, which is a trade association of western style spirits makers (their website is even yoshu.or.jp – “yoshu” means “western liquor” in Japanese), finally decided the time had come to specifically define Japanese whisky standards. And specific they were!

Japanese Whisky Standards

On Feburary 12, 2021, the JSLMA announced their “Standards for Labeling Whisky.” Central to these Japanese whisky standards are the “Production Method Quality Requirements” by which Japanese whisky will henceforth be defined.

JSLMA members have until March 31, 2024 to become compliant.

Whisky can still be made in Japan without meeting these Japanese whisky standards, but it can no longer be labeled and promoted as Japanese whisky. Nikka was quick to change their website to clearly show which of their whiskies met these new standards and which did not.

Other Caveats

There are a few other prescriptions in these new standards that attempt to further protect this newly minted “accepted” definition of Japanese whisky.

Deceptive Labeling names, places, the Japanese flag, and other labeling that would give the impression that the product is Japanese whisky when it does not adhere to the above quality standards is not permitted.

Non-Compliant Vendors no members of the JSLMA may sell any product to an outside vendor (exporter, foreign distributor, brand owner) who engages in the deceptive labeling practices above.

In other words, not only are Japanese whisky companies not allowed to create packaging that evokes Japanese whisky, they are also not permitted to sell product to an outside company who would attempt to do so.

Our Take

All told these new Japanese whisky labeling standards are long overdue, a net benefit to consumers, and will likely have the intended effect of protecting both the reputation and bottom lines of the Japanese whisky makers themselves.

In one blow they have eliminated imported bulk whisky being relabeled and sold as Japanese whisky as all Japanese whisky must now be 100% produced in Japan. Of course, there is nothing preventing non-JSLMA members from violating these terms, but most if not all domestic whisky makers hope to be members in good standing of this trade organization. Even Matsui Distillery of the notorious Kurayoshi brand wants to be part of the club.

This does not, of course, prevent Suntory and Nikka, both of whom own Scotch distilleries (Suntory even owns Jim Beam) from importing their foreign made whiskies for domestic blends or even in whiskies exported, but not labeled as Japanese whisky.

The other thing that remains to be seen is how shochu makers respond. Many of them are not member of the JSLMA since they have their own trade association, the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association. Shochu and awamori makers have now gotten the short end of the whisky debate stick twice in recent history.

In 1997, Japan signed a treaty with the WTO which was designed to settle a dispute between the WTO and Japan over what was seen as an unfair domestic tax regime. Japan taxed imported whisky at a higher rate than domestic whisky and shochu and awamori at an even lower rate than that. The treaty harmonized taxes on imported spirits and Japanese domestic spirits. Another minor concession was that Japanese shochu and awamori could no longer be sold in Japan if it were darker than 0.08 optical density on a light spectrophotometer. Whiskies are typically 0.20 to 0.80 on this scale.

That effectively left many shochu and awamori makers with cask aging product they could not sell without either heavily filtering or diluting the barrel aged spirits. It took a while, but a few of them realized they could export it and sell it in the US as rice whisky. These standards seem to be an attempt at closing that door once again since shochu and awamori makers are expressly prohibited from malting their grains and malted grains are now required for Japanese whisky.

Time will tell how all of this plays out.

Note: A full official English translation of these new standards can be downloaded from the JSLMA website.

CREDITS

Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)

Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://www.uncannyjapan.com/)

Links

WHISKY RISING by Stefan Van Eycken the definitive guide to Japanese whisky. A veritable encyclopedia of information.

JAPANESE WHISKY by Brian Ashcraft an accessible, well-researched introduction to the best whiskies from Japan.

THE WAY OF WHISKY by Dave Broom an international whisky expert’s journey through Japan.

Nomunication a Japanese Whisky-focused site run by whisky professional Whisky Richard.

Kanpai!

Best Whiskies in the World? (Ep. 6)

March 1, 2021 · Leave a Comment

EPISODE INTRO

In the 6th episode of the Japan Distilled podcast, your hosts Christopher Pellegrini & Stephen Lyman discuss how the Japanese whisky industry rose from the ashes to become some of the best whiskies in the world in less than two decades. In this second of a planned three-part series that has now been expanded to four parts, we explore how Japanese whiskies rose from obscurity to begin beating the best Scotch whiskies in the world in their own backyard. We also discuss how the Japanese domestic whisky market recovered independent of the international awards.

NOTE: This episode covers 2007 to present in Japan’s whisky history.

CREDITS

Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)

Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://www.uncannyjapan.com/)

HOSTS

We have been drinking whisky longer than we have been drinking shochu or awamori, though we enjoy all of these spirits a great deal.

If you have any comments or questions about this episode of Japan Distilled, please reach out to Stephen or Christopher via Twitter. We would love to hear from you.

SHOW NOTES

Japan’s Best Whiskies (Chronologically by award)

Yamazaki 12, which won the first ever gold medal for a Japanese malt whisky at the International Spirits Challenge in 2003.

2001 Yoichi 10 Year won “Best of the Best” in a blind tasting for Whisky Magazine UK.

2003* Yamazaki 12 won gold at the International Spirits Challenge.

2004* Hibiki 30 won the overall trophy at the International Spirits Challenge.

2005* Yamazaki 18 won double gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

*today these competition medals are so common for Japanese whisky that they no longer rate as news, but these early wins as some of the best whiskies were very important.

2008 Yoichi 1987 won Best Single Malt in the World and Hikbiki 30 won Best Blended Whisky in the World at the World Whiskies Awards (WWA).

2009-2020 a Japanese blended whisky has won a Best Blended Whisky Award every single year at the WWA.

2011 Yamazaki 1984 Limited Edition won Best Single Malt in the World at WWA.

2012 Yamazaki 25 Year won Best Single Malt in the World at WWA.

2017 Chichibu Whisky Matsuri 2017 won Best Single Cask in the World at the World Whisky Awards.

2018 & 2020 Hakushu 25 Year won Best Single Malt in the World at WWA.

Whisky Highballs!

All of those pretty impressive awards did not shift drinking habits in Japan. That happened thanks to a clever ad campaign from Suntory to sell their Kakubin Highballs with pretty young actresses enjoying the refreshing drink. Today these are everywhere, and we mean everywhere.

New Distilleries

No new whisky distilleries would open in Japan between Mars Shinshu coming online in 1985 and the opening of the Chichibu Distillery in 2008.

Ichiro Akuto would rise to fame when he began releasing bottlings from his family’s defunct Hanyu Distillery in the form of the card series. On the show we said 53, but there were actually 54 bottlings with playing card labels. He would leverage this into his Chichibu Distillery becoming one of the most sought after whiskies among Japanese whisky fans. His offerings are already considered among the best whiskies coming out of Japan.

Ichiro's Malt Card Series — Ichiro’s Malt Card Series.

Okayama Distillery (2011) This maker of sake, shochu, beer, liqueurs, and, yes, whisky, has not made much effort to sell broadly. Their whiskies are made primarily with locally sourced 2 row barley.

Nukada Distillery (2016) From the makers of Hitachino Nest Beer. Their first release was a canned whisky highball so we are still waiting to see what they come up with for proper whisky bottlings.

Akkeshi Distillery (2016) The second whisky distillery in remote northern Hokkaido, Akkeshi has decided to make smoky peated whiskies using local Hokkaido Peat. They have released a few limited bottlings to date.

Shizuoka Distillery (2016) Previously an energy company called Gaia Flow, Shizuoka recently released their first whisky, Prologue K, made with equipment from the shuttered Karuizawa Distillery (thus the K).

Mars Tsunuki (2017) Mars-Hombo, a large alcohol producer, opened a new whisky distillery on the site of their previous korui shochu factory in far south Kagoshima. This expands production beyond their original Shinshu Distillery in Nagano Prefecture.

The barrel aging warehouse at Mars Tsunuki Distillery in Kagoshima.

Kanosuke (2018) Komasa Distillery in Kagoshima got into the whisky game with this beautiful distillery along the coast. It sits just in front of their Hioki Distillery, which makes a popular barrel aged rice shochu, Mellowed Kozuru.

Yasato Distillery (2020) Also from the makers of Hitachino Nest Beer. Production has just started.

Links

WHISKY RISING by Stefan Van Eycken the definitive guide to Japanese whisky. A veritable encyclopedia of information.

JAPANESE WHISKY by Brian Ashcraft an accessible, well-researched introduction to the best whiskies from Japan.

THE WAY OF WHISKY by Dave Broom an international whisky expert’s journey through Japan.

Nomunication a Japanese Whisky-focused site run by whisky professional Whisky Richard.