Japan's Cult Ghost Series' 26th Release Shows Up In Okinawa With Suzaki Distillery's Ryuka Single Malt In Spanish Oak
Japan's whisky landscape has undergone arguably its most rapid development in the past decade, with numerous distilleries being built ground up all across the country, often even in prefectures with no whiskymaking history whatsoever. It's created vibrance and excitement with both variety and quality in hand, and yet at the same time has become increasingly difficult to keep track of and follow along, with many of the "second wave" of craft whisky distilleries now starting to hit shelves with their benchmark aged Japanese single malts. Yet, if there's anyone who's been on the ground and has stayed on top of things, it's most certainly notable Japanese whisky expert Stefan van Eycken and beloved Aloha Whisky Bar owner David Tsujimoto.
Aloha Whisky's David Tsujimoto and Japanese whisky expert Stefan van Eycken.
Through their adventures and numerous tasting sessions hosted at the iconic Ikebukuro bar Aloha Whisky, the pair have introduced to the community numerous up and coming local whiskymakers, and have in the process come across and selected several of these very special and unique bottlings for van Eycken's cult followed Ghost Series. The Ghost Series which has spanned more than a decade of releases, is an ongoing and evolving tapestry of independently bottled Japanese whiskies that have been selected by van Eycken to showcase the unique and the rare, of distilleries past and present, some even no longer in existence, with once in a lifetime cuvees that are never to be repeated again. The ability to select special casks comes from of course the reputation that precedes van Eycken and Tsujimoto-san, the former an editor for the pioneering Nonjatta editorial and Whisky Magazine Japan, having also authored the critically important Whisky Rising book chronicling Japan's distilleries, and the latter the touchpoint for anyone coming to Japan and wanting to experience Japanese whiskies, with his bar having clinched the coveted title of Bar of the Year from Whisky Magazine's Icons of Whisky awards.
Yoshitoshi's New Forms of Thirty-six Ghosts.
Now unlike most independent bottlers, the Ghost Series forgoes quantity for continuity, with each bottling carefully selected for release, never to be repeated, and is each given an index number that will ultimately come to a conclusion at release #36, which matches the historic woodblock print collection "New Forms of Thirty-six Ghosts", which is one of the final sets of works by Japan's last ukiyo-e woodblock print master Yoshitoshi that was made in the late 1800's. Corresponding to the critically acclaimed art collection, each whisky released in the Ghost Series carries on its label one of the prints from Yoshitoshi's work, and with each print used, one less print is left to be drawn from, ultimately totalling the full set of 36 unique releases. In the past 13 years, just 27 releases have been made in the Ghost Series. The Series has released critically important expressions from mythical Karuizawa's and Hanyu's, to Chichibu and Kawasaki blends, and then to the likes of Japanese whisky stalwarts Mars, Akashi and Chichibu, to finally showcasing some of the most exciting and new distilleries from Kanosuke to Akkeshi and Niigata Kameda, many of which have been bottled in rare and exotic casks such as Apple Saison to Chardonnay and Sake barrels.
Just off the heels of having released Ghost #27 from the newly minted Niigata Kameda Distillery, the Series is back with Ghost #26, this time from a distillery that has also just broken the mould - Okinawa's Suzaki Distillery, which produces its Ryuka Single Malt! This is said to be one of the distillery's first ever single cask bottlings to be released - it's in fact only the 5th single cask bottling from the distillery.
Note: Ghost Series index numbers are in order of when the project was conceived and set in place, and is not in order of when it is released, which is determined based on the readiness of the maturing whisky!
Whilst on the surface Suzaki Distillery might seem somewhat young, it is in fact operated by Shinzato Shuzo, Okinawa's oldest existing distillery, founded in 1846! This makes the distillery more than half a century older than Japan's first whisky distillery, although of course the distillery was much more focused on producing Okinawa's favourite spirit, awamori (a highly revered historic spirit today predominantly made with indica rice and black koji). Whilst awamori was for over a century greatly prized by sailors and merchants, and is itself deeply influenced by Okinawa's key position along trading routes of the time, and was even only permitted to be produced by just 30 royally appointed distillers, the spirit is of course more niche today, and thus the archipelago's distillers have sought to produce other types of spirit. This does nevertheless mean that Okinawa's distillers bring with them close to two centuries of distilling experience and a distinct stylistic sensibility that should yield very unique whiskies, if not at least the island's intense subtropical heat and humidity where the angel's share is said to clock in at 10% (compared to inland Japan's 3-4%)! And so in 2020, Suzaki Distillery, located in the Suzaki area of Okinawa's Uruma City, had begun distilling first with their awamori stills, later including the use of Italian-manufactured FRILLI copper pot stills, and is said to utilise long fermentation times, with then the whiskies aged in casks also used for its awamori. By 2024, Suzaki Distillery would release to great anticipation its debut Ryuka Single Malt, a fully qualified over 3 year old Japanese single malt that was aged in Oloroso Sherry and Spanish oak.
And so for this very exciting new release from a faraway distillery that few have yet to experience, we have van Eycken giving us the inside scoop!
Japanese whisky expert and creator of the fabled Ghost Series Stefan van Eycken.
88 Bamboo: Hi Stefan! Great to hear from you again, we hope that between the busyness and the intense weather, you've been holding up well! We're incredibly excited to hear about Ghost #26 which comes from a distillery that quite frankly, we've seen in some pictures online, but very few must have had the chance to experience. Could you share with us what the journey was - and there's always a great story with your Ghost Series bottlings - to getting Ghost #26 in the bag?
Stefan van Eycken: The story of Ghost Series #26 began in early August last year when staff from Suzaki Distillery visited Aloha Whisky Bar and, in the wake of that visit, the idea was developed to do a collaborative bottling.
David and I were presented with two cask samples. We tasted the samples and instantly fell in love with one of them: a sample drawn from a 2nd-fill Spanish oak hogshead. There were wonderful notes (most prominently blood orange!) on this sample and David and I knew we had something special here. Immediately, we knew this was something for the Ghost Series.
88 Bamboo: Well, many have attested to great things happening at the Aloha Whisky Bar, and this is a public service announcement to whisky lovers out there, if you want to try the freshest whiskies and meet cool new folks - Aloha is where it's at! Alright, so this all sounds really intriguing, but where's the twist? And again, as we've learnt, there's always a snag with these hard to catch Ghosts! They never do make it easy! As they say, unique casks, unique problems!
Stefan: So there were two issues: firstly, the sample was only a little over 2 years old (and that was, in fact, the oldest stock in the warehouse then), and secondly the alcoholic proof was also very high: 64.2% ABV. Fairly straightforward solutions presented themselves: patience (and careful monitoring) until the cask reached 3 years old (to officially classify as Japanese whisky) and exploring the possibility of bringing the ABV down.
Now the patience part was fine, but we did realize we had to monitor the development closely, because – due to the climate (Suzaki Distillery is in Okinawa!) – the aging develops much faster than at most other distilleries in Japan, hence at just 2 year old, when we tasted the sample, it was already “ready”. Over the following months, blender Naoya Shinzato regularly brought us samples and we were happy to see it got even better while we were waiting for the whisky to reach the 3-year mark.
Then in March of this year, we decided to address the ABV issue, and we had Naoya prepare 3 versions: one at cask strength, another diluted down to 57% ABV and a third sample diluted to 50% ABV. Individually and blind, the blender, David and myself evaluated these 3 samples and instantly, and also unanimously, it was clear the sample at 50% was the best. That version simply presented the lush flavor palate in the best way and so we decided to bottle at 50% ABV.
88 Bamboo: Very interesting! Not so simple at all, when most folks think whisky ageing is just a matter of leaving it in the barrel, forgetting it and coming back to it a couple of years on. So give us the specs of Ghost #26!
Stefan: At the end of June 2026, the whisky turned 3 years old, and a little later in early July it was bottled with the outturn being just 328 bottles. This is the 26th release in an ongoing series featuring woodblock prints from Yoshitoshi’s “New Forms of 36 Ghosts”. This particular print shows a tengu (a supernatural spirit of Japanese folklore) dressed as an itinerant mountain priest debating a general, looking down through the parting of the mist surrounding his mountain abode.
The bottling will be unveiled at the 30th Aloha Whisky Rising tasting event at Aloha Whisky Bar on July 25th, in the presence of blender Naoya Shinzato, and will be available for purchase at the bar following the event, while stocks last.
88 Bamboo: Awesome! Thank you so much Stefan for taking us through! Cheers once again to another spectacular release! We cannot wait to try it!
Kanpai!
88 Bamboo Editorial Team
